Manunda

In 1927 the Adelaide Steamship Company in Australia ordered a new {{GRT|9115|link=off}} liner to provide full-time Australian coastal passenger services, which had previously only been offered by the company on a limited scale.

The Twin Screw Motor Vessel Manunda was built by William Beardmore and Company at Dalmuir in Scotland.Bremer, Home and Back, p. 45 The vessel was {{convert|136|m}} in length, with a beam of {{convert|18|m}}. Diesel motors provided power to the two propeller shafts, with a top speed of {{convert|15|kn}}. Passenger capacity was 176 first class and 136 second class.

The ship was launched on 27 November 1928, and completed on 16 April 1929.{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29319839|title=THE MOTOR SHIP MANUNDA.|date=29 November 1928|newspaper=The Advertiser|accessdate=2 February 2018|location=South Australia|page=14|via=National Library of Australia}} It was a company policy for all its motor vessels to have a name starting with "M" and the ship was named after an Aboriginal word meaning "place near water".{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article35886219|title=MANUNDA AND MANOORA|date=26 March 1935|newspaper=The Courier-mail|accessdate=28 September 2018|issue=491|location=Queensland, Australia|page=6|via=National Library of Australia}} She was the largest ship operated by the Adelaide Steamship Company at the time, and as a result of her success the company commissioned a larger, faster sister ship, {{HMAS|Manoora|F48|2}}, which was completed in 1935.{{cite web |url= http://www.ssmaritime.com/Manoora.htm |title=TSMV Manoora & Manunda |work=ssmaritime.com |year=2011 |accessdate=24 September 2012}}

She arrived in Australia in June 1929 to begin her duties on the Australian coastal trade, running passengers and cargo between Sydney, Fremantle, Melbourne and Cairns.

In late 1929, Manunda rammed Birkenhead Wharf in Adelaide.

File:Hospital ship MANUNDA in Sydney Harbour, 17th August 1940 (cropped).jpg

The declaration of war saw Manunda fitted out as DEMS ship (Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship), under the control of the Australian Shipping Control Board. During the process of converting it into a hospital ship, the No. 1 Hold was deemed to be dangerous and never rectified. One death was recorded (that of Second Officer Rupert Mafeking Blunt) and several officers were injured due to the complications with the design.{{Cite web|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article186281879|title=Crashed to Death Down Hold Soon After Warning Workmen|newspaper=Telegraph |date=31 July 1940|pages=5|via=Trove}}

She was converted into a hospital ship at Sydney in compliance with the Geneva Convention Regulations and was taken over by the authorities on 25 May 1940, and entered service as AHS Manunda on 22 July 1940, under Captain James Garden, previously the captain of the Adelaide Steamship Company Manoora and Commodore of the Adelaide Steamship Fleet. The general hospital based on board was commanded by Lt. Col. John Beith, and members of the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) on board were led by Matron Clara Jane Shumack (1899–1974).

Manunda sailed on a shakedown cruise to Darwin, Port Moresby and returned to Sydney, before heading for Suez in the Middle East (she made four trips to the Middle East and Mediterranean between November 1940 and September 1941). She was then despatched to Darwin. On the morning of 19 February 1942, Manunda was damaged during the Japanese air raids on Darwin, despite her highly prominent red cross markings on a white background. 12 members of the ship's crew and hospital staff were killed, 19 others were seriously wounded and another 40 or so received minor wounds. Manunda was able to act as a casualty clearing station for injured personnel from other ships involved in the attack. She sailed to Fremantle the next day. Captain James Garden was later awarded the OBE, in 1945,{{cite web |url= https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1109345 |title=Australian Honours |work=itsanhonour.gov.au |year=2012 |accessdate=24 September 2012}} for his bravery and skill, both during the attacks, in leading a fire extinguishing team on the ship and in later navigating it by the stars to Fremantle with no navigation equipment and a jury-rigged steering system. In 1943 Thomas Minto, First Mate on Manunda, was awarded the M.B.E. for gallantry and devotion to duty on the Manunda during air raids at Darwin in February 1942.Sydney Morning Herald, July 1943, {{page needed|date=October 2019}} In June 1945 Matron Clara Shumack was awarded the Royal Red Cross. Her Citation included "...On one occasion when the ship was in Darwin it was badly damaged...It was especially during this period that MATRON SHUMACK displayed very great calmness and exceptional devotion to duty, and her quiet and confident manner was an inspiration to all her fellow workers".Honours and Awards, Royal Red Cross, NFX70204 Major Clara Jane Shumack, Citation

After a refit in Adelaide, she went to Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea, where she acted as a floating hospital for the Allied forces who were stationed there. She spent several nights in Milne Bay, during attacks by Japanese warships, but her status as a hospital ship was, on this occasion honored by Japanese naval units, which raked her with searchlights on three nights running. She made a total of 27 voyages from Milne Bay to Brisbane and Sydney transporting wounded troops.

As the war continued, she was relocated as required and she followed the Allied forces the various islands around the Pacific.

