Signals, issue 113

SIGNALS quarterly NUMBER 113 DECEMBER • JANUARY • FEBRUARY 2015–16

ACTION STATIONS Our new navy attraction opens

WHAT HAPPENED TO AE1?

The RAN’s greatest mystery

AWL AND INCOGNITO One man’s unconventional war

ANMM.GOV.AU $9.95

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Contents SUMMER 2015–16

Cover: Guests explore the new Waterfront Pavilion and its attraction Action Stations at the VIP launch in November. Photograph Zoe McMahon/ ANMM

3 BEARINGS From the director 5 ACTION STATIONS Our newest attraction evokes life on board our ex-navy ships 10 AWL AND INCOGNITO Soldier, sailor, wanted man – a free spirit goes to war 19 ‘… THE OCEAN BED THEIR TOMB’ An art installation remembers the lost sailors of AE1 29 WHAT HAPPENED TO AE1?

The quest to solve a maritime mystery 40 DARDANELLES DEFENDER AE2’s nemesis, the Ottoman torpedo boat Sultanhisar 49 COMMEMORATING KRAIT Fishing vessel turned commando raider 52 EAST AFRICAN ADVENTURE HMAS Pioneer, an unsung hero of World War I 61 CLASSIC AND WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL A revitalised festival returns to the museum in 2016 64 CLASSIC AND WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION Win cash prizes in our Instagram photo contest 66 MESSAGE TO MEMBERS AND MEMBERS SUMMER EVENTS Your calendar of activities, tours, talks and excursions afloat 77 SUMMER EXHIBITIONS The latest exhibitions in our galleries this season 82 MARITIME HERITAGE AROUND AUSTRALIA Sydney Heritage Fleet celebrates a half century 88 OUT OF PORT Saltwater barks travel to Turkey; school artworks showcase Indigenous culture 94 AUSTRALIAN REGISTER OF HISTORIC VESSELS Rowing skiffs represent a century of local rivalry 100 TALES FROM THE WELCOME WALL A Barnardo’s boy swaps England for Australia 105 READINGS Nautical Chic by Amber Jane Butchard; One Wild Song by Paul Heiney 111 CURRENTS Farewell to Magnus Halvorsen, last of a famous line

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Bearings FROM THE DIRECTOR

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FROM THE TORRES STRAIT in the north to the Cocos Islands in the west and Antarctica in the south, the Australian marine estate straddles three enormous ocean bodies: the Indian, Southern and Pacific oceans. Australia’s marine jurisdiction of 14 million square kilometres is the third largest in the world. In recent times we have all become acutely aware of the critical interplay of our landmass and these oceans to control our weather, and the devastating impact of droughts and floods on our fragile landscape. As we know, the 1995 to 2012 ‘millennium drought’ was the worst on record.

In contrast, last year the economic output from all our blue economic industries – commercial fishing, offshore oil and gas exploration and coastal tourism – grew to AUD $47 billion and the blue economy is expected to double in value over the next 10 years.

As this awareness of the economic and environmental importance of our oceans has grown, the museum believes the time is right to develop a brand new set of permanent galleries. Guided by a new master narrative – Shaped by the Sea – work has commenced on a set of galleries that explain how our oceans have historically shaped Australia’s coast, weather, culture, biodiversity and economy, and will continue to do so.

The working title of the first major gallery is Ultimate Depth.

Due to open in late 2016, Ultimate Depth will examine Australian technology developed to investigate the 75 per cent of our oceans that remain largely unexplored.

01 Museum Director Kevin Sumption in front

of Action Stations and HMAS Onslow.

Photograph courtesy Robert Walsh

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But you don’t have to wait until 2016 to see this master narrative at work. Shaped by the Sea has also informed the way our curatorial and education teams developed the stories found in our new Action Stations experience. Aside from the history of the RAN, Action Stations incorporates stories that illustrate the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to the history and operation of the RAN. In Action Stations you will find stories that explain the science of cathodic protection and how this helps to preserve Australia’s second submarine, AE2, in the Sea of Marmara; the importance of mathematical concepts such as trilateration to maritime archaeologists; and how radar and sonar technologies are used aboard modern warships.

