23,300 GRT, and 203m in length.
A postcard from Grant in South Australia.
Built as RMS Orion by Vickers Armstrong in 1934, she was the first single-funnelled ship to be built for the Orient Line since the turn of the century. She was also the first ship to be painted in the Orient Line’s corn-colored livery, sporting a pale yellow hull.
She was the first British ship to ever have air-conditioning. In fact her entire interior design was ground-breaking in that she departed from the formal english styles found in wealthy British homes of the time, and adapted a more open-air and spacious layout that was better suited to tropical cruising. Wide promenade decks, slideing glass doors, removable walls, and chromium / bakelite fittings made her feel roomier and breezier, which was a welcome relief in the hot ahd humid tropics.
She was launched by the Duke of Gloucester. But, unusually, he was in Brisbane at the time, and the ship was in Lancashire, UK. He launched the ship by pressing a button in Brisbane, which transmitted a radio signal to the dockyards untimatley causing the ship to slide down the slipway into the water – quite revolutionary for the 1930’s.
She served as a troopship during the second world war, and was involved in a damaging collision with Battleship HMS Revenge when Revenge’s steering gear jammed.
She had an extensive fit-out after the WW2, and voyaged to Australia and the USA.
The National Archives of Australia record that she brought many immigrants to Australia during the late 1940’s, and the 1950’s, eventually being broken up fopr scrap in 1963.
What a fascinating history.
Looking to contact passengers who travelled on Orion voyage to Australia which left Tilbury on 08/05/1960 & arrived in Australia 50 years ago this month (June 2010)
I travelled to Brisbane on the ss Oriana and arrived in June, but my parent’s can’t remeber the exact date. I was wondering if you have any information on the voyage. I was only a baby at the time.
That was June 1960.
Michael
My family emigrated on the SS Orion on those dates
In 1946/7 I was serving in the Royal Engineers in Egypt in 1206? Port Operating company. During January 1947 I sailed from Port Tewfik in the R. M. S. Orion (at the southern end of the Suez canal) to Mombasa in Kenya for Duties at Makinnon Road in setting up a base from where it was intended that the activities of the Russian navy in the Indian ocean Be monitored. I must admit it was good to find the information on the internet about the Orion, I remember the Journey very well, although it is now 63 years ago
Best wishes and thanks
len Smith
I’ve just been given a pewter tankard from the SS Orion and so am trying to find out a little more about her.
Our family made this voyage. A magical memory. Does anyone know the date of arrival in Melbourne?
Orion made many stops in Melbourne.
To get a list of whem, and the names of people on board, go to:
http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/SearchScreens/BasicSearch.aspx
In the Keywords box type in: Orion Melbourne
In the date from type: 1934
In the date to type: 1963
Optionally add the surname of an immigrant in the keywords box. But not all passengers will show, only “Assisted Passage” immigrants.
Click on “Search”
You should get hundreds of hits.
Hope this helps!
I travelled to melbourne with my mother, sister and brother, arriving in June 1960.
We were 10 pound poms immigrating to Australia. Mty Father had come out 6 moths earlier to get established and find a job.
Best devision he every made for us. We are now all Aussies and the foilks have passed on. I am in Adelaide, brother in Hobart and sister in melbourne.
What is you history?
Peter
873 Plant Squadron RE was a prominent participant in the incident on Christmas Eve 1945, when military police tried to keep 3,000 troops on board the SS Orion at Liverpool for service in the Middle East. The war was over and the men had no wish to remain in the Army, let alone to be posted to the Middle East, least of all on Christmas Eve, and certainly not on the Orion. Conditions on the ship were so bad that a detachment of 500 Australian airmen had walked off it a few weeks earlier. On Christmas Eve, several hundred men left the troopship and fought with baton armed military police on the quayside until they were forced back on board. A number got off again and were arrested, whereupon, scramble nets were dropped over the ship’s side and troops swarmed down to rescue the detainees, while sympathisers on board pelted the military police with petrol cans and fittings ripped out of the ship. The British Press got hold of the story and public opinion was outraged. The departure of the ship was delayed until the end of the Christmas holiday.
