C16 Dunera Mass

On 10 July 1940, 2546 men, ranging in age from 16 to 66, were herded aboard the Hired Military Transport Dunera at Liverpool, England and transported to Australia.  Most were German or Austrian, and most were Jewish.  Many had fled to Britain in the 1930s to escape Hitler’s Reich.

After 57 days of voyage in appalling conditions the Dunera reached Australia. It made three stops: first at Fremantle, Western Australia, although no passengers disembarked; then at Melbourne where some internees disembarked to be sent to an internment camp in Tatura, Victoria; and finally, on 6 September 1940, the Dunera entered Sydney Harbour, where the remaining passengers disembarked and were sent to an internment camp in Hay, New South Wales.

Oswald von Wolkenstein, later known as ‘Ossie’ was one of the youngest of the Dunera Boys. Many years later he passed on a large folder of music written by Max-Peter Meyer specifically for the boys and men on the ship. The pieces had been played in the camp and include a Mass, a Psalm setting and a piano quartet.

Program

Peter Meyer, Psalm: De Profundis (1940/41)

Boaz Bischofswerder, Phantasia Judaica (1940)

Peter Meyer, Piano Quartet (1941)

Peter Meyer, Dunera Mass (1940)

Artists

Luminescence Chamber Singers

Oriana Chorale

David Cavenagh, piano

James Monro, cello

Pippa Newman, viola

Brad Tham, violin

Directed by Roland Peelman

with

Nicole Forsythe, narrator