SBS speaks to former Treasurer Wayne Swan on Australia's new super guarantee
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Montevideo Maru mural unveiled in Stanhope to mark POW tragedy
For many years, Clive Toms had no idea his two uncles had died in Australia's worst maritime tragedy. Claude and Cecil Toms, from the northern Victorian town of Kyabram, were aboard Japanese prisoner of war transport ship the Montevideo Maru when it was sunk by a US Navy submarine, the USS Sturgeon, on July 1, 1942. The brothers were commonly known by their second names Howard and Hector, and were among 1,053 Australians who died in the tragedy. Mr Toms, 81, said it was a disaster his mum and dad never talked about. "It was shielded from us kids," he said. Mr Toms said his dad died when he was just 18, and he never really got the full story from him. "Mum remarried a few years later and if you ever asked any questions it was 'the boys are lost' and you knew very well there was no story going to come," he said. Desmond Crichton, who lives in the town of Stanhope, 15 kilometres south of Kyabram, lost his uncle Tom in the Montevideo Maru disaster. He said he knew hardly anything about its sinking when he was growing up. "My main knowledge comes from when I was living in Brunswick in the 1970s," Mr Crichton, 70, said. "I picked up the local paper and there [was the] story of the Salvation Army Band lost in the Montevideo Maru. In Stanhope there is a 25-metre-long mural honouring those who died during the disaster. The mural was unveiled in 2023. It stands opposite a memorial park with storyboards detailing those whose lives were lost on the ship. Stanhope RSL secretary George Gemmill said the mural, which was made by north-east Victorian artist Tim Bowtell, had put his town on the map. Mr Gemmill said a new storyboard about the discovery of the ship's wreckage in 2023 would be unveiled at the town's memorial park on the 83rd anniversary of the tragedy. Mr Toms said the mural had a profound impact on his Gippsland-based cousin Marie, whose dad was Howard (Cecil Toms). "She stared at that mural on the wall for 10 minutes," he said. "After that she started reading the words and stories on those storyboards. "Here were stories of men that were her dad's mates. "Now she could see a link for the first time. It was terribly important."
