At 3pm on the 8th March 1938, the P&O ocean liner Maloja departed from Station Pier at Port Melbourne, headed for England, a six-week journey with stops  in Perth, Sri Lanka, India, Yemen and Malta.

The ship carried the Australian test cricket team and the Australian women's tennis team both travelling to compete in Europe. 

Over 5,000 people crowded the dock to witness its departure. A journalist reported: 'cheers and coo-ees echoed off the waterfront when the Maloja backed rapidly from her berth, with hundreds of brilliant streamers breaking and falling in the bright sunlight..there was a special cheer from a little group ashore for the womens tennis team'.