PHOTOGRAPH OF BEARER

SIGNATURE OF BEARER

On 29th July Geoffrey was back in New York, dealing with passports and on the 30th he had lunch with Parsons at Sherry’s before boarding the ship for England. The ship was almost certainly the Megantic. (His writing is terrible). It sailed at 5. pm, together with Orontes, the Empress of Asia, Walmer Castle, and the Ortuna. Geoffrey comments that there were supposed to be 2,500 people on board and that the whole convoy of about 16 ships carried between 20,00 and 30,000 people.  It anchored all night in the Narrows, and finally sailed early the next afternoon, escorted by a cruiser, destroyers, a balloon, and an aeroplane.

It was calm at first and the ships followed a zigzag course, led by a destroyer. There was lifeboat drill, and everyone had to be off the decks by 5 pm. Geoffrey describes the next days as “uneventful”, and he didn’t bother to go to a talk by the Reverend Hillier of Brooklyn about the English war effort, though he might have gone to the one by the Presbyterian padre who talked about North Carolina. On 7th August the Empress of Asia dropped back from the convoy “for gun practice”, and on 9th August they met a destroyer ”in heavy fog”. On 10th August his ship “lost the convoy” and finally anchored in the Mersey off Liverpool on 11th August. When he got ashore he telephoned his mother-in-law, Edith Garnett, at her home, Waddow Hall, near Clitheroe, then he and the other delegates left by train for London.

Edith Garnett and his wife’s sister, Marjorie Thwaites, had come to London from Yorkshire. These three were very fond of each other, and seized every opportunity to be together. On 17th August the delegates were shown the camouflaged guns in Hyde Park and Regents Park, and Geoffrey also had a meeting at Australia House. He spent most of the next day with his mother-in-law, before catching the evening train at Kings Cross to join the delegates’ visit to Scotland. This visit began with a bus Journey from Glasgow to Rosyth, where they went on board the battleship Malaya. Geoffrey adds the information that Malaya carried 5,00 tons of coal, that its guns weighed 87 tons and that it took 60 men to load each set of guns. The delegates watched the return of the battle fleet, which included the battle cruiser Carrandoc and three submarines. They also saw a ship that had been camouflaged and “turned into an aeroplane ship.” On 20th August they went to Edinburgh, where they stayed at the Overseas Club and visited Holyrood and Edinburgh Castle. Then they went on to Glasgow, where Geoffrey describes going down the Clyde by tug and casting a distant glance at the Scottish Blythswood, an old house, by then very close to factories. The delegates went to dinner with the Lord Provost. On 22nd August they were taken to a shell factory that employed 2,400 people, then they set off for the County Hotel, Carlisle.

Geoffrey and Fairfax seem to have left Carlisle and the other the delegates rather early, since Fairfax went back to London and Geoffrey went by train to Clitheroe to stay with his parents-in-law at Waddow. He sent a cable to his wife “Staying Waddow. Conditions perfect” and gives the names of the many relations and friends who had flocked there to see him. He was back again in London on 30th August, where he had to go to the Daily Chronicle to decode cables.

On 14th September, he saw his sisters-in-law, Betty and Eileen Garnett. The next day a cousin, Maurice Johnson, came up from Dartford to see him. Maurice, who was a son of Francis Johnson and Jane Mary Syme, was in the 1st Australian General Hospital (Army) and had enlisted in Brisbane in 1914 at the same time as another of Geoffrey’s cousins, George Adlington Syme. Maurice was on sick leave from France. They had lunch with his sister Winifred Johnson.

On 16th September Fairfax turns up again and he, Geoffrey and Macintosh discussed their problems with Reuters. They proposed a new scheme with someone called Townsend, presumably from Reuters. The discussion was interrupted by lunch with Balfour at the Savoy, and resumed in the afternoon with a conference on the pooling of news and the system of cabling. Their proposition was “emphatically turned down”. Geoffrey does not seem to have been worried, since he went off to dinner at Claridges with L. Robinson and W. Clarke. He comments that the speeches were good and that it was the most enjoyable dinner of the trip. The next day Geoffrey had another conference about the problems of cabling and he saw Morgan, (whose initial and job are not mentioned) about a new advertising scheme.

They went on to Belfast on 26th September. They were met by the mayor and given a lunch at the Civic Hall. This time he ”sat below the salt.” He was placed “alongside a hard-headed Belfast man” and their talk was principally about the linen mills and the conditions of work in Belfast. That night Geoffrey stayed away from the official dinner given at the Union Club, but he doesn’t say if this was because he was disapproving or simply because he was feeling tired. The next day the delegates visited the Ulster Volunteer Force Troop, and saw one of the several establishments that had been set up because of the civil war. These were subsidised by the government. They also visited two shipyards and had lunch at the Customs House with Sir George Clark. They went back to Dublin and on 28th September after “a good crossing but for the last few miles” they got back to London and the Waldorf.

There was a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral on 29th September. Geoffrey went to it with Macalister.