Does anyone know the the port from which SS Orion left England in 1961, waht date she sailed, and which route she took to get her passengers to New Zealand? I was a baby on that ship, and would love to find out more about that journey we took.
my parents,2 sisters and myself emigrated to australia in may 1960, i had just turned 10 4 days before departure, this trip
proved to be one of the great adventures of my life, with no school all trip and the run of the ship (including 1st class,no one ever kicked us out of there), my favourite memory of the trip was travelling the suez canal,there were camel trains and arabs mooning the boat,dozens of little boats trying to sell passengers all manner of things by throwing ropes up with baskets on the end, one of them offered my sister a watch for a lock of her ginger hair, i remember the water tasted vile after leaving one of the suez ports, australia arrived all too soon.
My family and I travelled to Australia on the SS Orion. We docked at Freemantle Western Australia in June 1960. I was only 5 at the time but can still remember quite alot of the journey.
The Orion left Tillbury docks on the 26th September 1961 (note sure if that date is correct) the orion sailed to the port of Piraieus in Greece, then on through the Suez canel, Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, arriving in Wellington on Labor Monday 23rd October 1961. Not sure if this was when you and your family travelled ?
There is an excellent short documentary film about the building of the ‘ORION’ called ‘Shipyard’ (Face of Britain series)
It is a 24 mins long instructional film made by Gaumont -British in 1935.
Available in a set of films called ‘Land of Promise’.
The British Documentary Movement 1930-1950. Released by The British Film Institiute
In 1961 we left UK on the ORION. I was 8 yrs old along with my Mother Doris and sister Catherine Cooper. I still remember it as a memorable trip via the Suez, Fremantle, Melbourne and into Sydney on 1 Apr 1961. We then went to Firbrige Farm School.
My family came to NZ on the SS Orion arriving Labour Day October 1961. We were a family of 6 parents and r children. I was ten and have wonderful memories of the trip.
I emigrated to NZ on the Orion in March 1962. It was such a wonderful and exciting experience. Left Tilbury on a cold overcast day and then through the Med and Suez Canal to Aden and then Colombo.
Next stop Perth to Melbourne to Sydney to Wellington. The Orion had no stabilizers and did she ever roll across the Australian Bight. We in H deck had to strap ourselves in at night. Most exciting days of my life. I was 25 years old.
I was one of 12 bellboys making our first trip to sea on the ss Orion sailing for Tilbury on 25 of january 1947…it was the maiden voyage to australia great time as anybody got photos of us or any photes of that trip…….
As an RAF L.A.C.I sailed on Orion from Gourock to Bombay in September or October 1944 via the canal & Aden.Mind you in those
days she was called HMT F8 & I still have my berthing card for deck E3 Stbd.We slept in hammocks if there were enough hooks
otherwiswe on the table or the deck.Luxury cruise it was not but we had a Welsh male choir & arrived safely in about 3 weeks.
My parents and two sisters arrived in Brisbane 13th july 1961. Came from N, Ireland.I remember the rough seas.The trip took 6 weeks.
I sailed with my family to Australia on the Orion in June 1953 from tilbury. Great family argument as to whether ship left on 5th or 6th June. We arrived Melbourne 8th July 1953. Does anyone have the exact date of departure. To settle the argument.
My family travelled on the Orion from Tilbury to Sydney – arriving June 1960. I had chicken pox on the voyage and spent alot of my time in the staff hospital. Even though I was only 3 years old at the time I remember the Suez Canal (Aden) with many boats selling things by baskets on ropes and seeing elephants in the Columbo zoo.
Left Tilbury on 2/2/1960 arrived in Sydney on 10/3/1960 aboard the Orion with my older brother and Mother. I was ten year old. Now live in Melbourne. Anyone else on that great adventure?
after arriving in Melbourne in june 1960,we were taken to broadmeadows immigrant camp,my parents hated the place, as kids we loved it because it was like an an adventure, I hated school (Pascoe vale) because my teacher used to call me a pommy bastard and I was terrified of him,however,we moved on to new Zealand and loved the place,we did vey well here and all consider ourselves kiwis.
are there others from broadmeadows? and what are your memories?
