HMAT A55 Kyarra

History
Name	HMAT A55 Kyarra
Builder/Built	1903 William Denny & Bros Co Ltd of Dumbarton
Type	passenger / cargo ship
Displacement	6,953 tons
Speed	15.4 knots

Remarks

Built initially for the Fremantle to Sydney route, and owned by the United Steam Navigation Company Ltd of London she could carry 2,600 tons of general cargo and 286 passengers (126 first class & 160 second class.)

On 6 Nov 1914 she was requisitioned and converted into a hospital ship for transporting Australian hospital units to Egypt. Painted white with a large red cross on either side, she made four trips from Australia in hospital livery.

In March 1915, Kyarra was converted into a troop transport, and made three additional journeys to England with troops before Commonwealth control ceased on 4 Jan 1918 when she was transferred to the British Admiralty.

On 5 May 1918 while sailing from Tilbury docks London to Devonport on the south coast of England she was sunk by U-Boat UB-57 near Swanage with a loss of six lives.

Soldiers carried

• 1st Australian General Hospital Second convoy

Suez to Melbourne 27 October - 25 December 1918

• Beverley John Liddelow