It seems remarkable that at least three Dungog lives a long way from the sea have been touched in a special way by a very beautiful old ship, P & O’s Arcadia.
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She was the last of the lines fleet of six 30,000 tonners, launched in 1954. She was scrapped 25 years later in 1979.
In 1965, Eileen Debbage met her late husband, John, who served on the Arcadia, on her way to the United Kingdom for a working holiday.
“Jock” (at his request, his name has been changed to protect his privacy) was an able seaman deck-hand on Arcadia’s final voyage in 1979 and has spent a lifetime at sea.
And Chris Fibbens came to Australia on the Arcadia from London as a “ten pound pom” in 1958.
Arcadia was the second P & O ship of that name, a name which comes from a mythological region of rural happiness in Southern Greece - sounds like Dungog!
Described by many a “a very happy ship”, Arcadia was built on Clydebank, Scotland in 1953, sharing her birthplace with the Royal Yacht Britannia launched by the Queen a month earlier.
Great efforts were made to incorporate into her design the very latest in sea going technology and passenger comfort.
Her maiden voyage in 1954 took her to Australia and she continued to make long distance trips between Britain and Australia for most of her 25 years service, carrying both tourists and migrants.
It was reported that in her quarter of a century career she carried 430,000 passengers and steamed 2,650,000 miles, equivalent to 100 times around the world or six return trips to the moon.
The last three years of her life she was based in Sydney as a cruise ship.
Eileen recalls that she met John on board through a mutual friend.
John was quartermaster and his duties were mainly on the bridge as helmsman.
“I had my working holiday in the UK for a couple of years and John stayed on the Arcadia until 1968 when he left the sea and came to live in Australia,” she said.
“We went our own separate ways for a while and were finally married in 1975.
“We were on the second last cruise of the Arcadia before she steamed off to the wreckers and more recently when the new Arcadia made its first voyage to Australia we won a competition to have a lovely lunch on board, meet the captain and have a tour of the ship.”
Able seaman “Jock”, was born in Dorset and went to sea at just 17 years of age.
He served in the Royal Navy on heavy cruisers and then joined the merchant navy.
“I tried life on shore once but that didn’t last long, the sea was in my blood,” Jock said.
“I still remember the fantastic farewell the port of Sydney gave to the Arcadia as we made that last journey to the wreckers.
“It was Australia Day 1979 and there were streamers, lots of craft on the harbour and a Scottish band playing a lament.”
Chris said he will always remember the Arcadia and the trip out.
“It was a fantastic adventure for a boy - Gibraltar, Suez Canal and Colombo.
“We left London and a freezing winter to arrive in Fremantle at the height of summer, it was great.
“In the 1990s when the old Allynbrook School was being renovated I found among other things a cardboard 3D viewing card under the floor.
“Remember they came in packets of cereal and you had to have a special VIEW-A-SCOPE to see them properly.
“It was a photo of a ship being towed by a tug, the ship none other than the Arcadia, I always thought this a strange coincidence.“
All agreed that the Arcadia was indeed a graceful old lady, not like those modern floating skyscrapers at all, and that their lives had been changed, albeit quite differently, in some special way by knowing her.
Are there any other Arcadians out there?
