- Author
- A.N. Other and NHSA Webmaster
- Subjects
- Ship histories and stories, History - Between the wars
- Tags
- None noted.
- RAN Ships
- HMAS Australia II
- Publication
- March 1981 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
The 10,000 ton cruiser HMAS Australia left Sydney on the 4th December 1934, en-route for Brisbane to pick up HRH the Duke of Gloucester for his return to the United Kingdom. The ship arrived back in Sydney on the 11th August 1936, after what had been a very eventful cruise. During her time away from her home land, the ship had passed through both the Panama and Suez Canals, had attended the Jubilee Naval Review, Spithead. She had been put on a full war alert during the Abyssinian Crisis and she had “scooped the pool” two years running in the Mediterranean Fleet Regatta. All in all it was a very memorable cruise.
The following series of photographs are taken from a collection of the late Keith Harvey, who served in the ship during the cruise. Space does not permit the full reproduction of “ACK” Harvey’s collection, but the selection shown given an idea of some of the incidents recorded during the 1934-36 period.