He seems to have made different arrangements about returning to Australia, since on 30th September he went to the Ministry of Information to change these arrangements because he had decided to return with the rest of the delegates. He then set off for Manchester.

On 1st October he went from Manchester to Waddow, where he spent another two days with his parents-in-law. On 2nd October his visit was interrupted by a telegram from London telling him to be back in London by 2.30 that afternoon. It was impossible to get from Yorkshire to London so quickly, but he was back there in time to have lunch with Lord Beaverbrook on 3rd October at the Savoy and to have an interview with Lord Milner. Colonel Elliott (unidentified) came to dinner with Geoffrey and Prior.

He had to begin his packing, then get his passport from the American Consul. The next day Crispin (also unidentified) and Carnegie came to lunch, and then Geoffrey caught the 4.30 pm train to Liverpool.

On 6th October he got to the wharf at 10 am. There was “a long process passing customs.”  It doesn’t seem unduly long, since he boarded the Lapland at 11.30. The ship stayed in the Canada basin all day and moved into the next basin on 7th October, though it couldn’t get out of the basin because of the strong southwest wind. It “got through the gates” at 1. pm on 8th October, though it was still anchored in the river at 10 pm. On 9th October the ship was joined by four other ships and a cruiser - Geoffrey thought that they were going to Glasgow. On the next day he “awoke to find we were all on our own”. In the next few days the weather got warmer and the sea got calmer. He describes these days as uneventful, though there was gun practice on 15th October. Geoffrey arrived in New York on 20th October, and stayed at the Waldorf Astoria, where he had Room 471. It had a balcony and was on the 3rd floor. Prior was in the room next to him. The next day he and Parsons went off to Rye again, where they spent the night.  On 21st October he was back in New York.

He seemed shocked by the prices of apartments in New York; one was $7,000 per annum on a five year lease, while some cost as much as $15,000. He wasn’t thinking of moving there himself; he was probably estimating the cost of housing an Age representative in the States. On his last day in New York he went to Tiffany’s – where he bought a silver photograph frame and some brooches – and dealt with passports and visas and had lunch at the Waldorf. He had discussions on business, then more discussions of cabling problems with Davies and Macintosh. On 20th October part of the original group, whose names are not recorded, left Central Station for Albany. Parsons was there to say goodbye, though the diary doesn’t say if he was there to farewell Geoffrey or the others as well.

Their journey was through the Adirondacks. Up till now there had been no mention of the great influenza epidemic, but Geoffrey’s comments on it begin at Montreal where he saw “all the R.C. institutions, including the cemetery”. He says that influenza was raging and noted that there were 1100 new cases of influenza each day.” On 24th October he arrived at Sudbury. There had been 50 deaths on the previous day and no one was allowed out of the train. On 27th October he saw the sunrise at Calgary, and describes the land as “pastoral country, hills and treeless like N.E. Victoria.” He records the price of breakfast on the Canadian Pacific Railway. He paid $1.50 for a baked apple, oatmeal porridge, fish cakes and bacon, toast and butter and coffee.

Geoffrey’s group arrived in Vancouver on 18th October.  Geoffrey says they were “met by a man called Irons. He put us up at a club overlooking the river”.  This probably meant he was put up as a temporary member, because he stayed at the Vancouver Hotel. He says it was a wonderful club. He explored Vancouver and saw an hotel 15 stories high. He was probably regretful he couldn’t stay there. He also comments that in the last six weeks there had been 100,000 cases of fever and 12,000 deaths in New York.

On 30th October the rest of the delegates arrived by train. He went to the club with Campbell-Jones and Fairfax and on the following day he did more sightseeing, saw bears and deer and was taken out on a yacht. On the 1st and 2nd November it was raining but on the 3rd Geoffrey and Fairfax were taken to the Jericho Golf Club by a Mr Morris, who is described by Geoffrey as “a banking superintendent”. He played golf there with Hogg and Holt. Apparently not with Fairfax, though he had dinner with him. On 6th November Geoffrey, Campbell-Jones and Prior went by ferry and train to the Capulano Camp, and on his last day in Vancouver he took a train to the highest point in North East Vancouver and walked back to the city. That day he notes that Germany had signed the armistice, that the populace was enthusiastic and everyone was jubilant.

He boarded the ship on 8th November, having had lunch at the club. The delegates left Vancouver about 5.pm.

The voyage on the Manuka began badly. Geoffrey describes the first days as cold, rough and miserable; he was lying down practically all day. On 10th November only two of the delegation were able to face breakfast, and on 11th Geoffrey managed to eat a mouthful at lunchtime. He adds that news of the Armistice was received by wireless. The next day there is the brief comment that there was news of a state of revolution all over Germany, plus the remark that the sea was a little smoother. On 16th November the ship anchored off Honolulu and they went ashore.

