Tag Archives: Queen Mary Sydney May 1941

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Ermanno Nicoletti and Agostino Marazzi were brought together by war.

Together they arrived in Australia on the Queen Mary 27th May 1941 and were transported by train to Hay Prisoner of War Camp.

While at Hay, Agostino Marazzi (standing 2nd left) is photographed beside Ermanno Nicoletti (standing 1st left).

Hay, NSW. 9 September 1943. Group of Italian prisoners of war (POW) interned at No. 6 POW Group. In this group are known to be: 45513 Francesco Del Viscio; 46331 Ermanno Nicoletti; 45852 Italo Gramiccia; 46320 Natale Nunziati; 46207 Valerio Mezzani 45498 Giovanni Di Pinto; 45496 Giuseppe Di Pilla; 46199 Agostino Marazzi; 46511 Alfonso Patrizi and 48922 Sergio Galazzi. Note: The number is an assigned POW number.

Not long after the photo was taken Ermanno Nicoletti was transferred to Cowra Camp and farm work in the Macksville district of New South Wales and Agostino Marazzi was transferred to Wayville South Australia and to farm work in the Mt Barker district.

But they stayed in contact.

Recently Amedeo obtained a copy of his father’s extra Australian file. Another connection between Agostino and Ermanno is realised. 

On 12th February 1944, Agostino wrote a letter to Ermanno and a section of the letter was kept in his file. Agostino wrote, “Here I have found all that I desired; solitude a beautiful little house surrounded by trees and a splendid garden… the food is very good.”

Decades later in Italy Agostino Marazzi and Ermanno Nicoletti reconnect.

Agostino Marazzi and Ermanno Nicoletti (photo courtesy of Amedeo Marazzi)

Agostino shared with the Nicoletti family the memory of Ermanno Nicoletti’s kindness and concern for other Italian soldiers. Ermanno was a talented artist and he would exchange sketches for food and medicines for other prisoners.

Family celebrations brought the two families together.  On the occasion of Amedeo Marazzi’s confirmation, Ermanno Nicoletti was his sponsor.  

Ermanno and Amedeo (photo courtesy of Amedeo Marazzi)

Alessandra Nicoletti remembers that her nonno, Ermanno and Agostino were close friends. The Marazzi family attended the wedding of Ermanno’s daughter, while Ermanno and his wife Maria attended the wedding of Amedeo Marazzi, Agostino’s son.

Wedding of Maria Luisa and Amedeo Marazzi 8th June 1981.  

Maria Luisa, Amedeo, Maria, Ermanno and Agostino. (photo courtesy of Amedeo Marazzi)

Seventy-five years later, the Marazzi and Nicoletti families continue to be connected to a shared history.

You have a deeper connection with people who you have shared experiences with and shared pain. Negash Ali

Contented prisoner of war returns

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by Joanne Ciaglia

Angelo Marino Macolino was born in San Lupo on 31/3/1912 to Antonio Macolino and Filomena Cesare.  Angelo Marino worked on his family’s farm in San Lupo and did quite well on the land.  On 24/10/1935 he married Marietta Vaccarella in San Lupo.  Marietta was the youngest of five children and the only girl.

All her brothers went to America very young and they sent the family packages of clothes and money.  This would have made life a lot easier for the family in San Lupo.

Angelo Marino and Marietta had a daughter, Filomena Macolino, who was named after her paternal grandmother and was born in 1938.

Postcard sent to Marietta and Filomena when Angelo Marino was in training (photo courtesy of Macolino family)

Angelo Marino then went into WW2 fighting for Italy. While in the army he played a trombone.  He loved his music and dancing, although years later, Angelo Marino didn’t have time to go dancing as he was too busy working.

Angelo Marino Macolino with his trombone (photo courtesy of Macolino family)

Angelo Marino spent the first eight months fighting in Tobruk, Libya and then went to Bardia, Libya.  On 3/1/1941, during the Battle of Bardia, he was captured after hiding for three days in a fox hole.  He was sent from Libya to Sydney on the Queen Mary on 27/5/1941.

While in Australia Angelo Marino worked at Cook which was the No 3 Labour Detachment on the Trans-Australia Railway Line SA and WA.  He then returned to Hay POW camp in NSW. 