I was thirteen at the time when I left Scotland to Tillbury docks to Australia .SS ORION WAS FUN TO BE ON AND AS A TEENAGER LOVED THIS FINE OLD SHIP THERE WAS PLENTY OF THINGS TO DO MEET ALOT OF FRIENDS AND THE CREW WERE FANASTIC BUT AT ALAS I CAN ONLY REMEMBER ONE HIS NAME WAS BONNEY LEADING SEAMAN . THREE WEEKS OF PURE FUN GOING THROUGH EUROPE LIKE GREECE, ITALIA, FAR EAST, INDIA, SR-LANKA, ENTER INTO AUSTRALIA VIA PERTH, MELBORNE, ADELAIDE, SYDNEY THAT WHERE WE GOT OFF BUT THE SHIP KEPT GOING TILL IT REACHED BRISBANE AND THAT WAS THE LAST TRIP SHE EVER MADE TO AUSTRALIA APRIL 1963 . TILL ONE DAY I WENT TO THE MARTINE MUSEUM AND THERE INSIDE THE WAS A MODEL AND I MEAN A MODEL WOW IT’S AWESOME SHIP IN A GLASS CASE SS ORION. THIS IS THE ONE. THAT SAT IN THE FRONT WINDOW OF P@O OREINT LINE HEADQUARTERS IN LONDON REMEMBER THE DUKE OF GLOUSCHESTER 1934-5 BY RADIO TELPHONE FROM BRISBANE WAVE SKIPED TO GLASGOW SCOTLAND NOW YOU KNOW WHY IT’S HERE IN BRISBANE AUSTRALIA. AUSTRALIAN TEACHERS WERE GREAT, THE POMMY TEACHERS ESPECIALLY THE WOMEN, THEY WERE THE ONES NO ONE LIKE THEY USE TO CHUCK THE BLACK BOARD RUBBERS AT YOU IF YOU GOT THE ANSWER WRONG
My family was on the voyage which departed Tilbury 16 September 1961. We sailed via Piraeus, Port Said, Aden, Colombo, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Nd Sydney, finally arriving Wellington 26 October. It was Labour Day and the country was closed.
I, with my parents ( Jack & Ruth ) left Tilbury on 5th May 1960 …..Arrived Sydney 10th June. Mum still remembers at 91 .
I was on the Orion in 1961 when we were on an assisted passage to Freemantle.I was only 3 years old at the time.I still have the children’s menu and a trophy which my father won at deck quoits.She was a beautiful ship!!!
Dear Orient line forum member,
My name is Hanneke Bruinsma, and I am 56 years old. Only recently I have heard from my mother that my biological father is a crew member of the s.s. Orion. Probably you know him.
I am very anxious to find him, and to learn if he is still alive, and if I have other relatives. The only information I have about him is the following:
• He was called Norman.
• He was one of a twin.
• He was part of the crew of the ship the s.s. Orion, of the Orient line, sailing from Australia to the U.K in the year 1956.
He was most probably (bedroom-)steward (possibly purser) and he served at the first class of the ship.
The day of departure from Hobart was 30 august 1956, the day of departure from Melbourne was 03 september 1956.
• He was about 24 years old then.
And it is possible that he has also been crew member on other Orient line ships before or after the period mentioned above. Perhaps on your ship during your trip!
I want to learn to know his full name !!
The first step for me was to try to get a copy of the List of crew. I have received the list from:
Maritime History Archive
Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL.
But there are hundreds of names of crew members. Between 400-500. And only initials and the surnames are mentioned in the lists; not the first name (Norman). So I need your help.
I know it’s a long time ago, but many travelers, passengers or crew members, are still alive.
My questions to you are:
• Do you know a person which fits the information presented above?
• Do you have photographs of that tour?
• Do you have any information which can help me to find Norman, the person I am looking for?
• Are there other persons or companies you can advise me to send my questions to?
When you will see the List of crew than please mail me on de mailadres below and I will send you the list.
I would be very thankful if you can help me on my “quest”. Thank you very much in advance!
