Royal Commission on the Arrangements Made for the Transport of Troops Returning from Service in South Africa in the S.S. Drayton Grange
Royal Commission appointed to inquire into and report upon the arrangements made for the transport of troops returning from service in South Africa in the S.S. Drayton Grange · Royal Commission appointed to inquire into and report upon the arrangements made for the transport of troops returning from service in South Africa in the S.S. "Drayton Grange" · Drayton Grange Royal Commission · Royal Commission on the arrangements made for the transport of troops returning from service in South Africa in the S.S. "Drayton Grange"
12 August 1902 – 9 October 1902
The first Commonwealth royal commission. It inquired into the overcrowding, sickness and deaths aboard the troopship Drayton Grange, which brought some 2,000 Australian soldiers home from the South African War to Melbourne in August 1902.
How it came into existence
Appointed by Letters Patent dated 12 August 1902 by the Barton government, under the prerogative and a few weeks before the Royal Commissions Act 1902 (assented to on 8 September 1902) gave Commonwealth royal commissions statutory powers. Allan McLean MHR chaired it; the other commissioners were Dr D. A. Gresswell, Senator Gregor McGregor, Dugald Thomson MHR and W. D. Williams, the army’s principal medical officer. It was to inquire into the arrangements made for transporting the returning troops in the ship.
How it ended
Its report was presented on 9 October 1902, and the commission then ended. A secondary account says it made no specific recommendations.
Main functions
- Conditions aboard the troopship: accommodation, overcrowding and discipline
- Medical arrangements and the sickness and deaths on the voyage
- Responsibility for the transport arrangements
Where it sits
Last in the portfolio of Department of Defence.
Lineage
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