On 23/11/943 he left Hay by train and travelled to South Australia. He was allocated to farm work in four farming districts: Mount Barker 23/11/43, Mt Pleasant 14/4/44, Murray Bridge 18/7/44 and Clare 22/2/45.  Angelo Marino had one breach of discipline registered on his record card. While at his Murray Bridge farm, he left his place of employment without permission and was awarded 15 days detention. 

On 7/11/1946 Angelo Marino boarded the Strathmore for repatriation to Italy.  He arrived in Naples 6/12/46. Angelo Marino had spent five and a half years in Australia as a POW. 

During those years, Marietta had been left on her own with her three year old daughter.  She had to take over all the household duties and work the farm.  She lived in fear of the war and San Lupo was invaded by the Americans.  The American’s dropped a bomb near where she lived and her house was raided.  Food and clothes were scarce. 

After Angelo Marino came back to San Lupo, he and Marietta had Uliano born 1948, Tiziana born 1952, Lucia born 1955 and then he emigrated to South Australia with his family.  He thought so much of South Australia from his time spent there as a POW.  They went on to have one more child in Adelaide, Eduardo born in 1959. 

When his children were old enough, he asked them to help him find all the farms he had worked at while a POW.  He wanted to track them down to find the owners as they had been so good to him.  When they went to Murray Bridge and Gumeracha, they remembered him! Angelo Marino assisted his granddaughter Sandra with a school project and recounted his memories of his time as a soldier and prisoner of war. His memory was remarkably accurate when compared with his Australia prisoner of war card.

Sandra Mancini’s School Project: Grandpa’s Story (photo courtesy of Macolino family)

After arriving in Australia he got a job at British Tube Mills in Kilburn, Adelaide.  He was a storeman.  They were the only Australian factory making precision steel tubing for products such as hypodermic needles, milking machines, locomotives, golf clubs, vacuum cleaner pipes and bicycles.  He did shift work, working day shift for one week and night shift for the following week.  He loved his job and his nickname at work was Frederick.  He stayed there until he retired at the age of 65. 

Angelo Marino loved to dress like a gentleman all the time.  There was never a day that he never wore a necktie, regardless of the heat.  He even did the gardening well dressed.  He liked his children to dress well and he used to go clothes shopping with Marietta and would pick out amazing dresses for her to wear.  He loved fashion like all Italians do.  He also loved studying the world globe and would show his children where he had been.

Angelo Marino, Marietta and Tiziana (photo courtesy of Macolino family)

Angelo Marino sponsored paisani and friends from San Lupo to come over to Adelaide and they would spend a lot of time together.  They would live with Angelo Marino and Marietta until they found work.  His siblings also moved to Adelaide.

A year after arriving in Adelaide, Angelo Marino built a new house, with the help of tradies.  Angelo Marino had a huge garden out the back.  He grew grapes and tomatoes, amongst other fruit and vegetables, and used this to make wine and sauce every year.  His daughter Filomena still makes wine and sauce and his daughter Tiziana, still continues the tradition of making sauce with her children.

Angelo Marino died in Adelaide on 6/10/2002 and Marietta died on 26/10/2013.

One of the first and last…

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Vincenzo Nigro from Tursi [Matera] was among the first group of Italian prisoners of war to arrive in Australia directly from Egypt: May 1941.

His Australian adventure began at Pyrmont wharf in Sydney. Once disembarked the men were given a pannikin and an overcoat before boarding a train for Hay Camp. He was registered as No. 1305 on the Queen Mary list.

1941 ‘No title’, The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 – 1947), 27 May, p. 9. (CITY FINAL LAST MINUTE NEWS), viewed 21 May 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article186639501

Hay Camp’s first residents were Italian internees.  These internees departed Hay Camp to make way for the Italian prisoners of war. The photo below was taken in January 1942 in Camp 8. 

Guerre 1939-1945. Nouvelle Galles du Sud, camp de Hay, camp No 8. Groupe de prisonniers de guerre italiens. World War II. Hay Camp. .

Hay Prisoner of War Camp 8 January 1942 (ICRC 1942 V-P-HIST-E-00239)

By 1942, there were c. 5000 Italian prisoners of war in Australia. Groups of men at Hay Camp were sent to Cowra Camp and Murchison Camp to assist with construction of these camps and additional buildings. 

