Chapter 61

At home, I looked up the vessel on the RAN site and found out a lot.

HMAS Condamine was ordered as part of Australia's shipbuilding program during the Second World War. Twelve of these Australian built frigates were to enter service with the Royal Australian Navy. A further ten were ordered but cancelled as the war drew to a close.

Eight, HMA Ships Barcoo, Barwon, Burdekin, Diamantina, Gascoyne, Hawkesbury, Lachlan and Macquarie, were built to the British River Class design and Australia likewise named its frigates after Australian rivers. A further four, HMA Ships Condamine, Culgoa, Murchison and Shoalhaven, were also named after Australian rivers but were built to the design of the Royal Navy's Bay Class Frigates. These latter ships were generally known as Modified River Class Frigates although they are sometimes referred to as Bay Class.

The Condamine was launched in November 1944, commissioned in February 1946 and decommissioned in December 1955.

In June 1952 Condamine departed Sydney to join the United Nations forces operating in Korean waters. She reached Singapore on 11 July and Japanese waters at the close of the month.

Condamine began operational duty in the Korean War in the Haeju area on the Korean west coast as a unit of Task Unit 95.12.4 on 4 August 1952. Three days later she fired her first shots of the war with a bombardment of enemy positions on the mainland opposite Mudo Island...

Condamine returned to Sydney on 20 April 1953 for a refit before resuming duty as a unit of the fleet operating in eastern Australian waters.

I also found that there was a book about her: HMAS Condamine: The Story of a Uniquely Australian Frigate by Lieutenant Vince Fazio RAN (Rtd). What a great chapter for Henry's dissertation!

It's under 3000 kilometers from Korea to Guam. So the round trip would have taken under two weeks, with some shore leave, say three weeks. I'd leave the real work to Henry.

I told him when we met the next morning. He was uneasy about beginning, as he'd still not conferred with anyone at the Bishop. I told him not to worry: We'd clean up the storage room today, leaving only the three cartons. He could try to reach the museum in Honolulu after lunch.

Actually, we moved the boxes to one shelf and the heavier one with the Pilbara sandstone to another. Then we bagged the wrapping materials and cleaned the worktable. While we worked, Henry told me that Sarah had booked a flight to Perth for the 20^th – under two weeks! – and expected to return on the fourth. If necessary, she'd remain in Perth a bit longer.

We went for lunch in Chinatown and I left Henry to try to call around 1300. I told him I'd try to meet him at noon on Monday and left to read more of Paterson's book. I wanted to finish it over the weekend, so I'd be prepared on a tangential topic when I went to UNSW.

I had no trouble finding the Law Building at UNSW, nor the "Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law" on the third floor. The door was marked "Sean Brennan, Director of the Indigenous Legal Issues Project" so I knocked. I was told to "Come in."

"Professor Brennan?"

"Only a Senior Lecturer. I presume you're Mr. Hollister."

"Yes, sir."

"I had a call from the Dean at Sydney about you."

"Yes. I saw her last week."

"Can you tell me what's going on?"

I explained, as I had to Dean Riley, that I was entering third year but had found no electives of interest. I gave him a condensed version of my feelings about the Aboriginal situation.

"You mentioned the Noongar Claim."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Up to when I moved to Sydney, I lived in Perth. So I know something about it."

"Do you know anything about the situation in New South Wales?"

"Only a bit. I had a chat with Craig Ardler some months ago."

"What did he say?"

"That I should come and talk to him after I received my degree."

"Sensible."

"Dean Riley seemed to think you might do some Independent Study. She mentioned nine units this term and six next, if you were successful. What do you think?"

"I don't know. I don't know what would be entailed nor where nor for how many hours."

"Even more sensible. I presume you can read and write."

"A semblance thereof, sir."

"And snarky!"

"Yes, sir."

"Do you know anything of the great serpent?" I became very wary.

"What do you mean, sir? I know a large number of tales and I have seen many carvings and some paintings."