RMS Orford departing from Station Pier, Port Melbourne
The Age (Melbourne, Vic.: 1854- )20 Mar 1934
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RMS Orford carries leading sports stars
“Crowded tourist ship will carry Test and Davis Cup teams” – The Age
Orient Liner RMS Orford departs from Station Pier, Port Melbourne. The Orford carried the Test cricket team, Davis Cup team and Australian Open winner Joan Hartigan to England. The press radioed through daily reports on their activities:
- Batsman Bill Brown danced the fox-trot, displaying footwork similar to the grace he showed at the wicket
- Alluding to the seasickness of Don Bradman and Stan McCabe, how they were making up for meals lost on The Great (very choppy) Australian Bight
- Joan Hartigan discarded her bright blue shorts for brighter blue bathers and was first to sample the pool
- Spin bowler Bill “Tiger” O’Reilly was tripped by a passenger on the deck and spent the voyage with bandaged wrists
- Wicket keeper Ben Barnett’s conjuring tricks and constantly whirring movie camera.
On arrival at Southampton, awaiting lowering of the gangway, Bradman entertained the team at the piano, playing popular tunes while the cricketers sang. Just a few years later, the Orford was requisitioned for Australian Government Service, transporting the first Australian troops to Egypt in 1940. On 1 June that same year, she was bombed and set on fire at Marseilles by German aircraft with 14 crew killed and 25 wounded.
MCK001 Inkjet print by John Gollings on Canson Platine Fibre Rag
Published: The Age 21 March 1934
Featured in "Newsworthy: Melbourne in photographs 1933-1936" exhibition at East Melbourne Library, October to December 2023. Exhibition caption by project volunteer, Fiona Collyer.
Title:
RMS Orford departing from Station Pier, Port Melbourne
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Date of work:
20 Mar 1934
Reference number:
MCK001
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Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
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Graphic materials
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Refer to individual item records for Use Restrictions.Please contact City of Melbourne Libraries about obtaining permission to reproduce images. High resolution files may be available on request. Users must acknowledge City of Melbourne Libraries when reproducing images.
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Photographer notations on slide: B19Published: 21 March 1934 The Age p11Published title: CROWDED TOURIST SHIP WILL CARRY TEST AND DAVIS CUP TEAMS.Published caption: Carrying an exceptionally large number of tourists, business men and prominent sporting personalities, R.M.S. Orford sailed for London yesterday. Over two hundred passengers embarked at Melbourne, and on leaving the Australian coast there will be two thousand persons on board. The Australian Test team will join the vessel at Fremantle and the remaining two Davis Cup representatives will embark at Adelaide. A picture of the Orford taken just as she moved out from Station Pier, Port Melbourne, under her own steam.Trove article identifier: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203826897.Description: Passenger ship about to depart Station Pier, Port Melbourne..Research by project volunteer, Fiona Collyer:The RMS Orford was built by Vickers-Armstrong Shipyard Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England and launched in 1927 by Lady Ryrie, the wife of Sir Granville Ryrie, the Australian Ambassador to the UK..The Orford was owned by the Orient Steam Navigation Ltd and was designed for the mail and passenger service between England and Australia. She was 20,000 tons, 658 ft long, 75 ft across and 80 ft high from water-line to deck. She had eight decks, a swimming pool and cost more than £1,000,000. She could travel at 20 knots – 480 miles a day, a 5 week voyage between Australia and England. There were enough lifeboats to accommodate every person on board..Promoted as a ship of comfort, luxury, speed and grace with spacious, beautifully decorated lounges, smoking-rooms and writing rooms, the SMH 23/11/1928 review said “sitting-rooms where the furniture recreates the air of quiet, exquisite, safe luxury; suites where you may retire from other people, and on a sea voyage other people, even the most charming other people, often begin to resemble one’s worst enemies towards the end of several weeks sea voyaging together”..“Travel like a human being. This is what the great liners give you today. The Orford dining room is enormous (it seated 350 people) the walls sweep up to a white, cool roof supported on decorative pillars. Panels of grey scagliola and carved designs remove the bleak, comfortless air which used to cling to dining-rooms of ships. Everything about them was so wretchedly temporary that you could not enter them without wishing that you stayed at home. They gave you the creeps and indigestion. This room is gay, bright, sunlit, like a luxurious café overlooking the sea.”“You really feel in here that you are a human being and not a piece of cargo endowed with sensation.”