Vincenzo was sent to No. 3 Labour Detachment Cook for maintenance work on the Trans Australian Railway line from South Australia to Western Australia. He worked seven months in one of the six subcamps but after a transfer to the Camp Hospital at Cook for rheumatism, he returned to Hay Camp in March 1943.

NAA: B300, 8247 Part 2 Employment of prisoners of war

Vincenzo was then sent to Yanco Camp. The prisoners of war worked on farms to produce vegetables for the allied forces.

Guerre 1939-1945. Nouvelle Galles du Sud, camp de Hay pour prisonniers de guerre italiens, détachement de Yanco. World War II.

Detachment at Yanco Camp 1.11.1944 ICRC V-P-HIST-E-00225

Vincenzo Nigro is in the back row, first left

Hay, NSW. 9 September 1943. Group of Italian prisoners of war (POW) interned at No. 6 POW Group. In this group are known to be: 45349 Luigi Caputo; 45493 Vincenzo Diovisalvi; 45668 Antonio Lo Frano; 45344 Emanuele Chiruzzi; 48069 Francesco Fiore; 45590 Luigi De Luca; 45100 Giuseppe Blasi; 48201 Antonio Manzella; 45442 Nicola Donnadio and 46326 Vincenzo Nigro. Note: The number is an assigned POW number. Photographer Michael Lewicki

After a placment at Yanco Camp and a return to Hay Camp for hospital admission, Vincenzo was sent to work at N3 Kywong Hostel. This which was a firewood cutting labour detatchment. Kywong had replaced Riley’s Bend firewood camp. Trees were felled and firewood cut to supply the Hay prisoner of war camps. The photo below was taken at Riley’s Bend Hostel but is indicative of the type of facilities at Kywong Hostel.

RILEY’S BEND, HAY AREA, NSW. 1944-01-18. TENT LINES OF THE ITALIAN PRISONERS OF WAR (POWS) AT THE RILEY’S BEND FUEL CAMP, SOME TWENTY FIVE MILES FROM THE 16TH GARRISON BATTALION POW DETENTION CAMP. THESE TENTS HOUSE THE POWS WHO CUT FIEWWOOD FOR THE BASE CAMP. NOTE THE WELL KEPT GARDEN IN THE FOREGROUND. (AWM Image 063523 Photographer Geoffrey McInnes)

Vincenzo’s last 13.5 months in Australia were spent at Cowra Camp from 28.11.45 to 10.1.47.  The war had ended; hostilities had ceased and talk of repatriation to Italy was a common conversation during those months.

Finally, on 10th January 1947, Vincenzo was on the Otranto when she departed Sydney for Naples. Vincenzo’s Australia journey had ended. 

He was amongst the first group to board; in this group were the last 448 Italian prisoners of war from New South Wales.

More Italians boarded at Melbourne and Fremantle making a total of 3709 Italian prisoners of war on the ship. The run to Naples was 27 days. 

Otranto (https://passengers.history.sa.gov.au/node/933331)

Memories Crafted in Wood

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Two Italian prisoners of war were taken to the farm of JB Townsend (Jack) at Glen Alpin via Stanthorpe on the 14th March 1944. While the archiving of files relating to Italian prisoners of war is a little ad hoc, once you find the documents, one realises that the Army clerks did keep immaculate records.

Stanthorpe Glen Alpin

Movement of Prisoner of War

(NAA: BP242/1, Q43299)

Both Isidoro De Blasi and Rosario Morello (Marello) came to Australia onboard the first transport of Italian POWs, the Queen Mary* arriving in Sydney on the 27th May 1941.  They were in the first group of 2016 Italian POWs to take up residence at Hay PW & I Camp.

Isidoro De Blasi was a barber from Alcamo Trapani and Rosario Morelli was a baker from Militello in Val di Catania.

Esme Colley (nee Townsend) remembers the men and snippets of memories about their time living on their Glen Aplin farm.  She recalls the rings that were made from Australia coins, the fox that was skinned and left in the river for 3 days to soften (and was later made into a delicious stew), the Italian family behind them who befriended these Italian workers and Rosario who later returned to the Stanthorpe district with his family.

