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After two days at sea crossing the Great Australian Bight in five to six metre swells, we arrived in Albany, a charming and picturesque town on the southern most tip of Western Australia's rugged coastline. Settled as a penal outpost in 1826, it became the first European settlement in Western Australia. With its fine natural harbour it became a busy trading port and also developed into the base for a profitable whaling industry. What this wind-swept settlement is most memorable for, however, is that it was the rendezvous point for assembling the first convoy of New Zealander and Australian ships to sail off to the battlefields of WWI. King George Sound provided a vast, safe anchorage for the 39 ships. Of the 40,000 aboard who set sail in late 1914, for many, Albany was to be the last sight of Australia they ever had.
Throughout the town are a number of touching reminders and memorials to these troops. One of the most impressive is the new National Anzac Centre set in the Albany Heritage Park on Mount Adelaide, overlooking the waters where the first great convoy gathered. The views are breathtaking and the surrounds so peaceful in contrast to the horrors of war our troops faced. Inside, the cutting-edge museum technology takes visitors on an emotional journey into the past.
And so, today in this remote, but very beautiful part of our country, we learnt a lot more about our history. It has been another very impressive port of call.
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