File:Ethel J Bowe and staff 1945 on the Manunda.jpg and Lieutenants in Sydney of the 110 causualty clearing station on board the Manunda on 4 April 1945]]

Six days after the sinking of AHS Centaur, a request was made by the Australian Department of Defence that the identification markings and lights be removed from AHS Manunda, weapons be installed, and that she begin to sail blacked out and under escort.Milligan and Foley, Australian Hospital Ship Centaur, pp. 189–92 The conversion was performed, although efforts by the Department of the Navy, the Admiralty, and authorities in New Zealand and the United States of America caused the completed conversion to be undone. The cost of the roundabout work came to £12,500, and kept Manunda out of service for three months.Milligan and Foley, Australian Hospital Ship Centaur, p. 192 On 9 June 1943, communications between the Combined Chiefs of Staff on the subject of hospital ships contained a section referring to the Manunda incident as a response to the attack on Centaur, with the conclusion that the attack was the work of an irresponsible Japanese commander, and that it would be better to wait until further attacks had been made before considering the removal of hospital ship markings.Milligan and Foley, Australian Hospital Ship Centaur, p. 191

Manunda{{'}}s final wartime voyage was to New Zealand transporting civilian passengers. During the war she carried approximately 30,000 casualties to safety.

After the Japanese surrender, Manunda was despatched to Singapore to repatriate ex-POWs and civilian interneesBremer, Home and Back, p. 43 who had been imprisoned in Changi Prison.{{Cite web|url=http://www.territoryremembers.nt.gov.au/history/australian-hospital-ship-manunda|title=AUSTRALIAN HOSPITAL SHIP MANUNDA|date=2016|website=The Territory Remembers|access-date=2 February 2018}} She also sailed to Labuan in Borneo to pick up ex-POWs and civilian internees from Batu Lintang camp.{{citation needed|date=July 2015}}

Manunda was decommissioned in September 1946 and refitted. She returned to service on 2 April 1948, transporting passengers around the Australian coast.{{Cite web|url=http://www.far-eastern-heroes.org.uk/love_sprang_from_batu_lintang/html/ahs_manunda_history.htm|title=H.M.A.S Manunda history|last=Taylor|first=Ron|date=2003|access-date=2 February 2018}} In September{{Cite web|url=http://passengersinhistory.sa.gov.au/node/931048|title=MANUNDA|website=Passengers in history|date=21 January 2016 |access-date=2 February 2018}} 1956 she was withdrawn from service and sold to the Japanese Okadagumi Line, who renamed the vessel Hakone Maru.

The company's plans for the ship did not eventuate, and she was broken up the next year in Japan,Bremer, Home and Back, p. 44 arriving in Osaka for scrapping on 18 June 1957.{{Citation|title=Coast to coast : the great Australian coastal liners|date=2007|author1=Plowman, Peter|page=172|edition=1st|publisher=Rosenberg Publishing|isbn=978-1-877058-60-8}}{{cite QPN|48742|Manunda|suburb in Cairns Region|accessdate=5 August 2017}}

In 1973 the suburb of Manunda in Cairns was named after the ship. In 1975 the neighbouring suburb of Manoora was named after its sister ship.{{Cite QPN|48741|Manoora|suburb in Cairns Region|accessdate=26 June 2017}}

{{Reflist}}

• John L Forrest "Clara Shumack, AHS Manunda, and other times and places" limited edition 2013
• {{cite book |last1=Bremer |first1=Stuart |title=Home and Back: Australia's Golden Era of Passenger Ships |date=1986|publisher=Dreamweaver Books |location=Sydney, NSW |isbn=978-0949825063}}
• {{cite book |last=Milligan |first=Christopher |author2=Foley, John |title=Australian Hospital Ship Centaur – the myth of immunity |year=2003 |publisher=Nairana Publications |location=Hendra, QLD |isbn=0-646-13715-8 |oclc=31291428}}
• {{cite book |last=Goodman |first=Rupert |title=Hospital Ships - Manunda, Wanganella, Centaur, Oranje}}

• [http://www.merchant-navy-ships.com/index.php?id=110,0,0,1,0,0 AHS Manunda], Australian Merchant Navy website
• [http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/ran/manunda.htm 2/1 HMAHS Manunda], Peter Dunn's "Australia @ War" website
• [https://archive.today/20060626180102/http://www.diggerhistory3.info/ran/page/05-merchant_ships.htm history and photo of ward]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080705105202/http://www.far-eastern-heroes.org.uk/Love_Sprang_From_Batu_Lintang/html/h_m_a_s_manunda_history.htm HMAS Manunda History], far-eastern-heroes.org.uk
• [http://www.far-eastern-heroes.org.uk/Love_Sprang_From_Batu_Lintang Wartime wedding aboard Manunda], far-eastern-heroes.org.uk
• Manunda's ship's menu from Thursday 16 July 1953: [https://web.archive.org/web/20090614154550/http://www.winelit.slsa.sa.gov.au/sip_sup/SP_Manunda_1953_02.htm Menu]; [https://web.archive.org/web/20080724201007/http://www.winelit.slsa.sa.gov.au/sip_sup/SP_Manunda_1953_01.htm Wine list], State Library of South Australia
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080714034304/http://cas.awm.gov.au/heraldry/REL25180 Silver dinner bell from MV Manunda], Australian War Memorial

Category:1928 ships

Category:Ships built on the River Clyde

Category:Maritime history of Australia

Category:Hospital ships of the Australian Army