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Tasmanian Seafarers' Memorial
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SS Wollongbar (1943)
The plaque reads ...
S.S. 'Wollongbar' (DEMS)
Left Byron Bay NSW bound for Sydney
cargo of bacon & 18,000 cases of butter.
Torpedoed off Crescent Bay 29.04.1943
sank with loss of 32 crew including
Tasmanian RAN DEMS gunner:-
White, Dennis Francis AB H610 MPD
5 survivors reached Port Macquarie.
DEMS (Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship)
SS Wollongbar Australian SS, 2,239 tons, torpedoed off Port Macquarie, NSW, at 10.40 am on 29.4.1943
'The North Coast Steam Navigation (NCSN) steamer, Wollongbar II, had spent two days unloading a record general cargo at Byron Bay and was busy loading 18,000 cases of butter and a cargo of bacon from the Byron Bay bacon factory. The Wollongbar II, during peacetime, had traded mainly between Byron Bay and Sydney and normally had accommodation for about 150 passengers. At this time she carried a crew of 37. She was torpedoed near Crescent Heads, NSW - only 5 men survived.
See also Royal Navy page.