I handed the officers my paperwork then boarded the ship, fighting the urge to turn and run. At the top of the gangplank was a nurse, who gave me an injection—a smallpox vaccination, she said—and then a lady from the Red Cross said she would show me to a cabin. She must’ve seen the look in my eyes, and she talked non-stop to distract me. I would have five roommates, and she said I was lucky because there was a porthole and it was on one of the upper decks. ‘Some of them haven’t got a window,’ she said.

As we climbed the flights of steep metal staircases, she explained that the bow was the front, the stern the rear, port was on my left and starboard on my right. Every wall had a railing you could grab on to if you needed to steady yourself.

She paused in front of a narrow doorway. ‘Now, just put your bags inside then come up on the deck when you’re ready—we’re departing soon.’

I stepped over a ledge and into the cabin.

It was tiny, with three double bunks. Two of the lower bunks were already taken and one upper, but not the one closest to the porthole. I placed my suitcase on that upper bunk. I sat on the edge of the lower bunk, buried my face in my arms and began to cry, relieved to be alone now, with no need to worry about what others thought. It wouldn’t do, though, not to wave goodbye. Dot and her brother would be watching for me from the dock. I stood up. There were two sinks in the room, each with a little mirror above it. I was splashing water on my puffy, swollen face when the cabin door opened, and there was the lady from the Red Cross, showing in a tall brunette in a smart red dress. Her name was Brynn, she told me as I helped her to lift her case onto the other top bunk. I asked her if she wanted to come up to the deck with me to wave goodbye.

‘Oh, yes, please,’ she said. ‘And if I try to jump off the ship will you stop me?’

‘Only if you do the same for me.’

‘Deal. Is your family here?’

I shook my head.

‘I had to leave mine in Melbourne,’ she said. ‘It was the worst day of my life.’

Together we made our way to the deck, and then climbed one staircase and then another to go higher and higher. The ship was a maze of steel stairwells and decks—I couldn’t see how I would ever find my way around. We found a good vantage point from where we could see the pier, and stood at the railing. Finally I saw Dot and her brother and shouted, waving, standing on the lower rail so they might see me.