Rosario continues to be remembered by the Townsend family because he returned to the Stanthorpe district post war, but he also left the family with tangible mementos: three items crafted in wood. The turret of the tank rotates, and motifs of angels, lions and Australian wildlife adorn the wooden gifts. And carefully carved in timber are the words Camp 8 HAY, Morello R. P.O.W.

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 Wooden Items carved by Rosario Morello

(Photos courtesy of Esme Colley (nee Townsend))

Rosario Morello’s story is part of Echoes of Italian Voices: Family Histories from Queensland’s Granite Belt written by Franco and Morwenna Arcidiacono.  Extract from ‘The Morello Family’: “When Rosario Morello was captured in Tobruk in north Africa he became a Prisoner of War (POW). He was subsequently sent to far off Australia and the course of his life changed forever.  In 1941, when Rosario arrived on these foreign shores he could not have imagined that Australia would become his home and the country where he would eventually raise his family.”  Sacrifices were made by Rosario, his wife Carmela and their children and in time hard work and saving of money had the family transition from labouring and renting to farm owners.  Within six years of Rosario’s return to Australia he owned his farm, cultivated scrub to increase farm yields and had built a new home for his family. In time, the farm became Red Rosella one of the Granite Belt’s large family vegetable growing enterprises.

 

De Blasi Isidoro in the photo

Hay, NSW. 9 September 1943. Group of Italian prisoners of war (POW) interned at No. 6 POW Group. In this group are known to be: 46032 Raffaele Lomonaco; 46627 Giuseppe Restivo; 46007 Antonio Lumia; 45586 Isidoro De Blasi; 46206 Gaetano Mineo; 45360 Giuseppe Cannata; 45103 Leonardo Barbera; 45997 Pietro Lomonte; 46221 Antonio Rondi and 47999 Leonardo Ciaccio. Note: The number is an assigned POW number. (AWM Image 030143/33 Photographer Lewecki)

Isidoro De Blasi is one of the men in the Hay photo.  At the time of the photo, he is 24 years old 5’ 6” and average build (150lbs at time of arrival in Australia). Like many of the Italian POWs, they are almost forgotten or their faces remain unidentified as is the case in this photo.  We know that the second man kneeling on the left is Antonino Lumia as his grandson Damiano Lumia has acknowledged him.  The list of names therefore bears no resemblance to placement of men.

Hopefully, one day, Isidoro’s family will find his face amongst this group of 10 men and find a context to their grandfather’s time as a prisoner of war in Australia. And the Townsend family can be introduced to Isidoro again.

*On the army register of Italian POWs onboard the Queen Mary Rosario Morello is number 661 and Isidoro De Blasi is number 1833. The list of the names of the first 2016 Italian prisoners of war is a reminder of the large numbers who were sent to Australiafor the duration of the war.  In total, some 18,000 Italian POWs worked and lived across the six states of Australia from 1941-1947.

Register of Queen Mary May 1941

(NAA:PP 482/1, 16)

 

 

Resourceful

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Resourceful is an apt description of Mario Marino.  A stone mason from Pentone Catanzaro, as a prisoner of war in Australia, he nominated his occupation as ‘bricklayer’, a more versatile job.  Throughout his life, he continued to work with concrete, stone and bricks in the construction industry in Morwell Victoria owning his own business and operating as Marino Bros.

Among the first 2000 Italian POWs to be shipped directly from Libya to Sydney onboard Queen Mary, from Sydney he was trained to Hay. He travelled with two compatriots also from Pentone, Salvatore Tarantino and Graziano Mustari.

As a ‘skilled’ POW, Mario was put to work in construction at Hay Prisoner of War and Internment Camp.  Put to work making clay bricks, Mario spent over two and a half years at Hay before being sent to Cowra. He also had experience in surveying and did surveying for clearing and road building while at Hay. Salvatore was sent to Murchison and then V4 Leongatha while Mario and Graziano stayed together in Cowra then Gaythorne.  Their Queensland farm allocations had them sent in different directions: with Mario going to the farm of R Brown at Bapaume in Q1 Stanthorpe area and Graziano to Q3 Gympie area.

