When it comes to hell-ships, the SS Drayton Grange perhaps ranks with the wretched Japanese vessels used to transport Australian POWs during World War II.
Now almost forgotten, the 6600-tonne steamer was the subject of Australia's first ever commonwealth royal commission and the reason the Royal Commissions Act 1902, one of the earliest pieces of Australian law, was enacted.
The Drayton Grange was a troopship chartered to return Australian soldiers from the Boer War in South Africa.
With more than 2000 aboard, she was wildly overcrowded and in the unsanitary conditions, compounded by bad weather and inadequate medical facilities, disease spread.
By the time the ship docked in Melbourne on August 7, 1902 at the end of the month-long voyage, five were dead and another 12 died in ensuing weeks.
It was an immediate scandal.
Although the governor-general could launch an inquiry, there was no commonwealth power to ensure witness turned up and answered questions.
That was speedily corrected, with the Royal Commissions Act enacted on August 8, 1902. Drayton Grange letters patent were issued on August 12 and the final report released on October 9, 1902.
The Drayton Grange Royal Commission was the first of 131 commonwealth royal commissions. The latest, an inquiry into trade union corruption, will be number 132.
Two other commonwealth royal commissions are in play, investigating Labor's botched home insulation program and the responses by churches and other organisations to child sexual abuse.
Over the years, there have been big inquiries and small, some on policy matters which nowadays would seem more the domain of a parliamentary committee.
Then there have been the big issues - for example two on the Voyager-Melbourne collision (1964 and 1967), British nuclear tests (1984-85) and Aboriginal deaths in custody (1987-91).
Royal commissions aspire to uncover the truth of a particular matter so remedial processes or legislation can be implemented.
They are at their best examining the big picture and discerning systemic issues, not at jailing miscreants.
That's because of the exceptional powers inherent in a royal commission.
Unlike a court, witnesses before a royal commission can be compelled to answer even incriminating questions and to produce documents, on threat of going to jail.
To facilitate this process of discovering the truth, royal commissions legislation includes a sweetener - incriminating admissions can't be used in any criminal or civil proceedings in any court of the Commonwealth or a state or territory.
In other words, a person can admit blatant criminality and unless there's other evidence, there can be no prosecution.
Royal commissions generally need extensive and expensive logistical support, tend to take much longer than expected.
Early inquiries were wrapped up in weeks. Now the median seems to be a couple of years.
