A history of Australian P&O Cruise ships -- films and images from the archive Part 2

[@chrislangton8759]

Terrific trip down memory lane. We travelled to England on the Strathmore...53 or so and back on the Iberia in 56 where we collided with the Stanvac Pretoria tanker.....limped into Colombo...nothing can compare !!

[@Angel-ul1jl]

My grandfather came to Australia from Port Said on the S.S Ormonde in the 1920's.I am lucky enough to have his original Orient Lines ticket & his passport (which we are yet to translate) very interesting to see photos of the ship..

[@michaelmills4585]

I was a Radio Officer with the P & O company, sailing on the Iberia on her first voyage to Australia and then Stratheden followed by a year or so on the Arcadia - with the first two trips across the Pacific ... Superb ships of their day, wonderfully crewed with a mix of Indian, Goan and European - a great combination. My other ships were on the China run - equally super. Nowadays they all look like floating hotels with no character whatsoever - great shame!!

[@BrianMundyWTC]

Very nice to see these photos. I travel to Australia in 1960 the Strathaird, it took 5 weeks. I then went back to the uk in late 1962 on the Oriana.

[@DogmanBarrance]

My great-grandfather - Captain John Barrance Browning - Commodore of the P&O Line - Lead the flotilla of ships and boats (aboard RMS Maloja) beneath Sydney Harbour Bridge during the opening ceremony on Saturday the 19th of March 1932. Meanwhile, there was a drama with the cutting of the ribbon up on the bridge, involving an unruly horse mounted army captain brandishing a sword.

[@dieseldavetrains8988]

Very enjoyable, pity some were flicked through too quick, by the time you read the ships details, whoosh, onto the next. Great narration and great to see Sydney before huge development, well done and thank you.

[@TOMKAT357]

Very enjoyable.i was on ORONSAY in the 60s ...........i am trying to track the ports of call on one voyage 14/8/1961--14/1/1962 i was on as my memory fails me. Thank you Alan Reid

[@christophercrawford3636]

In 1947, my mother, myself, and my sister traveled from Tilbury Docks, London on the Georgic (I'm not sure if this was a P&O liner?). We settled in Melbourne where my father served in the Royal Australian Navy. In 1952, as a family, we returned to the UK on the Strathnaver, and a year later with a new sister, we sailed from Southhampton back to Melbourne on the Orsova. As an adventurous and naughty child, I have particularly vivid and enjoyable memories of the 1952/1953 voyages including the gong melody that announced meal times and adjusting the deck chairs so that the back ratchet was set to ensure that when sat upon, collapse would result.

[@patricknullo4196]

Georgic was the last of the White Star liners. My family also arrived in Australia aboard her in 1949

[@christophercrawford3636]

@@patricknullo4196 Patrick..thanks for the clarification re White Star. I have a copy of the Georgic landing document that shows me, my sister, and my mother disembarking in Melbourne. Unfortunately, it is not dated and the names of other disembarking passengers have been "blurred out". For one moment, I had the crazy thought that your family may have been on the same voyage however, I cannot identify our arrival date. I was able to obtain this document by writing to the Australian National Archives who apparently have this same arrival information for all passengers disembarking in Australia.

[@patricknullo4196]

@@christophercrawford3636 Think you may be a year or two out Christopher, as she made her first voyage on the Australia run in 1949, leaving Liverpool on January 11. This was the sailing we were on, which I believe docked at Port Melbourne on February 12. So we may well have been shipmates!

[@christophercrawford3636]

@@patricknullo4196 You may well be correct so I need to find the documentation that came with the landing document which is undated. Your mention of Liverpool is interesting as I am certain we sailed from Tilbury, London Dock. Could the Georgic have sailed from Liverpool and then on to Tilbury? With both parents deceased, I'm not able to easily verify dates, etc. Your comment that the Georgic made her first run to Australia in January 1949 certainly suggests that we may well have been shipmates.

[@patricknullo4196]

@@christophercrawford3636 As far as I can discover, she didn't dock @ Tilbury but went straight to Suez. These were pretty "no frills" trips according to my late parents. Were you perchance born in 1945? I was a toddler at the time, so have no memory of the voyage at all, sadly.

[@brianschofield1115]

Interesting but somewhat disappointed, no mention of the Himalaya in which i served in the 60s.

[@jimspc07]

I do wish the people experts or otherwise would stop referring to trips made by ships as cruises. Virtually all ships up to those of the 1970s were liners and did what was called voyages, which is what they were built for. they were not cruise ships. Yes, in the later part of this era many did cruises from time to time. But their main reason for existence was line voyages. Be that simply across the Atlantic or to Australia and New Zealand carrying people who needed to get to those places and others in between. They carried cargo as well. They were not cruising. The single main difference between the cruises they did do and today's cruise ships is that these older ships visited ports to let people see the place they were visiting. To days cruising is now more focused on the "onboard" experience the visits to ports just seemingly being an excuse to cruise on what is now a floating modernised butlins camp. This is possibly because the port authorities in many places have made it prohibitive to spend time in port allowing people to see what is happening there as they did in the prior era. And. Yes. I have spent time on liners of the prior era doing both voyages and cruises, several years in fact.