HMT Dunera
Encyclopedia
His Majesty's Transport Dunera was a British passenger ship
built as a troop transport in the late 1930s. She also operated as a passenger liner and as an educational cruise ship. Dunera saw extensive service throughout the Second World War
.
After trials in 1937, she was handed over to the British-India Steam Navigation Company
. In 1939, Dunera performed schools cruising service.
men of German
and Austria
n origin in Britain were rounded up as a precaution. The intention had been to segregate those who might pose a risk to security from those who were neutral or who had fled to Britain to escape from Nazism. But in a wave of xenophobia such distinctions became lost. In what Winston Churchill later regretted as, “a deplorable and regrettable mistake,” they were all suspected of being German agents, potentially helping to plan the invasion of Britain
, and a decision was made to deport them.
On 10 July 1940, 2,542 detainees, all classified as “enemy aliens”, were embarked onto Dunera at Liverpool. They included 200 Italian and 251 German prisoners of war, as well as several dozen Nazi sympathizers, along with 2,036 anti-Nazis, most of them Jewish refugees
. Some had already been to sea but their ship, the Arandora Star
, had been torpedoed with great loss of life. In addition to the passengers were 309 poorly trained British guards, mostly from the Pioneer Corps
, as well as seven officers and the ship’s crew, creating a total complement of almost twice the Dunera’s capacity as a troop carrier of 1,600.
The internees possessions were rifled and subsequently the British government paid ₤35,000 to the Dunera victims in compensation. Moreover, the 57 day voyage was made under the risk of enemy attack. But it was the physical conditions and ill-treatment that were most deplorable.
“The ship was an overcrowded Hell-hole. Hammocks almost touched, many men had to sleep on the floor or on tables. There was only one piece of soap for twenty men, and one towel for ten men, water was rationed, and luggage was stowed away so there was no change of clothing. As a consequence, skin diseases were common. There was a hospital on board but no operating theatre. Toilet facilities were far from adequate, even with makeshift latrines erected on the deck and sewage flooded the decks. Dysentery ran through the ship. Blows with rifle butts and beatings from the soldiers were daily occurrences. One refugee tried to go to the latrines on deck during the night – which was out-of-bounds. He was bayoneted in the stomach by one of the guards and spent the rest of the voyage in the hospital”.
Among the transportees on the Dunera were Franz Stampfl
, later the athletics coach to the four-minute-mile runner Roger Bannister
, Wolf Klaphake
, the inventor of synthetic camphor
, the tenor Erich Liffmann
, artists Heinz Henghes
, Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack
and Erwin Fabian, art historians Franz Phillipp and Ernst Kitzinger
, and the photographers Henry Talbot
and Hans Axel. Also on board were theoretical physicist Hans Buchdahl and his engineer (later philosopher) brother Gerd
; Alexander Gordon (Abrascha Gorbulski) who appeared in the documentary Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport
and Walter Freud grandson of Sigmund Freud
.
The television movie The Dunera Boys depicts their experiences, as do several books and websites.
On arrival in Sydney
on 6 September 1940, the first Australian on board was medical army officer Alan Frost. He was appalled and his subsequent report led to a court martial. Lieutenant-Colonel William Scott, the senior officer, was “severely reprimanded” as was Sgt Helliwell. RSM Bowles was reduced to the ranks and given a twelve months prison sentence and then discharged from the Army.
After leaving the Dunera the pale and emaciated refugees were transported through the night by train 750 km west of to Sydney to the rural town of Hay in the centre of New South Wales. “The treatment on the train was in stark contrast to the horrors of the Dunera – the men were given packages of food and fruit, and Australian soldiers offered them cigarettes. There was even one story of a soldier asking one of the internees to hold his rifle while he lit his cigarette.”
Back in Britain relatives had not at first been told what had happened to the internees, but as letters arrived from Australia there was a clamour to have them released and heated exchanges in the House of Commons. Colonel Victor Cazalet
, a Conservative MP said, on 22 August 1940 “Frankly I shall not feel happy, either as an Englishman or as a supporter of this government, until this bespattered page of our history has been cleaned up and rewritten.”
