Summary

Souvenir menu for the H.M.A.T Warilda (A69) farewell dinner held Tuesday 7 March 1916. Includes printed menu and list of ship's officers. Also features a number of signatures and the inscription 'These are the autographs of our little table party on the Warilda'. The signatures indicate that the group included members of the 9/22 Battalion (Hubert Fraser) and 9/24 Battalion (Al Goodson, Tom Holloway, J.A. Evans and E.F. Pittard (sp?)).

Thomas St Patrick Holloway, 2nd Lieutenant and later Captain, 9/24th Battalion, enlisted in Bairnsdale, Victoria on 25 May 1915 and embarked from Melbourne on the HMAT Warilda on 8 February 1916. By the date of this menu the Warilda would have been close to its destination. Another of its passengers, Sergeant Makin of the 21st Battalion, reports disembarking at Port Suez on 9 March.

The SS Warilda was requisitioned by the Commonwealth and fitted out as a transport ship in August 1915. As the HMAT Warilda it made two trips to Egypt and one to England, carrying more than 7,000 troops. The SS Warilda was converted to a hospital ship in July 1916. It was sunk on 3 August 1918, with a loss of 123 lives, including all the engine room staff and all the occupants of one of its wards.

The menu was amongst records of the 24th Battalion Association, defunct 23/4/1982.

Description of Content

SOUVENIR MENU CARD, H. M. A. T. WARILDA. (A69). FAREWELL DINNER 7/3/1916. CREAM CARD FOLDED, PRINTED MENU, LIST OF SHIPS OFFICERS ON BACK. CONTAINS A NUMBER OF SIGNATURES.

Physical Description

Cream coloured card with single fold forming four sides. Cover features text printed in red and blue. Handwritten inscriptions in pen and pencil inside cover.

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