Remembering St George veterans lost at sea
Twelve months ago, the St George & Sutherland Shire Leader reported the finding of the wreck of the WW2 hellship, the Montevideo Maru, in the South China Sea, off the north west coast of The Philippines, on 18 April 2023.
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Around 1,000 Australians died when the Japanese POW transportation ship, the Montevideo Maru, was sunk by the American submarine, USS Sturgeon, on 1st July 1942. Six of these Australians were born in the St George area of Sydney. They were :
Soldiers
* Neill Callaghan NX52913, who was born in Bexley. He was the great uncle of Andrew Hastie MP, currently the Shadow Minister for Defence.
* Richard Grimshaw NX52704, who was born in Kogarah, Sydney.
* Frederick Hopkins NX54986, who was born in Rockdale, Sydney, on 25 April 1915.
* John Manyon NX72162, who was born in Hurstville, Sydney.
* Henry Wyatt NX191489, who was born in Carlton, Sydney.
Civilian
* John Poole, Methodist clergyman and missionary, born in Hurstville, Sydney.
My father's cousin, Lloyd Sibraa NX34251, died on the Montevideo Maru on 1st July 1942. He was in the Number 1 Independent Company, Australia's first commando unit raised during WW2, with Frederick Hopkins of Rockdale. The other soldiers from the St George area were in Lark Force.
More information about the Fall of Rabaul and the sinking of the Montevideo Maru is on the Rabaul and Montevideo Maru Society's website at https://www.montevideo-maru.org
Patrick Bourke, Cronulla
What does 2,000 rides mean?
Reading the report '2000 take e-scooter rides'(The Leader March 27, 2024, page 2), I had a very uncomfortable feeling, this was a one-sided report, from Georges River Council, no balanced information.
The report has no information about safety for pedestrians walking along footpaths when the sound of the travelling e-scooter is very limited, and soft, being subdued due to the surrounding sound of cars, buses and trucks on the street.
The Local Working Group, set up to manage the trial, makes no recommendation about safety for pedestrians, even though these e-scooters are being used/ridden on footpaths. I read that the e-scooter's 'new surface detection technology' is supposed to slow down the scooter 'to a stop'. Alas, either the riders knew how to override this technology or riding under 20kms/hr allows the e-scooter on the footpath.
The Local Working Group may include various organisations from Transport for NSW to the police. The Group include a local ratepayer, local community representation. However, the Mayor does comment that he has 'spoken with community members' but alas he is not included as a representative of the Local Working Group.
The report would seem to infer that there have been 'no accidents' in the first month of the trial, even that the e-scooters are 'correctly parked' on footpaths. Returning home late at night, walking along Regent Street, the e-scooter was lying on its side, blocking about half of the footpath. I walked around the e-scooter being careful to avoid tripping. Not exactly a 'correct' way of parking this e-scooter. Much more information needs to be provided by both the Council and Beam, especially policing these e-scooters on footpaths and safety for riders.