While interned in Australia, the internees set up and administered their own township with Hay currency (which is now a valuable collectors’ item) and an unofficial "university". When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, the prisoners were reclassified as "friendly aliens" and released by the Australian Government. Hundreds were recruited into the Australian Army and about a thousand stayed when offered residency at the end of the war. Almost all the rest made their way back to Britain, many of them joining the armed forces there. Others were recruited as interpreters or into the intelligence services.
Nothing remains of Hay camp except a road called Dunera Way and a memorial stone which reads:
This plaque marks the 50th anniversary of the arrival from England of 1,984 refugees from Nazi oppression, mistakenly shipped out on HMT “Dunera” and interned in Camps 7 & 8 on this site from 7. 9. 1940 to 20. 5. 1941. Many joined the AMF on their release from internment and made Australia their homeland and greatly contributed to its development. Donated by the Shire of Hay – September 1990.
in September 1942,
the Sicily landings in July 1943 and in September 1944, she carried the headquarters staff for the US 7th Army for the invasion of southern France
. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, Dunera transported occupation forces to Japan.
The Ministry of Defence
terminated Dunera's trooping charter in 1960 and she was refitted by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company
at Hebburn-on-Tyne in early 1961 for her new role as an educational cruise ship. New facilities (classrooms, swimming pool, games rooms, library and assembly rooms) were introduced. Her capacity became 187 cabin passengers and 834 children; tonnages 12,620 gross, 7,430 net.
In November 1967 she was sold to Revalorizacion de Materiales SA, and scrapped at Bilbao.
Passenger ship
A passenger ship is a ship whose primary function is to carry passengers. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freighters once common on the seas in which the transport of passengers is...
built as a troop transport in the late 1930s. She also operated as a passenger liner and as an educational cruise ship. Dunera saw extensive service throughout the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
After trials in 1937, she was handed over to the British-India Steam Navigation Company
British-India Steam Navigation Company
British India Steam Navigation Company was formed in 1856 as the Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company. The company had been formed out of Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co, a trading partnership of the Scots William Mackinnon and Robert Mackenzie, to carry mail between Calcutta and Rangoon. It...
. In 1939, Dunera performed schools cruising service.
The Dunera Boys
Through her next deployment Dunera lent her name to one of the more notorious events of British maritime history. After the fall of FranceBattle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
men of German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n origin in Britain were rounded up as a precaution. The intention had been to segregate those who might pose a risk to security from those who were neutral or who had fled to Britain to escape from Nazism. But in a wave of xenophobia such distinctions became lost. In what Winston Churchill later regretted as, “a deplorable and regrettable mistake,” they were all suspected of being German agents, potentially helping to plan the invasion of Britain
Operation Sealion
Operation Sea Lion was Germany's plan to invade the United Kingdom during the Second World War, beginning in 1940. To have had any chance of success, however, the operation would have required air and naval supremacy over the English Channel...
, and a decision was made to deport them.
On 10 July 1940, 2,542 detainees, all classified as “enemy aliens”, were embarked onto Dunera at Liverpool. They included 200 Italian and 251 German prisoners of war, as well as several dozen Nazi sympathizers, along with 2,036 anti-Nazis, most of them Jewish refugees
Jewish refugees
In the course of history, Jewish populations have been expelled or ostracised by various local authorities and have sought asylum from antisemitism numerous times...
. Some had already been to sea but their ship, the Arandora Star
Arandora Star
SS Arandora Star was a British registered cruise ship operated by the Blue Star Line from the late 1920s through the 1930s. At the onset of World War II she was assigned as a troop transport and moving refugees. At the end of June 1940 she was assigned the task of transporting German and Italian...
, had been torpedoed with great loss of life. In addition to the passengers were 309 poorly trained British guards, mostly from the Pioneer Corps
Royal Pioneer Corps
The Royal Pioneer Corps was a British Army combatant corps used for light engineering tasks.The Royal Pioneer Corps was raised on 17 October 1939 as the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps. It was renamed the Pioneer Corps on 22 November 1940...