.The Orford had the punkah louvre system of ventilation which forced draughts through every part of the ship, ensuring “No Ship Smells!!” and avoiding - “… a mayonnaise of all the unpleasant odours generated under heaven. From the hot oil of the engines, from those overheated, bottomless pits below the water-line, from new paint and food, from people perspiring at work, from rope and tar and grease and fruit and wet clothes and tobacco, rises a deplorable incense that lingers unsettlingly in the nostril long after one has left the ship. Those dreadful odours will never rise to torture the senses of passengers who feel that all is over with them.”.The modern electric kitchen had a roll making machine capable of producing 2000 rolls for the table an hour and a bread and butter machine which cut the bread into slices and spread the butter in one operation. (The Week – Brisbane 30/11/1928).On 13/10/1928, the Orford made its first voyage to Australia with 520 first class and 1100 3rd class passengers. The name of the passengers embarking and disembarking and their reason for visiting were published in newspapers and the number of migrants for the New Settlers Scheme and the Dreadnought Boys Co program to promote and assist the migration of British youths willing to become farm workers in Australia 1911-1939 were noted too..On the 19th March 1932, RMS Orford featured in the “Parade of Ships” celebrating the official opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Only country people were allowed to book a ticket as a guest on board. The Post Office issued commemorative postage stamps showing the Orford sailing under the bridge..In March 1934, the Orford sailed from Australia to London, via Colombo, Aden, Port Said, Naples, Villefranche, Toulon, Parma, Gibraltar and Channel Port. Amongst the 2000 passengers on board was the Davis Cup Tennis team, tennis champions Joan Hartigan and Nell Hopman, the Australian Test cricket team and British champion swimmer Joyce Cooper. Every day tennis player Harry Hopman and an Australian Press Association reporter radioed through reports on their activities, which included –- Test cricket batsman Len Darling having spend 4 days in his cabin after straining his groin when he slipped over while playing ball tennis in his slippers.- Batsman Bill Brown dancing the fox-trot, displaying footwork similar to the grace he showed at the wicket.- Alluding to the seasickness of Don Bradman and Stan McCabe and how they were making up for meals lost on the Great (very choppy) Australian Bight.- Miss Joan Hartigan discarding her bright blue shorts for brighter blue bathers and being first into the pool.- Bowler Bill O’Reilly being tripped by a passenger on the deck and spending the voyage with bandaged wrists with daily updates of his progress in the press.- Wicketkeeper Ben Barnett’s conjuring tricks and constant whirring movie camera.- Results of the quoits, ball tennis and bridge tournaments..A fancy dress ball was held one night and the cricketers dressed as sheiks and sang “The Riff Song” from the pre-code 1929 operetta film “The Desert Song” starring John Bates as the Red Shadow and Myrna Lay as a native dancing girl. Alan Kippax’s beard blew overboard! Joan Hartigan dressed as Burlington Bertie from the music hall song and Nell Hopman a doll in a box wearing a crinkled paper dress. On arrival at Southampton, while they waited for the gangway to be lowered, Bradman entertained the team at the piano playing popular tunes while the cricketers sang..In 1935, RMS Orford’s third class accommodation was converted to tourist class. Her passenger capacity was now 468 First Class, 515 tourist class and 440 crew. First saloon from Sydney fares cost for single £76, £82, £88 and Third Class fares were £21, £23, £25. Less than a penny a mile..In 1936, the Orford embarked the exiled Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie at Gibraltar on his way to the UK. In 1939, she was requisitioned for Australian government service and on 7/1/1940 she conveyed the first Australian troops to Egypt and was then used to carry French troops from Tamatave, Madagascar to Marseilles. On 1/6/1940 RMS Orford was bombed and set on fire at Marseilles by German aircraft. 14 crew were killed, 25 wounded. In 1947, the wreck was re-floated and broken up at Savona...References:R.M.S. ORFORD. (1928, November 23). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 14. Retrieved September 15, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16511535ARRIVAL OF THE ORFORD (1928, November 30). The Week (Brisbane, Qld. : 1876 - 1934), p. 21. Retrieved September 15, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article181126802CROWDED TOURIST SHIP WILL CARRY TEST AND DAVIS CUP TEAMS. (1934, March 21). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 11. Retrieved October 5, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203826897
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Images, maps and artefacts
Record number:
1534481
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copy | MCK001.jpg | 1 JPG | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |