Katoomba (McIlwraith McEacharn)
No stranger to war, Katoomba had served internationally as a troopship and a returnee prisoner-of-war carrier from May 1918 to September 1919. March 1941 saw her again requisitioned as a troopship and with occasional short commercial breaks she carried troops and supplied to Northern Australia, Papua New Guinea and Asian areas, also assisting in civilian evacuation of threatened Pacific islands. Katoomba was fortunate that her speed enabled her to escape undamaged from an encounter with a Japanese submarine’s gunfire off Adelaide in August 1942.