There was a fancy dress ball on 23rd November. Geoffrey does no say whether or not he dressed up for it, though he was starting to enjoy himself. He had a few friends on board apart from the delegates. Amongst them were his close friends, Mr. and Mrs W. E. Bates. Kate Bates had been visiting her sister Carrie Lamb in Canada. (Kate had been a Miss Reid, and they lived at Larino, the Reid estate in Balwyn).

The ship that had accompanied them, the Niagara, parted from them on two days later. They arrived at Suva on 27th November, where a sick person was put ashore and they were not allowed to land. Geoffrey would have enjoyed Sports Day on 29th November. But trouble started on 30th November when there was a heavy fog, the pilot didn’t come on board and the ship anchored at the quarantine station near Auckland.  December began with the discovery that they were to spend seven days in quarantine. Three quarantine officers arrived who wore white coats and hats and “started spraying themselves as soon as they came on board”. The next day the ship was fumigated for four hours, with “great indignation everywhere.” Even the New Zealand passengers were not allowed ashore. On 3rd December five of the crew were taken off, the coal for re-fuelling did not come, and “there was no attention from the health officers”. On 4th December, a Wednesday, Geoffrey says “several of us drew up a scheme of protest”. The ship had had been almost out of provisions since Sunday. Luckily  “a large quantity of water was then sent.” The following day the whole crew went on strike. No washing could be done on board and, although a coal hull was moored alongside, there were no workers. The passengers refused to coal the ship themselves, but finally the coaling began at 3.30 pm and went on all the next morning. On 6th December more water was sent. But the stewards went on strike at 12.30 the stewardesses had been sent off to quarantine, and the cooks were on strike too. “Lady passengers took charge of the dining room and meals went on.” Geoffrey acted as a steward at dinner for a table of six. “After much amusement and great success organized by Mrs Bates,” the stewards returned.

There must have been a number of sick people on board, because Geoffrey says on 8th December “the last sick man was taken off” and another room had to be converted into a hospital room. There was a request for thirty volunteers for trimming and wheeling in the boiler room, but probably Geoffrey was not amongst them. That day they sailed from Auckland.

The sea near Auckland was a danger zone. The ship passed through it safely, though one soldier said he saw a floating mine. By 10th December more passengers were ill, including Campbell-Jones, and on 13th December the ship arrived in Sydney. It “anchored off quarantine ground’ There was a health inspection that took a long time. Geoffrey and Prior shared a room in the Quarantine Station, but his friends the Bates were kept on board the ship. Geoffrey complained that it was like a large camp and that there was nothing to do except walk on the beach and potter around, (though on one day he read The Age files all day).  They were inoculated, given antiseptic baths (Geoffrey noted that the women went first), had more medical inspections and all their clothes were fumigated. On 18th December he got a letter telling him that his English sister-in-law, Greta Robinson, who he had seen so recently in Clitheroe, had just died of influenza. It was not until 21st December that the quarantine period ended. The group gathered on the wharf and left by ferry at 10 am. Geoffrey records no excitement other than the passengers on the other ships cheered as they left.  He was met by Macdonald, (whose name and job is unrecorded), then he had lunch with a Colonel Smith and finally he, and presumably the other non-Sydney delegates, went to the station to catch the train back to Melbourne.

Is Geoffrey Syme’s diary interesting enough to read? Well, yes, even though it would have been much more interesting if he had added Christian names or initials to all those surnames. Some people are traceable, especially if one can find the official programme for this Conference, which probably lists the delegates and perhaps even gives their basic biographical details. That would make it easier to work out his likes and dislikes and the sort of relationship he had with them. He is wise enough not to record any personal comments about his companions and those he met. After all, he might have dropped the diary somewhere. The diary tells us what he did and the wide range of people he met, quite apart from the Australian delegates. He is not bad at describing scenery and incidents, though he doesn’t do it very often. It is interesting that he spent so much time actually working on behalf of The Age, and that never, at any time, does he show any fear concerning the places he went to. Nor is there any indication that he was shy or nervous at talking to so many undoubtedly famous people. These are only extracts from his diary, but it shows that he seems to have done his job well.

Mr GEOFFREY SYME, managing editor and part proprietor of The Age (Melbourne, Australia), was born at Melbourne, 1893, and was educated at Kew High School and the University of Melbourne. He is the fourth son of the late David Syme, who purchased The Age in 1856 and converted it into the most powerful and independent newspaper. Mr Geoffrey Syme gained practical experience of journalism under the direction of, and in close association with, his father, and on David Syme's death, in 1908 he assumed control of the literary departments of The Age and The Leader, directed the policies of the two papers, and became one of the proprietors of the undertakings. He was member of the Australian Press Delegation to Europe in 1918.

Mr Syme devotes himself entirely to the business of Messrs. David Syme's & Co., and, as a matter of principle, has accepted no public office in connection with the organized life of community, though his interest extended to many parts of the Commonwealth. These include farming and pure stock breeding, in addition to rubber and cocoa-nut planting in Papua. His home is Blythswood, Kew, Victoria.