Orara was built in Kinghorn, Scotland by J Key & Son in 1907. It was intended as a passenger ship for the North Coast Steam Navigation Company of New South Wales. From January 1908 until 1911 it operated on the shipping route between Byron Bay and Sydney. It could carry up to 200 passengers and cargo. Orara then traded weekly between Sydney and Coffs Harbour and conducted weekend day trips to Port Hacking and Broken Bay.
HMAS Orara, around 1944.
The ship was named after the Orara River near Dorrigo, New South Wales which flows into the Clarence River. The name is derived from the Indigenous term Urara meaning ‘where the perch live’.
Orara was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) on 12 September 1939. It was commissioned at Melbourne on 9 October 1939 as an auxiliary minesweeper under the command of Lieutenant John Villiers Waterford Frizelle RN.
Orara became part of the 20th Minesweeping Flotilla, with HMA Ships Yarra, Swan and Doomba. The flotilla was formed on 10 December 1939 and based at Port Melbourne. Its crew was made up mainly of young RAN reserve sailors mobilised for war service and some RAN senior ratings. Its officers were mainly ex-Merchant Navy officers in the RAN Reserve (Seagoing).
HMAS Orara continued to operate off the south-eastern coast of Australia for the next 4 years conducting minesweeping operations. It was also frequently used as a gunnery training ship for trainees from Flinders Naval Depot.
In early April 1940 Orara, Swan and Yarra took part in a mine searching sweep of the approaches to Hobart. This was prior to the arrival of the 83 673 tonne troopship HMT Queen Elizabeth to embark 2nd AIF soldiers from Tasmania.
Stephenson handed over command of the minesweeper to Lieutenant Commander James Gordon Stewart Fyfe RANR (S) on 6 September 1940. Fyfe was to command the ship for the next 3 years.
Between late October and early November 1940, the German commerce raider Pinguin, assisted by the captured Norwegian tanker Storstad, laid minefields off the Australian east coast from Newcastle to Hobart. Pinguin then laid a minefield in the Spencer Gulf off Adelaide before sailing, undetected, into the Indian Ocean. The mines were not discovered until late on 7 November when the steamer Cambridge struck one off Wilsons Promontory and sank.
Orara was first to arrive on the scene at 9:30 am on 8 November. It rescued the Cambridge survivors then returned to South East Point, in company with HMAS Durraween.
Merchant ship, City of Rayville, was lost after striking a mine off Cape Otway on the evening of 8 November. On 9 November Orara and Durraween began minesweeping operations. They swept and detonated two German mines.
After the discovery of this second minefield, the Naval Board closed Bass Strait. The board also advised of danger areas around Wilsons Promontory and Cape Otway.
Sweeping operations by the 20th Minesweeping Flotilla continued for the next few months and a total of ten German mines were located and destroyed. Many of the German mines were washed away by strong currents and either sank in deeper water or exploded when washed ashore.
In early January 1941 Orara operated from Hobart, conducting searching sweeps for mines laid by Pinguin. It returned to Melbourne on 9 January and operated along the eastern seaboard for the rest of the year including deploying to Sydney between February and March 1941. It operated with HMA Ships Swan, Warrego, Goonambee, Samuel Benbow and Heros, conducting sweeping operations in the vicinity of Norah Head. Orara swept three German mines laid by Pinguin.
Orara suffered its only wartime casualty on 24 August 1941 when, while returning to Melbourne, Scottish born Engine Room Artificer 4th Class John Gibb died while the ship was alongside at Port Welshpool. Gibb was returning on board when he fell from the gangway and was caught between the ship’s side and the pier, dying from asphyxia. He was buried at Carr Villa General Cemetery in Hobart.
Orara was involved in the recovery of a RAAF Wirraway training aircraft on 8 and 9 October 1941, after it crashed into the waters off Swimashore Bay, Wilson’s Promontory. The Wirraway (A20-189) had crashed on 6 October 1941 while conducting a mock low-level attack on troops ashore during a training exercise. The pilot, Pilot Officer Frederick Watchorn, was injured but survived. The observer, Sergeant John Stuart Padman, was killed. Orara and Durraween were sent to recover the wreck which was craned on board Orara on 8 October and offloaded in Melbourne the next day.
Coal fired boilers were Orara’s main source of providing steam to run its engines. This required frequent coaling to take place which was hard work for its crew. Its engineers worked hard stoking the boilers and maintaining equipment that was over 30 years old. Time in port to conduct boiler cleaning was essential as well as repairs to its riveted hull which leaked constantly. On 13 December 1941 while the ship was in Melbourne a refrigeration pipe burst and Engineer Lieutenant Robert Hall Chambers RANR (S) and Engine Room Artificer 4th Class James Brown Cunningham were badly injured and hospitalised.
The 20th Minesweeping Flotilla concluded operations in late 1941, and despite Japanese submarines operating along Australia’s east coast in 1942 and 1943, no enemy mining took place. Orara continued to operate as a minesweeper in Victorian waters throughout 1942 and 1943.
Orara undertook a refit at Williamstown between October 1943 and February 1944, for conversion to a mobile anti-submarine warfare (ASW) training ship. This would allow seagoing ASW personnel to undertake refresher training in the New Guinea area where access to training equipment was limited. Lieutenant Commander George Frederick Edmund Knox RAN (an ASW specialist) took command of Orara on 2 November 1943. It left Melbourne on 18 February 1944 and steamed to Sydney.
After training and workups, Orara sailed from Sydney on 28 March and steamed north, via Cairns, to Milne Bay, New Guinea where it arrived on 13 April 1944. Orara operated in New Guinea waters for the next 8 months, conducting ASW training for Allied warships, and other duties including engineering support to smaller vessels and transport of stores, mail and personnel.
Orara sailed to Port Moresby in late May and towed HDML 1074 part of the way. For its return journey to Milne Bay it was tasked with towing a concrete ammunition lighter carrying 300 depth charges, but the cargo shifted during the voyage and the lighter rolled over and sank en route.
During early July 1944, Orara sailed from Milne Bay to Madang. In addition to its ASW training duties, its crew assisted with the building of the new naval base, HMAS Madang.
HMAS Orara arrived back in Sydney on 19 January 1945. It was not to sail again due to its poor materiel state. In his report of proceedings for November 1944, Lieutenant Commander Hodges had bluntly stated ‘The general condition of the hull and machinery is precisely that to be anticipated on a 37 years old ship - namely extremely well-worn, or to use the current vernacular it has ‘had’ it’. Orara commenced destoring and was placed in maintenance reserve on 30 April 1945.
On 5 May Lieutenant Commander Keith handed over command to Lieutenant Gordon Alfred Ruddock, RANR who decommissioned the ship on 14 May 1945. During its wartime service Orara had steamed 7867 miles.
Orara was sold by the Australian Government on 28 June 1946 to a Chinese shipping company based in Shanghai. Initially renamed Pearl River it became the Hong Shan in 1949 and was then sold in early 1950 to a Greek shipping company and renamed Santos. It remained operating in Chinese waters during the Chinese Civil War, but on 19 June 1950, while attempting to enter Shanghai, it struck a mine and sank.