3. The Barrier Reef

It was fine going up to Thursday Is, winding in and out, through the reefs, day and night, it happened to be lovely moonlight nights and there is absolutely no better place to be at sea than in that part of the Pacific and all around the South Seas Is; there are some fine sights and it is always fine weather, well, when we arrived at Thursday Is. we got rid of all the gear that we didn’t absolutely need, all our boats except three, which are sea boats, my boat went ashore. “The Captain’s Galley” which is the “tiddely boat” of the ship, also we put ashore a lot of the officers’ furniture, doors off cabins, mirrors etc in fact we made the ship properly ready for war. All the time, barring a destroyer, we were a “lone ship” on our pat, as we would say, but we soon met the flagship, Encounter and three destroyers at a rendezvous, somewhere in Mid Ocean, miles from anywhere, there was just a nice swell on and all captains had to go aboard the Flagship for a conference. I was in the boat that took our skipper across and I can tell you it was a great sight to see the ships heaving with the swell and the different boats making for the Flagship, on our way over we saw a monster shark, well, we are supposed to be strictly silent in the boat with the skipper in, but one fellow couldn’t help but sing out, it was just by the blades of the oars, she would have capsized us if she had struck the boat in the swell, that was on a Sunday, (I forget all the dates) and after that we all got under weigh again, and they posted, together with the plan, the news that we were to make a night attack on German New Guinea. We expected to find part of the German Squadron in “Simpson Haven” the harbour to “Rabaul” the capital of G. N. Guinea, we (the “Sydney”) with our three destroyers were to make the attack, the “Australia” covering us, well on the Tuesday at about 4 O’Clock, the destroyer with us left the Flagship at 20 knots, and all hands assembled and cheered, and the Flagship’s band played as each ship passed her, it was great, we certainly thought we were going to have a smack at something, we did a whole night of suspense, but any fight.Image 1 painted by Rudolf Hellgrewe via Traditionsverband
Image 2 painted by Rudolf Hellgrewe - Bismarckburg via Traditionsverband.
Image 3 of German New Guinea via Wikipedia
Image 4 Map of German New Guinea via Wikipedia

4. German New Guinea and Queensland

They had a gig wireless station on the island, but it was too far inland for us to take it then and I suppose we had other work on, so we left that day until we got land troops and took possession properly, that was nearly a month after, so it gave the Germany plenty of time to defend the wireless stations, but I must proceed to tell you my wanderings before we came back to take possession. There are so many islands in this part of the Pacific that it is easy for a ship to hide away, so, after leaving Simpson Haven, we steamed slowly through the Solomon Group of Islands, which was a fine trip, although we were having spasms all the time, taking trees for masts of ships, etc., we were on our way to Rossel Is. for coal and oil, we coaled in a great reef with the entrance facing the island, we there met the Melbourne, for the first time since the outbreak of the war; from Rossel Is. we made for Sandy Cape, off the coast of Queensland, we picked up a transport there loaded with troops formed in Sydney, she was the “Berrima” one of the latest P. & O. Branch Boats, we escorted her into a small harbour at Palm Is. further north of Queensland. We then went into Townsville for coal, provisions, etc., after we had got all ready for sea again, we all went for a route march through Townsville, we stopped in batches at two hotels and were allowed to have one drink, only one, of course, and as many more as you could get in the time allowed, it was very hot weather you know, and we marched back to the ship singing songs and all happy and satisfied. We then returned to Palm Island and as we were waiting orders, we had a fairly easy time for a couple of days, there were a few seining (fishing) parties; while at Palm Is. we picked up our two submarines and together with the transport, we proceeded to Port Moresby, British New Guinea. We there met another transport the “Kanowna” which had been formed in Queensland, she was ordered with us to Rossel Is. again, but on our way something went wrong with her and our skipper ordered her to proceed to Townsville and disband, we carried on to Rossel Is., we then picked up the remainder of the Fleet, and went to Rabaul again, landed troops and after quite a few exciting spasms took possession of G. N. Guinea and Bismark Archipelago. While we were there, we lost a submarine A.E.1 with all hands. We were ordered to Sydney, but we first steamed up the coast in search of the submarine.

Image 1, painting of Pomonahaven, New Guinea by Frank Bukacs via Traditionsverband
Image 2, HMAS Melbourne via Wikipedia
Image 3, painting of Apia, Samoa by Frank Bukacs via Traditionsverband
Image 4 painted by Themistokles von Eckenbrecher, German New Guinea via Traditionsverband
International colonial interests claimed much of the land of the Pacific. In New Guinea, the main parties were Britain, Japan and Germany. The sustainable production of the indigenous inhabitants was disrupted to produced plantations for export. In German tropical colonies, Coffee, cocoa, tobacco and peanuts were grown for export around the globe, as can be read in the painting by von Eckenbrecher (upside down at the top), where a pricelist is offered free of charge. Control of the colonies meant control of the supplies of resources.(ed.)