World War II — a lucky survivor from the liner Athenia is brought ashore

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is sending a wreath to Port Adelaide to be floated on the Port River at ANZAC Light on the Water 2010 with 3000 candle-lit cardboard lifeboats made by local school students.

The theme of the annual event this year will be a tribute to all those from all countries lost at sea in World War II, including civilians.

Representatives of the Australian Army, Navy, Air Force, Merchant Navy and the Maritime Union will join local veterans and families at the event on ANZAC Eve, Saturday April 24.

The event will include an all-faiths commemorative service with Port chaplain Rev Robin Trebilcock and the catafalque party from the National Servicemen’s Association (above) at the Navigator memorial on McLaren Wharf at Timpson Street at 5.50 pm.

Following a performance by the world-renowned SA Pipes and Drums, a lone piper will lead the catafalque party and an RAN ceremonial unit to the lighthouse for a special display and rifle volley.

Spectators will also be entertained by the Semaphore Choir of Hope and Harmony with an introduction by Rev Ali Wurm.

Speakers will be local Federal Member Mark Butler MP on behalf of Prime Minister Rudd and Veterans Affairs Minister Alan Griffin MP, South Australian Deputy Premier and Treasurer Kevin Foley MP and the Mayor of Port Adelaide Enfield, Gary Johanson.

North Haven Surf Lifesavers will launch the fleet of lifeboats in the Port River as dignitaries and members of the public float wreaths.
ANZAC Light on the Water was voted Port Adelaide Enfield Community Event of the Year in 2009 and is expected to attract a large crowd of veterans and families.

Federal Minister for Veterans Affairs Alan Griffin and local member Mark Butler helped to secure a special grant for the flags, which will go up each year to draw public attention to the event and to ANZAC Day itself.

This year Light on the Water will commemorate all those lost at sea in World War II; 3000 candlelit cardboard lifeboats made by local school students will be floated on the Port River as a tribute to Army, Navy, Air Force, Merchant Navy, medical and rescue, waterside workers and other civilians lost at sea around the world.

The event will begin at 6.30 pm on Queens Wharf on the river side of the Fisherman’s Wharf Markets building near Birkenhead Bridge and will include performances by the SA Pipes and Drums, the Community Choir of Hope and Harmony and an RAN ceremonial unit.

Our photos show the new ANZAC flag outside Port Adelaide Town Hall and along Commercial Road.

Voted Community Event of the Year in 2009, this commemorative event on the Port River on Anzac Eve, April 24, will be a special tribute to everyone lost at sea in World War II.

That includes all army, navy, airforce, merchant navy, medics, nurses, small craft crew , wharfies and civilian men, women and children.

Millions of people of all nations who died on oceans and rivers and in harbours from Darwin to Vladivostok, will be represented by 3000 candle-lit cardboard lifeboats made by local school students.

Many local families and visitors from around Australia are expected to gather on McLaren Wharf outside Fishermen’s Wharf Markets, to the left of Lighthouse Square, from 6.30 pm to pay their respects and remember their loved ones.

Each year renowned John creates a painting on the theme of the event; last years was the Australian hospital ship Centaur; it featured on the front cover of the programme for the special national commemorative service in Brisbane Cathedral last month following the finding of the wreck by shipwreck detective David Mearns.

With numerous exhibitions and art awards, John is one of South Australias leading marine artists and his work has been commissioned for many Australian, international, private and corporate collections, including the Make a Wish Foundation, the SA Maritime Museum, the Royal Australian Navy, Australia Post and the ABC series Navigators.

He also teaches art professionally from beginners to advanced.

Photo: Bruce Long, AAP

The World War II ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1943 and sank off the south-east Queensland coast.

Of the 332 people on board AHS Centaur only 64 survived.

This morning, seven days into an official search, the crew of Seahorse Spirit (pictured above) confirmed the location of the wreck.

Centaur search director David Mearns says the wreck location is about 30 nautical miles due east of the southern tip of Moreton Island at a depth of 2,059 metres.

Mr Mearns, who also led the searches for HMAS Sydney and the German commerce raider Kormoran, says the discovery is quite an achievement.

“It’s a great sense of relief and satisfaction,” he said.

“Every time you find a shipwreck like this it’s a little bit different and this was very, very hard compared to Sydney and Kormoran, whose finds were almost instantaneous.

“This has taken a number of days to really work out that we had the right target.”

Read the full story from ABC News.

Ian Hudson from the Centaur Association says the ship’s discovery will give closure to the loved ones of those who died.
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Over the next eight days, 89 people lost their lives, but miraculously 24 survived, most of them hanging on to the wreck in raging winter seas all that time.
 
The Navigator, sculptor Karen Genoff’s brilliant depiction of the tragic sinking of Admella at Carpenter Rocks, will be commemorated at 11 am on August 5 and many of Port Adelaide and Semaphore’s maritime families will be among the large crowd expected to attend the commemoration.
 
This major South Australian history project is the result an enormous amount of dedicated work by Karen Genoff, the Land Management Corporation (LMC), the City of Port Adelaide Enfield and contractors Seacon and Tillets.

Karen, seen here taking delivery of a 2.5-tonne black granite block for the memorial, has a diverse and widely acclaimed body of public art work across Australia.
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Read the full story here.

Read the full story here.

ABC Radio interview

Listen to an interview with Jan Thomas of the Centaur Association by Peter Scott of ABC Radio.

Max Chapman has spent most of his 65 years wondering where his father is.

He knows Earnest Ainslie Chapman was one of 268 people who died on the Centaur on May 14, 1943, just two months before Max came into the world.

See the full story and photo in the Sunshine Coast Daily.

Children applaud 86-year-old survivor
 
Hundreds of children applauded a survivor of the Australian hospital ship Centaur yesterday during services to mark the 66th year since the its sinking.
 
Martin Pash, 86, of Melbourne, laid a bundle of yellow flowers on the Centaur memorial at Coolangatta’s Point Danger, which the ship passed shortly before it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine during World War II.
 
See the full story by Tuck Thompson of the Brisbane Courier Mail.