Marino, Hay

Hay, NSW. 1944-01-13/14. Sergeant M. Marino an Italian prisoners of war stacking freshly made clay bricks in the drying shed at the 16th Garrison Battalion Prisoner of War Camp

(Australia War Memorial Image 062932)

It appears that Mario’s resourcefulness had him reallocated to a Victorian farm in the V4 Leongatha area.  Interestingly, Salvatore also was at V4 Leongatha at the time and they both spent time together at V22 Rowville.

Repatriated to Italy in January 1947, it wasn’t long before he married Marietta and made plans to return to Australia. He left Italy onboard the Toscano in June 1949 and his first son Antonio was born in July 1949.  It would be three years before he would meet his first born child, when his wife and child arrived in Melbourne in 1953.

The  Carmody family of Leongatha had been Mario’s POW employer and sponsored his return to Australia. Settling in Leongatha, Mario was joined by his brothers Giuseppe and Angelo. All three brothers worked at the Wonthaggi State Coal Mine in the latter part of 1951.  Giuseppe drove the horse and cart which took coal out of the mine on railway lines, Mario was a seamer, lying on his stomach in cramped confines shovelling out the coal and Angelo would stack the coal tightly in the kibbles. Vince Moranti was a family friend who also worked with the Marino brothers in the coal mine.

Built between 1953 and 1954, the Traralgon Hospital construction site became Mario’s new workplace.  Continuing working in construction and concrete, he then established himself as a concrete contractor and won council contracts such as footpath building.  By 1954, Mario applied for naturalization and in 1955 his naturalization was reported in the newspaper.

Not forgetting his POW compatriots, Mario sponsored Salvatore Tarantino in 1955 and in 1956 Graziano Mustari also migrated to Morwell. Graziano however returned to Italy in 1964.

A growing migrant community in the district opened an opportunity for Mario to branch out into a food emporium  in Church Street Morwell, selling salamis, coffee, cheeses and other continental goods.  He diversified further by taking his shop to the farmers of the district and his children remember the box of juicy fruit chewing gum kept in the truck.

Returning to construction, Mario continued to work in the industry until his retirement. A supporter of the local football club, the Morwell community held him in high regard and he would always be asked to join the trainer and coach at home games.

And of those days as a prisoner of war, Mario told his family that as soldiers in the sands of Libya, Mussolini gave them little hope and only a pistol with one shot and a rifle with another.  The soldiers were half starved and they didn’t have a chance. But his time as a prisoner of war in Australia opened the door to a new start in life for his family.

Resourcefulness and optimism were trademarks to Mario’s life.

 

Marino, Mario 1955

The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.: 1849-1957) Thursday 17 November 1955

 

 

 

 

 

Baldo’s War

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Baldo Valeri was with an infantry division when he was transferred from Italy to Libya.  He is seated in the front row, first right with his friends.

His time in battle was short; he was captured on the second day of the Battle of Bardia 4th January 1941.

When he arrived in Australia in May1941 he had been in the army for 40 months.

Libya: Baldo Valeri seated front row right (photo courtesy of Geremia Valeri)

Fortune was his. It is documented that 40,000 Italians were captured at Bardia. Like winning the lottery, Baldo was lucky to be directed to board the Queen Mary on 6th May 1941 for Australia. Only 2,016 Italian prisoners of war were on this voyage: the first group of Italians to be sent directly to Australia.

From Sydney Harbour he boarded a train for a journey to Hay Camp.

Then Yanco Camp became Baldo’s home for two and a half years.  Yanco Camp was home to 700-800 Italians growing vegetables, tending to a dairy herd and piggery as well as producing supplies of vegetable seeds for the Commonwealth Government.

Eight hundred men need feeding.  The supply of meat per 100 men per week was recorded as: 300 pounds beef, (136kg) 255 pounds mouton, (116kg) and 35 pounds sausages, (16 kg).  A quick calculation equates to 1088 kg beef and 928 kg mouton for 800 men per week. The photo below taken at Yanco Camp illustrates that butchers were important to the operation of the camps.

It seems reasonable to assume that Baldo, a butcher, worked in the meat room at Yanco Camp.