, as well as seven officers and the ship’s crew, creating a total complement of almost twice the Dunera’s capacity as a troop carrier of 1,600.
The internees possessions were rifled and subsequently the British government paid ₤35,000 to the Dunera victims in compensation. Moreover, the 57 day voyage was made under the risk of enemy attack. But it was the physical conditions and ill-treatment that were most deplorable.
“The ship was an overcrowded Hell-hole. Hammocks almost touched, many men had to sleep on the floor or on tables. There was only one piece of soap for twenty men, and one towel for ten men, water was rationed, and luggage was stowed away so there was no change of clothing. As a consequence, skin diseases were common. There was a hospital on board but no operating theatre. Toilet facilities were far from adequate, even with makeshift latrines erected on the deck and sewage flooded the decks. Dysentery ran through the ship. Blows with rifle butts and beatings from the soldiers were daily occurrences. One refugee tried to go to the latrines on deck during the night – which was out-of-bounds. He was bayoneted in the stomach by one of the guards and spent the rest of the voyage in the hospital”.
Among the transportees on the Dunera were Franz Stampfl
Franz Stampfl
Franz F. L. Stampfl MBE was one of the world's leading athletics coaches in the twentieth century. He pioneered a scientific system of Interval Training which became very popular with sprint and middle distance athletes.-Early life:Stampfl was born in the capital of then Austro-Hungarian Empire...
, later the athletics coach to the four-minute-mile runner Roger Bannister
Roger Bannister
Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister, CBE is an English former athlete best known for running the first recorded mile in less than 4 minutes...
, Wolf Klaphake
Wolf Klaphake
Wolf Klaphake was a German-born scientist. He emigrated to Australia in 1935, where he was interred as an enemy alien from 1940 to 1944...
, the inventor of synthetic camphor
Camphor
Camphor is a waxy, white or transparent solid with a strong, aromatic odor. It is a terpenoid with the chemical formula C10H16O. It is found in wood of the camphor laurel , a large evergreen tree found in Asia and also of Dryobalanops aromatica, a giant of the Bornean forests...
, the tenor Erich Liffmann
Erich Liffmann
Erich Liffmann was a classically trained musician who began his working career as a sign writer in Germany...
, artists Heinz Henghes
Heinz Henghes
Heinz Henghes was a British sculptor.Born Gustav Heinrich Clusmann in Hamburg , at the age of 17, Henghes ran away from home to go to the United States. In New York City he met a number of artists and writers, and was influenced by Isamu Noguchi...
, Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack
Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack
Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack was a German/Australian artist.His formative education was 1912-1914 at Debschitz art school in Munich, and 1922 at the Bauhaus-University Weimar where following Kurt Schwerdtfeger he further developed "Farblichtmusiken" , a light and colour modulator...
and Erwin Fabian, art historians Franz Phillipp and Ernst Kitzinger
Ernst Kitzinger
Ernst Kitzinger was a German-American historian of late antique, early medieval, and Byzantine art.-Biography:...
, and the photographers Henry Talbot
Henry Talbot (photographer)
Henry Talbot, born Heinz Tichauer was a German-Australian fashion photographer noted for his long association with the Australian fashion industry, particularly the Australian Wool Board.-Life and career:...
and Hans Axel. Also on board were theoretical physicist Hans Buchdahl and his engineer (later philosopher) brother Gerd
Gerd Buchdahl
Gerd Buchdahl was a German-English philosopher of science, born to German-Jewish parents in Mainz.The developing natural sciences were the causal lens through which he viewed and from which he wrote about the consequences on epistemology and the history of metaphysics...
; Alexander Gordon (Abrascha Gorbulski) who appeared in the documentary Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport is a 2000 documentary film directed by Mark Jonathan Harris and narrated by Judi Dench. It tells the story of the kindertransport, an underground railroad that saved the lives of over 10,000 Jewish children...
and Walter Freud grandson of Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
.
The television movie The Dunera Boys depicts their experiences, as do several books and websites.
