Mary James emailed with a request on Thursday, June 25, 2009...
Does anyone have any information about those people who were sent to Australia in 1940 on the Dunera as 'enemy aliens'?

I am researching about those sent out to Australia on the Dunera and in particular those who were previously put on the Arandora Star which was torpedoed.
I hope to hear from you.
Mary James

Email address supplied

Peter Eckersley contacted us on Friday...19/06/09

I sailed on the Dunera from Polymedia Camp Limasol in Aug 1956. It took ten days, the bay was heaving we thought at one time we weren’t going to make it. It was so rough when we reached Southampton the ship was listing to port due to all the water tanks emptying on one side and all the troops gathered on the listing side to catch our first glimpse of England for a while. Great site.
Peter Eckersley, Ex–sapper

Thank you for this Peter – great information and I wonder how many other guys would know about this site??
Email address supplied

Ian Broadbent has emailed in this great trip story...10/06/09

I’ve been collecting snippets of info and pictures relating to the Dunera for some time, but only today have I ‘discovered’ this site.

I sailed as part of the ’67 summer trip to Norway and Denmark from Grangemouth (Scotland). I was attending West Calder High.

The trip even began fantastically as we sailed out of the Forth under the still fairly new Forth Road Bridge. As we sailed under it the walkway was lined with parents waving their goodbyes (having raced along the road from Grangemouth to beat the ship to the bridge)......more

This is an excellent article - long enough to have its own page right here.
Thank you Ian, keep in touch!!

Email address supplied

John Klemantaski has written in today – 2nd June 2009
The site seems to be very quiet, like dead! Shame, because this is a little part of my past that I’d like to complete.

I was on the Easter ’63 cruise. I was at DCPS (Dulwich College Prep School) and have lost all my photos of that trip.

I remember the train across Europe to Venice and boarding the ship. I remember the Corinth canal, Malta, Gibraltar, Delphi, Piraeus, Athens and a lot of pereipheral stuff. Summer Holiday was THE movie. Oh yes, and Speedy Gonzalez on the jukebox in the canteen. Older girls in ski pants (I was 12). Twisting the night (well, the afternoon) away. A seriously heavy crossing of the Bay of Biscay on the way home. Grand piano breaking free in the salon etc. Waves towering above the decks. I had those pictures and lost them!

I was also terribly moved by what Liz Page wrote, quote "24/02/07...Liz Page (nee Lovelace) has written in... I was on the cruise in 1963 which returned the day Kennedy was shot too. I still dream of going back to Delphi and the Bronze Charrioteer. I was 13 at the time and have never forgotten"

I’d love to hear from anyone who was on those Mediterranean cruises in 1963. And Liz Page in particular.
Email John on this link

Editor’s note:
I guess I'm a tad guilty for the slow down on this site. I had hoped that the forum was going to "Liven it up" but it was a waste of time and I guess it put a LOT of people off....shame on me. So I decided that it was such an interesting set of information – as you seem to have found – that I have restarted the original format. Just hope I can keep up with it!! I have tried Liz Page's email address to no avail – I hope she may pop back here and see your post.

Michael Ayres 28th May 09
Is there any record of DUNERA’s movements immediately prior to July 1940, when she sailed to Australia? I am British but was born in Marseille in July 1939. My parents are long dead, but I have a recollection of being told that my mother and I were evacuated from Marseille on the last ship out of that port when I was aged 10 months, i.e. around May/June 1940, taking three weeks to reach Liverpool. I have a vague memory of being told that the ship on which we sailed was the DUNERA (and that Somerset Maugham was a fellow–passenger!). I would be very glad to have confirmation or otherwise of my recollection.
Thank you.
Michael Ayres
Email Michael from this link
Please keep in touch and let us know if you have any contact Michael! Many thanks

John Wilmot 9th May 09
I was on the MS Dunera 1962, April time i think,from Grangemouth, Scotland. Over to Bergen,Oslo, then to Copenhagen. I remember the helpful crew who helped us make those sheets and blanket into what looked and felt like a really snug sleeping bag.
Email address supplied but not shown unless requested

Mike McHugh 23rd May 09
I sailed to Kure, Japan, on the Dunera in 1954. After we left Singapore, the Captain announced that as there was a Typhoon moving down from Japan we would have to go up athe Formosa (now Taiwan) straits to miss it. He also said to disregard any shell fire between mainland China and Formosa as it would pass harmlessly over us. When we came out of the straits we ran into the typhoon and we were confined to sleeping quarters. Fortunately I was one of the few who was not seasick. When we got to Kure we saw the devastation the typhoon had done to the docks. The whole journey took 5 weeks. My return journey was on the MS Empire Fowey in December '55 and we raced the Dunera back to Southamton from Hong Kong.
Email address supplied but not shown unless requested

Henry Marshall on Tuesday, May 05, 2009
I sailed on the MS Dunera in 1953 when I was 5 with my mother and brother to join my father who was serving in Honk Kong at the time, it took 8 weeks and was an unforgetable memory, on board were troops bound for Korea many who sadly didn't return.