AHS2 Wanganella

Australian ex POWs from Batu Lintang camp about to embark. AWM 118509
History
Name	AHS 2 Wanganella
Builder/Built	1933 Harland & Wolff, belfast
Type	Passenger liner (Trans Tasman)
Displacement	9,576 tons
Speed	17 knots

Remarks

Originally named Achimota, the liner was acquired by Huddart Parker after the original sale to Elder Dempster Lines fell through.

Renamed Wanganella, the ship sailed between New Zealand and Australia until 1941, when she was converted into a hospital ship. As Australian Hospital Ship (AHS) Wanganella, the ship operated in support of Australian forces until 1946. In late 1945 ship carried ex POWs from Borneo home to Australia. In all she carried 13,385 wounded or sick soldiers. when she was returned to her civilian operator.

The increase in travel by air made operating the ship less viable, but before the ship was due to be scrapped in 1963, she was acquired and moored in Doubtful Sound, New Zealand, and used as a hostel for construction workers building the Manapouri Power Station until 1970. In April 1970, a tug towed Wanganella to Hong Kong, then later Taiwan, where she was scrapped.

Soldiers carried

Melbourne to Singapore 2 - 15 September 1941

2/13th Australian General Hospital, including

• Bessie Christina Ellen Muldoon

Kantara, Egypt to Fremantle 11 September - 1 October 1942

• Claude Raymond Anderson
• Victor Henry Mead

Morotai to Tarakan 21 - 25 June 1945

• David Deverell

Labuan Island to Sydney 26 Sep - 11 Oct 1945

• David Peter Gray

Labuan Island to Sydney 10 - 23 November 1945

• 2/4th Australian General Hospital
• Ernest Arnold Fallon boarded 13 Nov at Morotai

Wikipedia entry for MS Wanganella accessed 16/4/19