FAREWELL TO MARTIN PASH
THE LAST KNOWN CENTAUR SURVIVOR* (taken from the November 2012 newsletter.
Martin Pash was a 20 year old merchant seaman on the Centaur when the torpedo struck. He was sucked down a hatch by the force of the Centaur’s sinking, but managed to fight his way to the surface, where he was plucked out of the water by Sister Savage, and spent the next 36 hours on the open sea. He never got over that experience, and was troubled by nightmares all his life. He had been a member of the crew in Centaur’s pre-hospital days, and was on board for the rescue of the survivors of the Kormoran, and their subsequent removal under armed guard to Fremantle.
Martin was a very active member of the Association and attended as many Centaur functions as he could, including travelling regularly to Point Danger from his home in Melbourne for the Memorial Services there. Because of the timing of the Services, he would then return to Melbourne to attend Melbourne’s Service at Heidelberg Hospital. Several times he attended at Concord in Sydney, and at least once, when the dates lined up, he attended all three. He was an honoured guest at both the National Memorial Service at St John’s Cathedral in Brisbane in March 2010, and the at-sea Service over the site of the Centaur later that year.
Martin’s funeral was held in the ANZAC Memorial Chapel at Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital. It was a very personal, fitting, friendly and moving ceremony conducted by the Palliative Care Chaplain Luke Bowen, who, with Robert Winther, had played a major part in getting Martin back to Heidelberg so he could die amongst friends in a familiar environment.
Some 80 people attended the Service, including Billie Amey, Martin’s long time friend and carer. Richard Jones, President of the Centaur Association, travelled from Sydney; John Geary, Deputy Commissioner DVA Victoria, Jeff Freeman, TPI Association; Keith Oliver, Secretary Merchant Navy RSL Sub-Branch, Bob Cross, President of Darebin RSL Sub-Branch. Messages were received from 40 members of the Association, including Jenny Foster from Centaur Primary School NSW and David Mearns in England. Too many to read them all, but they were all passed on to Billie. Robert Winther gave a fine eulogy which painted a vibrant portrait of Martin’s interesting life. After the funeral service, everyone lined the Duckboard Heritage walk as the cortège was wheeled to the hearse, and then the hearse drove off to the tolling of the Heritage Bell in the Remembrance Garden. Billie chose the date of the funeral. It was her 90th birthday, and she wanted to spend it with Martin.
*Bob Westwood, who wanted to remain anonymous, was the actual last survivor, dying in 2024.
A Tribute from Robert Winther
Veteran Liaison Officer for Austin Health).
In a moving Eulogy, Robert Winther gave an overview of Martin’s life, and made mention of the strong Centaur links that exist at the hospital.
Martin was born on 31 December 1922. He lived at Port Melbourne all his life until he moved to Ivanhoe relatively recently. His early schooling was with the nuns, but he left school at age 13.
He worked on the ferry boat Waroona that sailed between Melbourne and Sorrento. Then he became a merchant seaman on the Centaur. Martin went down with the ship, but survived, and his damaged hearing was one result. He attributed the swimming skills that enabled him to survive to his early childhood experiences of diving for pennies that people would drop into the water at Port Melbourne for the local kids to retrieve.
Despite the trauma of being torpedoed he loved ships, reading much about them, and taking many cruises in his retirement. He also played lawn bowls.
He became a Legatee, assisting the families of those who didn’t return. He is thought to have been the first merchant seaman to be classed TPI.
Martin was a gentle man who had a special feeling for the ANZAC Memorial Chapel at Heidelberg. The Stained Glass artist will be asked to include a portrait of Martin Pash, along with the many other people included, and to be included, in this significant piece of art.
A Tribute from David Mearns
I travelled to Melbourne specifically to meet Martin and Billie. We spent the day together and I recorded a series of long interviews with him. After I found Centaur’s wreck the Courier Mail paid for him and Billie to go to Brisbane where I got to meet him again, and of course Martin was delighted that we had been successful.
Like many veterans that had suffered a traumatic event and had watched their friends die, Martin was scarred by what happened to him on the Centaur and he was very emotional and often cried when he talked about it. As the last survivor he also had to carry this burden for years and that wasn’t easy on him. Everyone wanted to know Martin’s story, me included, and thus it was all like we wanted a little piece of him also.
So I was very pleased to see that he was able to travel again for the main Church memorial and meet the Governor General and all the dignitaries. He deserved that at least.
The best part of my time with Martin was when we had a good hour or so to talk alone at the hospital where he eventually died. It was during this talk that Martin opened up personally and told me what he was like as a young man. You could tell that he had been one of the lads, but he was also very clever about making money and seeing an opportunity. On the advice of his father he bought a truck and was a one-man haulier for people. And when he saved enough money he bought a property and did this several times, I think. His shrewd property investments enabled him to live a very comfortable life and enjoy travelling with Billie, which he liked to do. The best thing was that Martin was able to enjoy nice things in life from the fruits of his labour and enterprising spirit. He had the biggest TV I had ever seen and told me a great story about how he had it especially imported from Japan.
He mentioned Mattie Morris quite a bit so that was one person from the Centaur he could relate to, and they met up once in a while although Mattie himself was quite ill and in hospital.
Meeting Martin was one of the best experiences of my Centaur time. But I would really have liked to have known him when he was young. A large, fit, handsome man with real energy and spirit.
May he rest in peace