Hanneke Bruinsma
Born 30 May 1957
Oeverwal 8
8266JK Kampen
Netherlands
tenhbruinsma@home.nl
Source: http://ozhoo.net.au/ ~ strathsisters / index.htm
under Guestbook
I stumbled across this page whilst looking for SS Orion info. I see a few people have mentioned May 8th 1960 from Tilbury. My family were on that Voyage. We disembarked in Melbourne I think it was the 22nd June where we were then housed in the Exhibition Buildings to be allocated a Hostel. We my parents brother and I went to Preston. I remember there was a family called Weeks who my parents were friendly with on the ship, also a family called Clarke with a son called Bill same age as my brother 14 and an older daughter called Pat. I think hey went to Nunnawadding.
Hi
Just found this website. We travelled out on the Orion in May 1960 and disembarked in Sydney before moving down to Wollongong. Despite a bit of travelling in my late teens through to my late 20’s I still live in the Illawarra. I have no memories of the trip out as i was only two and a half at the time but did see a model of the Orion at the Brisbane Maritime Museum recently.
Found this whilst looking for information on SS orion. I was only 3 1/2 so have no recollections of the voyage but know we arrived in Fremantle on 9 October 1961 so we must have been on the same voyage as Alan Peck. Apparently I won a prize in the kids fancy dress competition, there’s a photo somewhere. We where supposed to continue to Melbourne but my father got offered a job and a quick trip into Perth including Kings Park convinced my parents to stay in WA.
im looking for/RELATIVES of JILL M M DALY who married GIRLING in surrey England 1954 and set sale on Orion in 1956 to New south wales
Hi just found your web site I joined the Orion on 29/10/1962 as a deck boy and done three trips on her including here paying off voyage in 1963 and then took her to Hamburg for use as a Hotel after that she was broken up great memorise
parents Ian & Peggy migrated from Fraserburgh Scotland. Departed Tilbury 13 Sept 1961, arrived Adelaide Australia 13 Oct. I was only a youngster at the time but remember the toy shop onboard. I also have a clear memory of the port of Colombo at night: the lights and he aroma of spices. Parents say it was a very relaxing trip out, also as I understand it her fastest, no rough weather at all, an I have been told it was her 2nd last so the captain made it a speed run.
I was 14 when the family left Tilbury on 26 September 1961 for New Zealand. we travelled down from Scotland by train that took us directly to the docks. As a teenager life on board the ship was great. There was plenty to do. Enjoyed the trip and visists to Athens, Aden, Colombo (Sri Lanka), Freemantle, Adleaide, Melbourne (met up with relatives), Sydney. Arrived in wellington on Labour Day, Monday 23 October. The ship should have docked in Auckland but NZ was closed and the wharfies wouldn’t let the ship dock so Wellington it was.
I was on that 13 September 1961 SS Orion voyage too! I was a 10 year old boy travelling with my family from Wakefield Yorkshire. We also got off at Adelaide and started our new life in Finsbury Park Hostel. The boat stopped first at Piraeus in Greece, then Aden and Colombo before heading down to Fremantle. We were full of British migrants except for H deck (the bottom deck), which filled with Greek migrants when we got to Piraeus. We were on G deck and felt sorry for the Greeks who seemed to be really crammed in to that one deck. It was just a wonderful experience for a working class kid from Yorkshire. Menus at mealtimes! More than one course to eat! I remember there was an out break of some kind during the voyage, that brought people out in unsightly spots and boils, usually on their face and neck. The remedy for it was an ointment called purple paint. So lots of passengers wandering around with big purple marks all over them. A different way of getting inked up!
y family left Tilbury docks in a snowstorm on January 6, 1959. I was nine yrs old then. As I recall there was an outbreak of something – measles? – during the voyage and we kids weren’t allowed to swim in the pool.
The Bay of Biscay crossing was pretty rough but arrival at Naples promised shore-time and a visit to Pompeii. Then through the Suez to Djibooti, (Aden was closed due to a dock strike), and I recall all the traders on their little boats throwing string lines onto the railing so they could trade with the passengers.
Another stop in Ceylon, as it was then, was more shore time and I still remember the smells! I’ve never eaten pawpaw since.
