HMAT A61 Kanowna

HMAT A61 Kanowna in Hospital ship livery - Wikipedia
History
Name	HMAT A61 Kanowna
Builder/Built	1902 W Denny & Co of Dumbarton
Type	SS Troopship
Displacement	6,993 tons
Speed	14 knots

Remarks

Prior to being requisitioned, the Kanowna was operated by the Australian United Steam Navigation Company, and it served the Sydney to Fremantle route. Initially requisitioned by the Kennedy Regiment, which embarked on 8 Aug 1914 for Thursday Island and Torres Strait. She carried 1,000 troops to Port Moresby where she was to rendezvous with the rest of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force that was to capture German New Guinea. Mid voyage, however, the firemen aboard were said to have gone on strike, and thus the Kanowna was required to return to Townsville, stoked by the troops, most of whom then joined the AIF. The ship was returned to her owners.

Requisitioned again on 1 Jun 1915, from July 1915 she began to move 1,100 troops to Egypt, before in late 1915 sailing to England to be converted into a Hospital Ship capable of carrying approx. 450 patients.

She was then designated as No2 Australian Hospital Ship, and made 10 return journeys to Australia with wounded and sick troops. On one of her return journeys to England she carried the 1st Dermatological Hospital (Infectious Diseases). Later this unit became the Bulford Hospital. The Kanowna carried on as a Hospital Ship until as late as October 1919 before being returned to her owners on 29 Jul 1920.

In Feb 1929 the Kanowna ran aground near Wilson's Promontory without loss of life. The wreck was discovered in 2005 50 kilometres from the coast.

Soldiers carried

Egypt to Fremantle 21 October - 22 November 1915

• Albert Stephenson Jackson

From this point onwards the Kanowna operated as Hospital Ship No. 2

Medical Staff

• Inez Clare Cronin 27 Jul 1915 to 25 Sep 1917

Patients carried

Alexandria to England 13 August - ?? August 1916

• Henry Melville Hardinge

England to Fremantle 9 September - 20 October 1916

• James Barber
• William Henry Ottey
• John James Thorpe

England to Adelaide 23 December 1916 - 16 February 1917

• William Ellis

England to Fremantle 30 June - 24 August 1918

• John Harold Coffen
• Thomas Edward Raine

England to Fremantle 5 January - 20 February 1919

• Reginald William Edwards
• John Kiely

England to Fremantle 28 August - 14 October 1919

• Henry Ogilvie Allom (Jnr)
• Hubert Maitland Armstrong MM
• John Thomas Clements