Yanco, NSW. 1944-02-01. Two Italian prisoner of war (POWs) butchers cutting up the day’s meat ration in the butchers shop of No. 15 POW Camp. (AWM Image 063945 Photographer Geoffrey McInnes)

Yanco, Australia. 23 January 1944. Group of Italian prisoners of war (POWs) interned at No. 15 POW Group. Back row, left to right: 46978 Baldo Valeri; 46655 Guido Rosato; 46688 Pasquale Montepara; 45351 Nicola Catalano; 46891 Ernesto Tamburino; 47902 Raffaele Blasioli; 45248 Donato Cipriani. Front row: 45585 Luigi Di Cioccio; 46271 Andrea Moscatelli; 48096 Emilio Grisanti; 45719 Antonio Fafone; 45043 Pellegrino Acquaviva. Note: The number is an assigned POW number.

The Yanco kitchen was situated within the barracks used  as a dining room.  The kitchen had a large oven and cookers, four rooms for provisions, a cold room and a bakery where four bakers baked bread daily for the men.

The photo of the kitchen at Yanco below, highlights the industry of the men. It must have been a sense of relief for bakers, cooks, pastry chefs and butchers to work in their field of experience.

Yanco, NSW. 1944-01-31. Italian prisoner of war (POWs) cooks at No. 15 POW Camp preparing a meal in one of the camp kitchens. (AWM Image 063915 Photographer Geoffrey McInnes)

Baldo was also accommodated at Cowra and Liverpool Camps.  Upon his return to Naples on the Ormonde 27th January 1947, Baldo had been a prisoner of war for six years.

Baldo’s son Geremia writes about his father’s life after return to Italy, “La sua vita è stata difficile,ma una volta tornato in Italia ,ha dedicato tutte le sue energie sul lavoro, per il benessere di noi figli.

Le uniche cose che lui ha riportato dalla prigionia, sono una ciotola di alluminio,dove mangiava,un piccolo vocabolario inglese-italiano, e un pezzo di stoffa bordoeux, che usavamo come coperta. Mi raccontava sempre un episodio, dove lui cercava di sottrarre qualche patata dal magazzino, perché aveva fame. Il vigilante del campo se ne accorse e lo colpi con il calcio del fucile. Lui avrebbe voluto tornare in Australia per lavorare, ma non trovò nessuno che gli facesse l’atto di richiamo.”

Baldo Valeri outside his shop in Vittorito (photo courtesy of Geremia Valeri)

Baldo and Cesira celebrating 50 years of marriage with their son Geremia (photo courtesy of Geremia Valeri)

Queen Mary’s First Italian POWs

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27th May 1941

Also on board were 6 budgerigars, 7 canaries and 1 parrot

Here are photos of the Queen Mary as she sailed into Sydney Harbour bringing to Australia the first group of Italian prisoners of war.  For 2016 Italian families, these photos are a very personal connection to their father or grandfather’s arrival to Australia.

While the men shown in the photos, would more than likely have been armed forces personal from Australian and New Zealand,  the images none-the-less reflect the moments of sailing in to Sydney Harbour and arriving at a destination, far away from the battles of Libya.QM c May 1941 3.JPG

Sydney, NSW. Troops line the rails on board the troop transport ship Queen Mary as she arrives at the wharf to embark troops for overseas service. C. May 1941 (AWM Image 007205 Photographer Unknown)

Sydney siders were used to seeing the Queen Mary enter the harbour as she had already made many journeys to and from Sydney carrying troops and passengers: Trincomalee (Ceylon), Bombay (India), Singapore and Suez (Egypt).

QM c May 1941 210.JPG

Sydney, NSW. Bow view of the troopship Queen Mary being escorted by tugs as she enters the harbour to embark troops for service overseas. c. May 1941 (AWM Image 007210 Photographer Unknown)

Service and Casualty Forms can be a bit of a puzzle.  Italian prisoners of war in the first group to arrive in Australia, will have the same two lines as below.  Q.M. = Queen Mary.  And technically, while they were captured in Libya, they embarked at Suez. From Sydney they were trained to Hay Prisoner of War and Internment Camp.

Lumia 1 - Copy

The photos of the Queen Mary taken by an Australian Official Photographer add the description: Sydney, NSW. Bow view of the troopship Queen Mary as she enters the harbour to embark troops for overseas service. c. May 1941.  This series of photographs are part of the Australian War Memorial collection.  There was much secrecy surrounding the transport movements from and to Australia during WW2. It is therefore not surprising that there is no mention of Italian prisoners of war.