After a brief stop in Fremantle, we arrived in Adelaide in February, (I think it was the 6th; anyone else know?), in the middle of a heat wave with temperatures in the high 30s! We were boarded with a Mrs Sands at her lovely old Federation home on Main Nth Rd, Enfield, a truly lovely, welcoming lady.
Two weeks later my father, a teacher, was posted to Port Pirie, a shipping port and industrial town on Spencer Gulf 200kms north of Adelaide. As one third of the SA Iron Triangle, it was a notoriously hot, dry and dusty place. We were given a new house on the edge of town; there were no trees anywhere in sight, just miles of saltbush stretching away through the heat haze. The garden was just red dust with a few dry weeds and the house, typically, with low ceilings and smallish windows, and, needless to say, no air-conditioning. (It was 1959.) The contrast in environments was extreme. My mother was really struggling with the heat, so my father asked for a shift to another older house in the town where there were some trees and other houses.
‘We gave you a new house and you’re still not happy!!?’ they said.
And they wondered why Poms whinged!!
I have been looking for information about our trip on the SS Orion . My mother and father and my sister Irene and I left Til bury on 8th May 1960. I was 12 years old and my sister was 10. We were friendly with sisters called Betty and Sadie Hill. They left the ship in Melbourne, while we went on to Sydney. On the ship my parents were friendly with a couple called Nancy and Bill Syme , they had a daughter called Rosanne. I am interested in finding out about other passengers on that trip. We arrived in Sydney on 10th June. I remember a lot about that time. It was a great trip, my first overseas and on a ship. It was the best thing my father decided to do. I have been to many countries in my time and I have never wanted to live any other place.
I arrived in September 1956 on the Orion at the age of 3. A have a few memories, the strongest of which is the smell of rope. I understand one of the passengers was Henry Bolte the then Premier of Victoria.
I sailed in the Orion 1956 as a deck boy to Sydney
Hi everyone. I sailed on the Orion in August 1962 from Bombay to Tilbury. A wonderful journey and most important now, is that I would love to hear from fellow passengers that I knew on that trip. A girl called Shirley Jones, a chap called Brian Dawson, Ivor Mitson etc.
Hope to hear from everybody I knew or others on that ship.
My parents were ten pound POM’s. We left in August 1958 on the fairsea. We returned home on the orion in November 1960!I was 2 when we left and 4 on arrival back to the UK. My parents didn’t like the climate in Australia.how different my life would have been if we had stayed!! I remember snipers of our homeward journey.
My parents and younger brother emigrated on the Orian arriving in Adelaide Aug 1962, i was 15 years old and used to meet many same of the age in Sundeck Lounge, anyone from that ship around my age?, i now live in Melbourne, can be contacted on peter.carlino1@outlook.com i remember the trip well, it was great fun. Peter Carlino.
I came across a photo of ss Orion and decided to see what was ‘on the net’. By good fortune I struck this. Of all the comments, I came across only one person who had emigrated on the same voyage as myself, – Bob Hopper, who continued on to NZ. I never knew him. We left Tilbury on 30 March 1962. Just one correction – we stopped at Port Said but weren’t allowed off the boat, and we didn’t stop at Aden. We had to wait in one of the Bitter Lakes whilst another ship headed north, and it was very peculiar to see a ship apparently floating on the sand as it approached. I was on D deck in a double cabin with a porthole facing foreward, so there was a lovely breeze all through the tropics. Leaving in March, and arriving in May meant we had no summer in 1962. I was 27 and ripe for a shipboard romance. I met my wife on board that ship, so it holds a special place in our lives.
Paul, I also came on that voyage. Arrived in Sydney on May 2 1962. I was 13 and travelled with my parents. You are the first person I’ve come across from that particular trip.
i sailed on the September 1961 trip at the age of thirteen with my parents richard(Dick) Morris and my brother Raymond. I met up with some boys travelling with the big brother scheme. A large group of us hung out together. One in particular was Freddie (jock) pickard from Scotland. and tony Mahon . Would love to know where they settled. They all left the ship in Australia but I went to Wellington.