On arrival in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
on 6 September 1940, the first Australian on board was medical army officer Alan Frost. He was appalled and his subsequent report led to a court martial. Lieutenant-Colonel William Scott, the senior officer, was “severely reprimanded” as was Sgt Helliwell. RSM Bowles was reduced to the ranks and given a twelve months prison sentence and then discharged from the Army.
After leaving the Dunera the pale and emaciated refugees were transported through the night by train 750 km west of to Sydney to the rural town of Hay in the centre of New South Wales. “The treatment on the train was in stark contrast to the horrors of the Dunera – the men were given packages of food and fruit, and Australian soldiers offered them cigarettes. There was even one story of a soldier asking one of the internees to hold his rifle while he lit his cigarette.”
Back in Britain relatives had not at first been told what had happened to the internees, but as letters arrived from Australia there was a clamour to have them released and heated exchanges in the House of Commons. Colonel Victor Cazalet
Victor Cazalet
Colonel Victor Alexander Cazalet MC was a British Conservative Party Member of Parliament .Cazalet was commissioned into the Queen's Own West Kent Yeomanry in 1915 and reached the rank of Captain, winning the Military Cross in 1917...
, a Conservative MP said, on 22 August 1940 “Frankly I shall not feel happy, either as an Englishman or as a supporter of this government, until this bespattered page of our history has been cleaned up and rewritten.”
While interned in Australia, the internees set up and administered their own township with Hay currency (which is now a valuable collectors’ item) and an unofficial "university". When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, the prisoners were reclassified as "friendly aliens" and released by the Australian Government. Hundreds were recruited into the Australian Army and about a thousand stayed when offered residency at the end of the war. Almost all the rest made their way back to Britain, many of them joining the armed forces there. Others were recruited as interpreters or into the intelligence services.
Nothing remains of Hay camp except a road called Dunera Way and a memorial stone which reads:
This plaque marks the 50th anniversary of the arrival from England of 1,984 refugees from Nazi oppression, mistakenly shipped out on HMT “Dunera” and interned in Camps 7 & 8 on this site from 7. 9. 1940 to 20. 5. 1941. Many joined the AMF on their release from internment and made Australia their homeland and greatly contributed to its development. Donated by the Shire of Hay – September 1990.
Later Service
HMT Dunera's next notable services were the Madagascar operationsBattle of Madagascar
The Battle of Madagascar was the Allied campaign to capture Vichy-French-controlled Madagascar during World War II. It began on 5 May 1942. Fighting did not cease until 6 November.-Geo-political:...
in September 1942,
the Sicily landings in July 1943 and in September 1944, she carried the headquarters staff for the US 7th Army for the invasion of southern France
Operation Dragoon
Operation Dragoon was the Allied invasion of southern France on August 15, 1944, during World War II. The invasion was initiated via a parachute drop by the 1st Airborne Task Force, followed by an amphibious assault by elements of the U.S. Seventh Army, followed a day later by a force made up...
. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, Dunera transported occupation forces to Japan.
Post-war
In 1950/1951, Dunera was refitted by Barclay, Curle to improve her to postwar troopship specifications: her capacity was now 123 First Class, 95 Second Class, 100 Third Class and 831 troops; tonnages now 12,615 gross, 7,563 net and 3,675 tons deadweight.The Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
terminated Dunera's trooping charter in 1960 and she was refitted by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company
Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company
Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company Limited, often referred to simply as Palmers, was a British shipbuilding company. The Company was based in Jarrow, in Northeast England and also had operations in Hebburn and Willington Quay on the River Tyne....
at Hebburn-on-Tyne in early 1961 for her new role as an educational cruise ship. New facilities (classrooms, swimming pool, games rooms, library and assembly rooms) were introduced. Her capacity became 187 cabin passengers and 834 children; tonnages 12,620 gross, 7,430 net.
In November 1967 she was sold to Revalorizacion de Materiales SA, and scrapped at Bilbao.
External links
- Shipping Times
- The Dunera Boys at IMDb.