By NOEL MURPHY
ONE hundred years ago today the first Australian troops headed off from Port Melbourne’s Station Pier to The Great War in Europe – aboard a ship named Geelong.
The 27th Battalion, including Highton-born Victoria Cross winner Janes Newland, sailed away on the HMAT (Her Majesty’s Australian Transport) Geelong, disembarking at different theatres of conflict in Suez, Egypt, Gallipoli and Cheshire Ridge.
Weighing in at 851 tons and with an average cruise speed of 12 knots, HMAT Geelong was one of 36 troop ships of its kind.
When not committed to military transport, the ships were employed to carry various commodity exports to Britain and France.
P&O SN Co. London owned HMAT Geelong, which the Commonwealth Government leased for the specific purpose of transporting Australian troops to their respective overseas destinations.
The ship collided with the SS Bonvilston in the Mediterranean Sea and sank in January 1916 without loss of life.
Images of life in Geelong during World War I feature in a Geelong Heritage Centre digital display at the city’s National Wool Museum.
The display, Geelong on the Home Front 1914 -1918, includes an interactive jigsaw puzzle map of Geelong during WWI, created to mark the Anzac centenary.
More information is available at geelongaustralia.com.au/nwm.
