USAT Van der Lijn
From Our Contribution
Remarks
Named after an early Dutch Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), she was owned by the Dutch Royal Parcel Shipping Company. Her normal route was Singapore-Bawean-Soerabaja-East Borneo-Soerabaja-Bali-Lombok-Java-Singapore. In 1942 she was able to get away from the Japanese to Australia, where it was chartered to carry Australian troops to and from the islands. On 4 Sep 1942, while in Townsville in a convoy that included Cremer and Van Heutsz, 'Van der Lijn was damaged in a collision with Perthshire.
In 1945 it was released back to its owners and in 1958 it was sold to Hong Kong for scrapping.
Soldiers carried
Cairns to Milne Bay 7 - 11 August 1943
2/28th Battalion boarded 4 August