QM c May 1941 209

c. May 1941 Sydney, NSW. Bow view of the troopship Queen Mary as she enters the harbour to embark troops for overseas service. (AWM Image 007209 Photographer Unknown)

The lists of passengers onboard this voyage of the Queen Mary are available from the National Archives of Australia.  The document’s title is QUEEN MARY [Departed Middle East 6th May 1941, arrived Fremantle 21 May 1941 – nominal rolls of passengers] [inlcudes lists of Italian prisoners of war, AIF, RAN, NZEF, RAF, ACCS and UWCA personnel embarked Middle East for return to Australia] NAA: PP482/1, 16 

There were 3088 people onboard: 761 crew, 290 troops, 2016 prisoners of war, 15 civilians, 6 D.B.S.  Immigration also noted that there were 6 budgerigars, 7 canaries and 1 parrot.

Interesting notations on some of the documentation for  troop transports are H.T. “N.N.” H.T. “K.K.” H.T. “L.L.”  H.T. “P.P.” The names of the ships have been omitted and one reference states that ‘details have been excluded which might compromise the convey’. This seems to be the case for transports for Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, Mauretania and Aquatania voyages; likely reason for non disclosure of ship’s name is secrecy of troop movement.

H.T. “N.N.” voyage from Suez to Sydney in May – June 1941 offers an insight into conditions onboard the transport ships.  On this voyage, which left Suez 24th May 1941 and arrived in Sydney 15th June 1941, 1000 Italian prisoners of war were boarded and who were to be disembarked at Trimcomalee: “22nd May 1941 1,000 Italian prisoners of war were brought on to the ship with what appeared to be a rather inadequate guard of 130 Ciganlese troops under the command of two British Officers.  The prisoners, however were small, and for the most part very young, and seem thoroughly dispirited… During the severe heat of the voyage from Suez, it had been necessary to bring the prisoners on deck during the day and allow them to sleep there at night.” AWM2018.8.411

Part of this journey’s report are general comments about the hammocks and washing. The daughter of one Italian prisoner of war remembers her father saying that while they were on a luxury liner, in his case Queen Elizabeth, the toilets could not cope with the number of men onboard these  transports and they would have to walk through ankle deep sewerage, a most unpleasant and unhygienic situation.

HAMMOCKS:

Hammocks, instead of bunks, were alloted in certain sections, and those troops allocated to them suffered considerable discomfort owing to overcrowding and lack of ventilatiohn.  The rows of hammocks overlapped at both ends so that a man lay with a pair of feet on each side of his head.  this was particularly unpleasant in the hot weather.  In addition, the hammocks were slung very close to the ceiling where the foul air accumulated… Owing to the manner in which it was necessary to tie the hammocks in order to hand them so close together, they could not be taken down during the day, with the result that it was impossible to walk upright in the hammock sections.

WASHING OF CLOTHES:

The washing and drying on men’s clothing presented many difficulties.  It was not possible to supply fresh water for this purpose, but an issue from the Comforts Fund of soap that would lather in salt water helped matters considerably… Almost the only place where clothing could be washed was the baths and wash basins, and after that there was the problem of drying the garments.  Quantities of damp clothing hanging in sleeping quarters increased the already high degree of humidity, but if hung on deck a man had to stand by his clothes until they dried, otherwise there was the danger of them blowing overboard or being stolen.  Drying in the sleepign quarters appeared to be the lesser evil. AWM2018.8.411

 

 

 

Il calzolaio di Grottaferrata

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Somewhere in the vicinity of Sidi el Barrani, Agostino Marazzi abandoned his machine gun at the suggestion of a lieutenant. He was captured by the British on 11th December 1940. He had served with an infantry unit for 17 months.

On 24th March 1940, Agostino was photographed with a friend at Martuba Libya. Martuba was an important Italian airbase but also had numerous staging camps for newly arrived Italian soldiers.

Agostino Marazzi and friend Martuba Libya 24.3.1940 (photo courtesy of Amedeo Marazzi)

Agostino’s next stop was Tobruk which is 150 km south west of Martuba.His son Amedeo recalls that the two photos of his father with a machine gun were taken at Tobruk.

