Historical information

A souvenir of a ship that brought returned servicemen, including JB McLean, home from World War 1 in 1920. The Ceramic departed Tillbury, UK 12th March and docked in Freemantle on 27th April 1920 and then went onto Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. The Ceramic was a transport vessel built in Belfast in 1913 for the White Star Line to transport frozen produce and apples from Australia to UK. It was taken over by the Australian Government for troop transport in October 1914 and could carry over 3,000 troops.
This trip in 1920 there were 1467 on board, there were women and children as well as 439 soldiers returning home, one of whom was John 'Basil' McLean.
Was with other World War 1 memorabilia that has come from Private John Basil McLean, 2nd Reinforcements, 37th Battalion, A.I.F. There was a large collection of postcards so he may have been collecting them as souvenirs.
J.B. McLean (Service No. 13824) was from near Maffra, Victoria and enlisted on 22 January 1916. He embarked on 16 December 1916 for Europe. His full war record is available from AWM. He spent time with the Australian Field Artillery (Pack Section). At the end of the war he worked for a year at the A.I.F. Headquarters in London before returning to Australia on the 'Ceramic', arriving Portsea in 1920.

Significance

Postcards were a very common form of communication in the first World War. This postcard also records a trip home for a returned soldier. This type of experience would have been familiar to the first Legatees as they had served in World War 1.

Physical description

Postcard of the ship Ceramic of the White Star Line.

Inscriptions & markings

Printed on the back. 'Post Card / Universal Postal Union / this space may be used for correspondence / The address only to be written here. / If posted in the UK for inland use 1d. stamp. If posted in Postal Union, 1d. stamp or its equivalent.'