My Fortier ancestors left France in the 18th century and became planters in Jamaica. Following the abolition of slavery they moved to Great Britain and settled in London.
Soon after arriving in England in 1834 my great great grandfather, William Augustus Fortier, then aged 14 joined a merchant ship. His records show his height as “still growing”. Later when he signed off his ship in Sydney he obtained employment in Sussex Street as a draper. About 1852 he opened his own drapery store at Darling Harbour. He married Sarah Wallbridge in 1856 in Sydney and the family lived in Sussex St for several generations.
My grandfather Frederick married Mabel Williams and they had their first two children, my father Frederick Lewis and his brother Leslie in Pyrmont. Alan David and three daughters were all born after the family moved to Campsie. When the three boy were teenagers, the family moved again, this time to Cronulla, and this is where my father met my mother, Elsie Myers, the eldest girl in a family of ten—seven boys and three girls.
My father was a very quiet person and liked to spend time with his family. He did not outwardly show emotion. His passion was trucks, and all he wanted to do was drive and tinker with trucks. He was employed by his best mate who owned trucks but, because Australia was still coming out of the Depression, the work was not always constant.
In 1940 Fred went to the Sydney Showgrounds to enlist in the Army. After training he was assigned to the 2/12th Field Ambulance as an Ambulance Driver. In March 1941 the unit was transferred to Darwin, where they remained until January 1943. During his time in Darwin the Army trained him to be a fitter/mechanic – so, not only could he drive an ambulance he could also fix it, and this would have pleased him no end!
During their training in the Northern Territory, the members of the 2/12th provided medical support for the 23rd Brigade, participated in the construction of five small medical hospitals, and assisted sappers and pioneer assault units, earning the unit the nickname ‘2/12th Pioneers’.
He came home to Cronulla a couple of times on leave and was at home when Pearl Harbour was bombed. All leave was immediately cancelled and he was quickly returned to Darwin. He was based at the Army Hospital at Winnellie, and the Unit was in Darwin when the first bombings occurred there on 19th February 1942.
I received regular ‘letters’ from Darwin, in the form of drawings (I was only four in 1942) and these drawings were also contributed to by any of his mates. Some of them are signed and some aren’t. Even one of the officers drew me a letter and signed it. All these men were lost when the Centaur sunk.
Following the bombing of Darwin, the Government put an embargo on media releases for fear of alarming the public.
This same embargo was applied after the sinking of the Centaur.
My uncle Bub (Alan David) on the other hand, was very outgoing, he loved to party and he loved to sing. He used to teach me to sing duets with him “Little Sir Echo, how do you do, hello . . .” was definitely on the top of my 4-year-old hit parade.
Uncle Bub was working in Queensland when he decided to enlist in Toowoomba in June 1940. He was marched to the Receiving Depot at Enoggera, and from there he went to Caloundra for training.
He became part of the 2/25th Battalion, which spent four months further training in Darwin preparatory to overseas service. (Bub had left Darwin before his brother Fred arrived).
In March his unit returned to Brisbane to complete training. After two weeks leave they embarked from Sydney for the Middle East.
Fun-loving Uncle Bub’s nature was often at loggerheads with military discipline, and his record shows many 5/- (shillings) fines for being AWL, both at home and overseas.
Arriving in the Middle East in early May he and the 2/25th Battalion moved out into the desert to help man the Egypt-Libya frontier against an expected German attack. Then they returned to Palestine in preparation for the invasion of Syria and Lebanon. The battalion fought its major battle at the town of Merdjayoun where they suffered heavy casualties.
Following the bombing at Pearl Harbour, and against Churchill’s wishes, Prime Minister Curtin withdrew the Australian troops from the Middle East to come home and defend Australia, and Bub arrived back in Australia in March 1942.
When Fred knew his brother was back in Australia, he ‘claimed’ him, a practice that was allowed at that time. Bub transferred to the 2/12 Field Ambulance and joined Fred in Darwin at the height of the bombing.
The unit returned to NSW in January 1943, and was based at Corrimal on the NSW South Coast – just a short train ride away from us at Cronulla. Both boys were able to get home nearly every week—Fred to my mother and me, and Uncle Bub to my grandparents as he was unmarried and still living at home.
After the sinking of the Hospital Ship Centaur, the practice of brothers claiming brothers was discontinued. Eight sets of brothers, including a family of three, were lost on the Centaur.
The Centaur was torpedoed by enemy action on 14th May, 1943. On the morning that the telegrams arrived, my grandparents received theirs for Uncle Bub first, delivered by the telegram boy. As we had no inkling they were leaving Australia, my grandparents misunderstood the telegram and thought he had had an accident at the camp.
My youngest Aunt, Doreen, aged 16, came running through our back door and said for mum to come quickly as Bubby had been drowned. We ran approx. two miles to my grandparents’ house (I was suspended between the two of them as they ran) and my mother tried to comfort them.