Agostino Marazzi at Tobruk (photo courtesy of Amedeo Marazzi)

Commander-in-Chief of the Italian army, Rodolfo Graziani had advanced Italian troops from the Libyan-Egyptian border to Sidi el Barrani from 13-16th September.  Field Marshal Wavell’s offensive to reclaim Egyptian territory began on 9th December 1940.

Along the fifty-miles-wide battlefield and astride the road leading west lay a fantastic litter of abandoned trucks, guns and tanks, piles of abandoned arms and ammunition, of food stores and clothing, and of the paper which a modern army spends so profusely. It was some days before all the enemy dead had been found and buried. Long columns of dejected prisoners in drab olive-green and khaki streamed eastwards. In the whole battle 38,300 prisoners, 237 guns and 73 tanks were captured . Four generals were taken: Gallina of the Group of Libyan Divisions, Chario of the 1st Libyan Division, Piscatori of the 2nd Libyan, Merzari of the 4th Blackshirt.

12 December 1940 SOME OF LATEST BATCH OF 4000 PRISONERS FROM AREA BETWEEN BARRANI AND Buq Buq. ALL ITALIAN TROOPS WERE WELL-CLOTHED & ARMED & IN GOOD PHYSICAL CONDITION BUT SEEMED IN NO MOOD FOR FIGHTING AFTER THE FIRST FEW HOURS OF THE ENCOUNTER. (PHOTOGRAPHED BY F. HURLEY).

The Italian prisoners’ journey begins: Sidi Barrani to Mersa Matruh to Alexandria. Some were taken to Palestine while others were taken to camps along the Bitter Lakes/Suez area.

Agostino Marazzi boards the Queen Mary bound for Sydney Australia. The ship leaves Suez on 7th May and arrives at Trinomalee (Ceylon) 14th May. She departs Trinomalee on 15th May and arrives in Fremantle Australia 21st May.  Queen Mary departs Fremantle on 21st May and arrives in Sydney on 25th May 1941

The Queen Mary had been in service as a troopship since May 1940 after she had been fitted out to accommodate 5000 troops. Towards the end of the war, Queen Mary was carrying 15,000 American troops in a voyage.

Amedeo Marazzi remembers his father’s story about the Queen Mary: “The Queen Mary was the largest ship in the world at the time and had 3 swimming pools, a theatre and a cinema. My father said that when they passed the equator at night, it was so hot some men jumped into the water of the pools for relief but the temperature in the pool was worse in than out.”

The Australian army identity photo was taken on 4th November 19411. Amedeo reflects, “To see the young face of my father was a unique wonderful emotion.”

Marazzi, Agostino NAA: A367, C85443

Agostino’s brother sent him a picture postcard of his mother, Celeste Vinciguerra, on 16th December 1942.  Mention is made of Sergio Galazzi, a radio mechanic from Rome. 

Sergio had arrived at Hay Camp 26th March 1942.  News must have reached the Marazzi and Galazzi families that Agostino and Sergio were now in the same camp.

Ecco la foto di mamma che tanto desideri. L’abbiamo fatta in questi giorni. Ti saluta e ti bacia. Tanti saluti dalla mamma di Galazzi Sergio. Tanti saluti da noi.

Elide Arturo

Celeste Vinciguerra (photo courtesy of Amedeo Marazzi)

Amedeo reminisces, “My father and his friends once they arrived in Australia  realized that this was a wonderful place. He settled immediately and became a labourer on a farm. He would talk about breakfast where he could have coffee or milk, honey, fruit, bread, butter and jam.  He has never felt like a prisoner of war.”

My father had good memories of Australia. He always told us that if he won the lottery, he would take us all on a holiday to Australia,” reflects Amedeo.

Carnivale 1950s Adele, Rossella, Amedeo, Agostino (photo courtesy of Amedeo Marazzi)

Recently Amedeo obtained a copy of his father’s extra Australian file. 

Little details emerge from this file: Agostino was captured at Buq Buq, west of Sidi Barrani; while in Hay Camp he worked as a bootmaker; in Hay Camp he was awarded 24 hours detention for possession of a prohibited article but this was not officially recorded.

Other documents record that he worked on the farm of Mr LE Peacock at Oakbank together with Sebastiano Aiello.

Upon return to Italy, life returned quickly to a familiar routine surrounded by family.

Adele and Agostino Marazzi (photo courtesy of Amedeo Marazzi)