Next Event…

Monthly Meeting at 1900 on Monday 27 March 2023 at the Waverley RSL – Sunset Room 161 Coleman Parade, Glen Waverley

Guest Speaker

           

Mr Chris Harvey

    “The Antarctic Voyage of

           HMAS Wyatt Earp”

 

Chris Harvey comes from a long line of people who have served in Australia’s armed forces since the Boer War.  He followed in his father’s footsteps by joining the HMAS Westralia Association.  As members of this and kindred associations crossed the bar, he and a handful of descendants gathered to form the Armed Merchant Cruisers & Landing Ships Infantry Association of Victoria, of which he is now President.

Chris will outline the story of Australia’s first Antarctic exploration since the voyage by Sir Douglas Mawson in 1929-31.  Conducted in the summer of 1947-48, this voyage was undertaken in a relatively old, single engine, wooden hulled ship just 41.3 metres long and top speed of 8.5 knots.  Starting life as a Norwegian herring boat in 1919, then employed by an American explorer in four Antarctic expeditions from 1933 to 1939, the little ship saw wartime service in the RAN before paying off in 1944.  In late 1947 she was commissioned as HMAS Wyatt Earp, for a Government task to reconnoitre a site for a permanent station on the Antarctic continent, as the beginning of the Australian Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE).  Ultimately tortuous weather and ice conditions prevented the ship from reaching the coast, though the voyage achieved some of its scientific aims.

The presentation will be illuminated by photos taken by one of the ship’s company (AB N. Tame) and the embarked official photographer Laurence Le Guay.  Also displayed will be recently discovered artefacts owned by another crew member (Stoker R. Manser) plus the detailed diary of the voyage kept throughout by the ships engineer (Chief ERA W. Hoy).

Members and Guests are most welcome

A relaxing meal and drink beforehand in the RSL’s delightful Warramunga Room is always a pleasant prelude to the 1900 meeting