The Story of the SS "Derna" and its Passengers.
Acclaimed author Diane Armstrong came to Australia in 1948 on a terrible sea voyage aboard the SS "Derna". This is her story.
Over 500 passengers left war-ravaged Europe with the hope of starting a new life in Australia and New Zealand. Their dreams rapidly became a nightmare as the five-week journey turned into an eleven-week ordeal. The appalling conditions aboard the "Derna" and rumours that some passengers were accused of being communist agents sparked an official inquiry when the ship finally limped into Melbourne. Reporters were waiting at the wharf, eager to hear first-hand accounts from those who had survived the journey.
The ship was an overcrowded rustbucket that took months longer than scheduled to make its journey, and it exploited the desperate refugees who sought new lives outside Europe after the War. Its passengers and crew were a varied bunch representing the best and worst of the old Europe, and this book is an account not only of the horrific journey itself, but of those on board and the new lives in Australia.
'The Voyage Of Their Life' recreates the epic journey through the eyes of Diane Armstrong as a young girl and the other passengers who lived it, tracing their transition from refugees to residents as they picked up the tattered remnants of their lives and became integrated in the fabric of Australian society. The result is a unique human story about the suffering and the courage of those who have lost everything, yet find the strength to make a new beginning. It is a story which encapsulates the struggle, spirit and hope of the twentieth century.
