Jackie Wenham and her sister discovered my website and found the history, photos, stories, etc. on the S. S. Australis very interesting. They travelled out to Australia on the ship in June, 1972 under the “10 pound Poms” scheme. Jackie and Susan came from Bournemouth and emigrated to Sydney just for the fun of it. Jackie's sister met and married an Australian, and now live in Northern NSW where they have a macadamia farm.

Jackie met an English guy at work in Sydney, he came out from Dartford in Kent on the Brittanis in December 1968 on his own. They returned to England in October 1974 on the Australis, and had a great 5 week holiday, going via the Panama Canal. They realy enjoyed this, apart from a bad storm which they sailed through, and some passengers hurt themselves falling over and broke arms & legs. The ship hit the side of the Panama Canal which resulted in a hole in the ship.

The photos were taken on the 1972 trip. Jackie and her sister went into the shows on the ship. They performed “Shaft” and also something from “Hair”, and were in one of the Greek shows during the voyage. In Cape Town they went up the top of Table Mountain with the guys in the band, and had a marvellous day out. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves for the 4 weeks on the ship, and went to bed very late every night. The girls were in a 4 berth cabin down in the bowels of the ship, and very rarely surfaced in time for breakfast. ...All good memories.

Welcome all visitors to the S.S. Australis Website, which has now been online since 1998! I will continue to update the site if I receive a new story, or if you have interesting photos taken on the ship during your voyage on either the southbound, northbound, or on one of the South Pacific cruises. We used to do those trips several times a year from Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland (New Zealand). I am deeply moved by the interest and wonderful contributions from the numerous passengers and crew over many years. You can send an e-mail to me on the link below: A HUGE THANK YOU Warm Regards Ken