Manunda

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

TSMV Manunda was an Australian passenger ship built for the Adelaide Steamship Company. Launched in 1928 and completed in 1929, she was the largest ship the company had at the time and carried passengers and cargo along the Australian coast. The ship was named after an Aboriginal word meaning “place near water,” and her sister ship Manoora followed in 1935.

Manunda arrived in Australia in June 1929 to operate routes between Sydney, Fremantle, Melbourne and Cairns. In late 1929 she rammed Birkenhead Wharf in Adelaide. The ship’s motor sails and two-ship design gave her a top speed of about 15 knots and a capacity of around 176 first-class and 136 second-class passengers.

When World War II began, Manunda was converted into a DEMS (Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship) vessel and later became a hospital ship (AHS Manunda) in 1940 under Captain James Garden. The hospital ship was supported by the Australian Army Nursing Service and other medical staff.

On 19 February 1942, during the Japanese air raids on Darwin, Manunda was badly damaged. Twelve crew and hospital staff were killed, many were seriously wounded, and others were lightly injured. Despite the injuries, the ship continued to help by acting as a casualty clearing station. Captain Garden was later awarded the OBE for bravery, and other crew members received gallantry and service decorations. Manunda also carried wounded personnel on numerous trips and served as a floating hospital at Milne Bay, making many voyages to Brisbane and Sydney.

After the war, Manunda helped repatriate ex-POWs and civilians. She was decommissioned in 1946, refitted, and returned to passenger service along the Australian coast in 1948. In 1956 she was withdrawn from service and sold to the Japanese Okadagumi Line, who renamed her Hakone Maru. The ship was scrapped in Osaka in 1957.

The name Manunda lived on in Australia as well: in 1973 the Cairns suburb of Manunda was named after the ship, and in 1975 the nearby suburb Manoora was named after her sister ship.