Item 01: Eric Susman war diary, 1 January 1915-4 April 1916 - Page 37
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[Page 37]
Wednesday 13 January 1915
A cloud or land? Sceptics expressed their cynical doubts, but after some time, we sighted land for the first time in the Northern hemisephere, the island of Ceylon. Slowly the "Ulysses" led the convoy into Colombo harbour, and, in about three hours the whole fleet was anchored safely behind the breakwaters. Two things immediately impressed me about Colombo harbour. One was the cosmopolitan nature of the scene – a P. & O. mail boat, a Japanese tramp, and a Norweigan schooner all in close proximity to each other. The second was the oriental appearance of the landscape. This strongly appealed to me as an Australian who has not travelled. The palms replaced the immortal gum, domes replacing church steeples. After the Port Health Officer had come on board (we all flew the yellow flag on account of the measles), we began to receive visits from the coolies who proved to be a continuous source of amusement throughout the day. Only a few of the very fortunate got ashore, the rest having to be content to see Colombo from the ship.