fairwind Archives - Damien Siviero Photography

May 22, 2018June 19, 2018 by damien

MV Fairwind – Missing Crew Update

In 1950 when MV Fairwind was lost with all hands, the crew list and media reports listed 5 named Australians and something like “12 blacks”, “12 niggers” or “several PNG natives”. This has always pissed me off, so I’m real happy to play a small part in righting this.

Several years back I was contacted by the living family of Cecil Himogo, who advised me that he indeed was part of the missing crew of the Fairwind. Now 5 years later (and 9 after we found the Fairwind), Cecil’s grandson (Jeremiah Jeremiah) has been able to provide the names of 6 additional members of the crew.

Fairwind’s Missing Crew

Since we discovered the MV Fairwind in 2009, I have been contacted by family members of all the Australian crew members. All have been understandably very happy to finally know what had happened to their brother, father, uncle, etc… Some identified with the Fairwind after the ABC’s 7:30 Report feature, and the others seem to have found my website through the power of the Internet.

I was quite surprised today to get an email from a guy in PNG, who’s great uncle was lost in the Fairwind tragedy. I was surprised as the crew list was published as 5 named Australians and 12 Papua New Guineans. Actually the newspapers of the day highlighted the social attitudes of the 1950’s and stated things like “12 blacks”, “12 niggers” and “several PNG natives”.

For the record, I’d like to add a named person to the crew list of the MV Fairwind:

Mr Cecil Himogo, Crewman, of Seasea Village, Milne Bay, PNG