27 Apr 2015
A poem written by former Dubbo High School student Patrick Bourke has been included in the poetry anthology "When ANZAC Day Comes Around".
Mr Bourke's poem "Drowning in Sunshine" focuses on the loss of life associated with the sinking of the Montevideo Maru in the Pacific in July 1942.
Some 1,000 Australians, including prisoners-of-war and 200 civilians, went down on the Japanese ship, which was torpedoed by an Allied submarine in 1942. The Allied vessel was unaware the ship was being used by the Japanese to transport prisoners captured in the Pacific, including Rabaul, to Hainan off southern China.
The loss of life on the Montevideo Maru is considered the worst maritime disaster in Australian history. Two Dubbo men, including the cousin of Mr Bourke's father, were among those who died when the ship was torpedoed.
"Tasmanian Graeme Lindsay from the 100 Years from Gallipoli Poetry Project selected my poem as one of 200 in the anthology," Mr Bourke said.
"Poets throughout Australia and New Zealand were challenged to present their own interpretation of ANZAC Day, with selected poems accompanied in the anthology by a photo of an Australian or New Zealand war memorial."
As part of the local lead-up to the 100thanniversary of the Gallipoli landings, Mr Bourke presented a file of information on the book to Dubbo College history students Nathan Hawkes, Jodi Howard and Ella Bass late last week.
When the book becomes available Mr Bourke will gift a copy of the anthology to Dubbo College.