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Montevideo Maru Commemorative Seat and StoryboardPrint Page Print this page

The seat and storyboard commemorate the 1,053 Australian soldiers and civilians who died as prisoners on the hell ship, Montevideo Maru when it was torpedoed on the 1st July 1942. 

The unveiling of a commemorative seat at Mornington Memorial Park at 11am on Monday 23 January marks the 81st anniversary of the largest loss of life in Australian maritime history, when the Montevideo Maru was sunk in the Pacific during World War II.

The memorial includes a storyboard paying tribute to the 1053 Australian soldiers and civilians who died when the Montevideo Maru was sunk during the Japanese invasion of Rabaul on 1 July 1942 and became was one of the most shocking tragedies of the war in Australia and in the Pacific. 

The Battle of Rabaul was the first battle Australians fought in the Pacific war on what was then Australian territory. Rabaul was the administrative capital of the Mandated Territory of New Guinea, although it was changed to Lae a couple of months before January 1942.

The prisoner transport ship Montevideo Maru was not marked in any way to distinguish it from other Japanese shipping, and therefore it became a target of the allies, who fired four torpedoes at it from the USS Sturgeon off Luzon on the Philippines coast. Around 15 per cent of Australians who died as prisoners and internees of the Japanese died in the disaster.

The ceremony is an acknowledgement of the great loss of family members in the tragedy and the importance of having places of quiet reflection to think of soldiers and civilians caught up in war, so that their sacrifice is not forgotten.

Most of the soldiers and civilians in Rabaul spent five months in captivity working as forced labour for the Japanese before boarding the ship. Many were killed in the aftermath of the invasion and others died while trying to escape through dense tropical jungle, high mountains, crocodile infested rivers and also in the Tol Massacre. They died of hunger, disease, perils of having to escape hundreds of kilometres with no maps, medicines, firearms, as well as from their mistreatment by the Japanese.
The News, Mornington Peninsula, 16 January 2023. 



 

Location

Address:Barkly & Empire Street, Mornington Memorial Park, Mornington, 3931
State:VIC
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -38.221581
Long: 145.036181
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Seat
Monument Theme:Conflict
Sub-Theme:WW2

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Monday 23rd January, 2023
Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au