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1943
The sinking of the Australian Hospital Ship (AHS) Centaur:
Few disasters during the Second World War have touched Australians as deeply as the loss of the AHS Centaur. It was a freighter (built in 1924) and ocean liner before it became a hospital ship to the Australian naval forces. It was marked with huge red crosses, fully lit, painted white and greatly publicised through neutral channels to signify the harmless nature of the ship and the crew aboard. Centaur was steaming north from Sydney on its second voyage to New Guinea as a hospital ship in May, 1943. Onboard were 75 Merchant Navy crew, the ship’s army medical staff comprising 8 officers, 12 nurses, 45 other ranks and 192 members of the 2/12 Field ambulance. These latter troops were passengers traveling to New Guinea to set up field medical units (they were non-combatants).
At 4.10 am on the third day (14th May) of her voyage , whilst fully illuminated in accordance with the Geneva Convention, a torpedo from the Japanese submarine ‘I-177’ struck the Centaur on the port side, near her oil bunkers causing the ship to catch fire and sink within two to three minutes. As most of the crew and army personnel were asleep at the time, there was little chance of escape and the loss of life was heavy. Only 29 of the ships crew, 34 army medical personnel, and one nurse: Sister Savage and one ships pilot survived the attack. These survivors were sighted by an RAAF search aircraft on the 15th and eventually rescued by the USS Mungford, an American destroyer.
The sinking of AHS Centaur drew strong reactions from the Australian Government, as it was clearly in breach of the Geneva Convention and the act of its sinking was considered a war crime. The Centaur soon became a symbol of determination against the Japanese. One example was when posters of the attack on the ship began appearing calling for ‘Australians to avenge the Nurses’ by producing materials for the war or enlisting in the army. This hospital ship symbolises the courage of Australian women in war and reminds us of all Australians who served on ships during wartime and have no graves but the sea.