Eventually she said she should return home as, if there had been an accident, Fred would be trying to contact her. When we got back to our street, our parish priest was waiting at the gate for my mother. I stood there and listened as he told her what had happened.
There were quite a number of young men from the Cronulla area on the ship; the telegram boy became so traumatised delivering the telegrams that they had to call in the churches to help with deliveries.
It was about two hours between my grandparents receiving their telegram and my mother receiving hers. The day after the second telegram arrived, my mother received a letter from my father saying that he had tried to get home the previous weekend and had missed the train. It is a very loving letter and he must have known he was leaving Australia but was not allowed to say so.
My mother made several trips into the city to try to find out what had happened but the Authorities would not tell her anything. When the survivors started to come home, one of them, from Cronulla, knew my parents. He told Mum that Fred had been on the deck next to him when he was about to jump, but Bub wasn’t on deck so my father turned back into the ship to find him. This was when the secondary explosion occurred (the fuel tanks blew up) and the ship went down immediately. The time between the torpedoes hitting and the ship sinking was under three minutes.
The Aftermath of Elsie and Pam
After things had settled down a bit, my mother decided she needed to find work and she obtained a position with the ATO as a clerk in the city. However, there were no child care centres in those days and I had not commenced school. My paternal grandparents were not able to help, and my maternal grandmother, a widow, still had four teenagers at home.
Near where we lived was a small private school, run by two elderly sisters, who taught grades 1 to 3. They had about 20 pupils and they agreed to take me as a boarder. Mum took me there every Sunday night and tucked me up, and then collected me again after work on Fridays. They were really lovely, taught me my early lessons, taught me to play croquet, the Brownies used their gardens after school and I was always welcome to join in. In later years I used to tell people she put me into ‘boarding kindergarten’. But it was quite a happy place for me.
At the end of the War my mother remarried and my stepfather took us to his home town of Darwin, we were one of the first families to return there after the War. We lived on the Quarantine Station, about 15 miles out of the town, and Mum taught me by correspondence for a few years until I finally started school in Grade 5.
I joined the 2/3 AHS Centaur Association when it was very active in promoting the search for the Centaur. The morning it was found, Sunday, 20th December, 2009, was very emotional. My mother wanted it to be left in peace, but knowing that it has been found I am pleased that it is now an official War Grave. In January 2010, I attended a debrief at the Queensland Executive Building where David Mearns and others from the search team explained how they had found it and why they searched where they did, and we were shown many underwater photos of the ship that had not previously been published. The cameras had done a thorough search of all parts of the ship and its surrounds, without actually intruding into the ship, and also showed how the plaque had been placed without damage to the deck. It was a very roller-coaster afternoon emotionally.
On Tuesday, 2nd March 2010, a Memorial Service was held at St John’s Cathedral in Brisbane. As we walked into the Cathedral, children from the Centaur Primary School in Northern New South Wales handed us small red and white flowers that we could then place on the wreaths standing near the top of the aisle. The children then assembled at the front of the Cathedral and read out the names of those who were lost. This again was an emotional moment for relatives present. The formal service was attended by various dignitaries including the Governor-General, the Queensland Governor, the Prime Minister, the Queensland Premier and the Heads of all three Armed Services, and representatives of other churches.
Now the ship has been found, may they all rest in peace.
A Personal Tribute
Private Frederick Lewis Fortier (NX57176)
15 November 1913 – 14 May 1943
I was just five years old when we lost both you and Uncle Bub, but over 80 years later, I still have deep memories of you. I remember the many letters and drawings you and Uncle Bub and your mates sent me from Darwin which always included a threepence.
The camp at Corrimal was only a train ride from home in Cronulla. I remember you coming home on Friday evenings, walking down the side of the house and tapping out a tune on my window to let me know you were there and then taking me to Cronulla Beach during the weekend. I remember the priest, the telegram, the confusion, the emptiness, and the loss.
We were told that when the ship went down you went to look for Uncle Bub. My wish is that you found him and were together at the end.
I love you, Dad
Pam
Private Allan David Fortier (QX10058)
29th July, 1917 – 14th May, 1943
I remember my fun-loving Uncle Bub who used to sing with me. ‘Little Sir Echo’ was my favourite. I remember you being the life of the party when you and Dad had leave at the same time and the family gathered together. When you and Dad were in camp at Corrimal you would both come home almost every weekend and we would all be together again. In Darwin you used to join in Dad’s ‘letters’ to me. A favourite is a cartoon of you out in the bush with a spear in your hand, trying to catch a goanna for tea.
We were told that when the ship went down, Dad went to look for you. My great hope is that he found you and you were together at the end.
Love you, Uncle Bubby
Pam