Palm Island - RL - Palm Island - 1943 (navy competition)
Item
Sport
Rugby League See all items with this value
Competition Type
Local
Communities Involved
Palm Island See all items with this value
Start Date
June 1943
Place
Palm Island, Queensland See all items with this value
Title
Palm Island - RL - Palm Island - 1943 (navy competition)
Description
Photo of Palm Island rugby team which played against HMAS Australia in 1943.
Account : "Perhaps the most illuminating picture of Palm Island is painted by Ian Wrigley when a Sub Lieutenant serving in HMAS Australia in 1943. This is found in a paper, of all things, discussing rugby in the RAN (NHR September 2013). Wrigley says: I took the troop train from Sydney to Townsville (a seven-day journey) and there joined the sloop HMAS Swan for the short passage to Palm Island to join my new ship. At this stage of the war, in June 1943, the cruisers Australia and HMAS Hobart, the destroyers HMA Ships Arunta and Warramunga and US Ships Flusser and Ralph Talbotwere based in the excellent anchorage off Palm Island. It was safe because Japanese submarines did not venture inside the Barrier Reef. From here the cruisers, accompanied by destroyers, rotated on patrols of the Coral Sea.
One of my duties in Australia was as the ship’s Physical and Recreational Training Officer and it was my job to find an outlet to improve upon the restrictive shipboard exercise routines. This included deck hockey, boxing and wrestling matches in the starboard waist and small-bore shooting matches on the forecastle. Palm Island had a sports field on which it was possible to have a game of rugby against teams from other ships but, just as importantly, against teams from the local indigenous community who thoroughly enjoyed the friendly competition. It was here that I gained a place in the fiercely competitive Aussie First Fifteen".
Source: Walter Burroughs, "Palm Islands – a Naval Connection", Naval Historical Society of Australia website, https://www.navyhistory.org.au/palm-islands-a-naval-connection/
Account : "Perhaps the most illuminating picture of Palm Island is painted by Ian Wrigley when a Sub Lieutenant serving in HMAS Australia in 1943. This is found in a paper, of all things, discussing rugby in the RAN (NHR September 2013). Wrigley says: I took the troop train from Sydney to Townsville (a seven-day journey) and there joined the sloop HMAS Swan for the short passage to Palm Island to join my new ship. At this stage of the war, in June 1943, the cruisers Australia and HMAS Hobart, the destroyers HMA Ships Arunta and Warramunga and US Ships Flusser and Ralph Talbotwere based in the excellent anchorage off Palm Island. It was safe because Japanese submarines did not venture inside the Barrier Reef. From here the cruisers, accompanied by destroyers, rotated on patrols of the Coral Sea.
One of my duties in Australia was as the ship’s Physical and Recreational Training Officer and it was my job to find an outlet to improve upon the restrictive shipboard exercise routines. This included deck hockey, boxing and wrestling matches in the starboard waist and small-bore shooting matches on the forecastle. Palm Island had a sports field on which it was possible to have a game of rugby against teams from other ships but, just as importantly, against teams from the local indigenous community who thoroughly enjoyed the friendly competition. It was here that I gained a place in the fiercely competitive Aussie First Fifteen".
Source: Walter Burroughs, "Palm Islands – a Naval Connection", Naval Historical Society of Australia website, https://www.navyhistory.org.au/palm-islands-a-naval-connection/
External Participants
Yes