Over the next 10 years a series of new museum galleries will help our visitors understand the importance of our oceans and use the lessons of history, science and technology to cast a light on how and why our surrounding oceans will continue to be a major force in shaping modern Australia.

Kevin Sumption

Over the next 10 years a series of new museum galleries will help our visitors understand the importance of our oceans

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Action Stations

WELCOME TO OUR NEW NAVY ATTRACTION

In the striking new building on the museum’s waterfront, our newest attraction, Action Stations, has just been launched. We go behind the scenes with Assistant Director Michael Harvey to see what’s involved in bringing this complex project to life.

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01 The design of the steel-clad pavilion,

by Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp, echoes the ribs of a ship and the movement of water.

Photograph Zoe McMahon/ANMM

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AS SIGNALS GOES TO PRESS, our newest visitor attraction, Action Stations, has just opened. To get it across the line, a team of museum staff and contract builders, designers, engineers and media developers has been working intensively on it over the course of this year. The challenge, from the very beginning of the project back in 2013, has been to find new ways to make a visit to our warships more special and memorable for audiences of all ages.

We have imagined the ships as being full of memories: some happy, some deeply poignant

So in one room a newly created big-screen film has been installed. This work was made with the enthusiastic assistance of 60 serving navy personnel who donned the uniforms of their forebears from the 1970s to bring HMAS Vampire and HMAS Onslow back to life and, with the help of some CGI magic, put them back at sea. This film has the job of introducing visitors to the world of the ships, the kinds of mission they would carry out, and the way the vessels, their technology and their crews worked together.

In another space, the area from which visitors will board our vessels, a new kind of exhibition has been created. As it’s the boarding area, it is effectively ‘open air’, so we could never think of it as a conventional exhibition, with precious objects in glass cases. Rather, we’ve created a very tactile, interactive experience, with robust objects that visitors can touch and feel,

02 A real torpedo from HMAS Vampire

hangs above an array of interactive exhibits on various aspects of navy life.

Photograph Michelle Mortimer/ANMM

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3D printed replicas and models of various scales and sizes, and electronic tablets that provide additional information and personal stories from the sailors who served on Vampire and Onslow, as well as those serving in today’s navy.

On board our vessels, new work has also been progressing.

It is an interesting challenge to bring further life to these ships – but the team was united in not wishing to fill them with traditional museum exhibits. We have imagined the ships as being full of memories: some happy, some deeply poignant.

So, alongside the basic information panels that explain the functions and history of the ships’ spaces, visitors will find a series of playful, ghostly vignettes that has been created using props, sound and projection.

Throughout the process the ANMM team has worked with a broad range of experts in all kinds of fields. Historical advisors have helped us to ensure that, even when we are being imaginative and playful, a deep level of accuracy underpins the work. For the film, for example, we had to re-create uniforms from the 1970s by studying old photographs and talking to sailors of all ranks.

A big-screen film has been created with the enthusiastic assistance of 60 serving navy personnel

03 A film specially created for Action Stations

evokes tense moments aboard the submarine HMAS Onslow. Image © ANMM

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Ex-captains and officers of both ships were on hand during the filming to advise the professional actors – though the navy extras needed no such advice on how to convincingly behave as naval personnel. And a group of voluntary advisers from such diverse organisations as the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, the Australian War Memorial, the Sea Power Centre, the Naval Historical Society, Naval Heritage Centre and the Submarine Institute have been on hand to complement the expertise of the ANMM team.

Outside the historical field, our contractors have brought new practical skills and creative perspectives to the museum.

We have been joined by a project composer, filmmakers and projection specialists, graphic artists and painters, digital artists and interactive technology specialists – all working with the ANMM teams that are similarly diverse in skills and experiences.

We can’t wait to share the experience with you. If you are curious to know more, please visit the Action Stations website at actionstations.sydney. Hope to see you on board the vessels!

04 Shooting a film aboard the destroyer HMAS

Vampire. Image © ANMM 05 Sketches for replica uniforms from the 1970s.

Photograph Inger Sheil/ANMM

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AWL and incognito SAM DUNCAN’S ADVENTUROUS WAR

Many sailors in World War I encountered German U-boats, though it was unusual for soldiers to do so – but then, ‘unusual’ could be said to define Sam Duncan’s experience of war. Military historian David Wilson relates the story of a man who served in two forces, absconded from one, engaged a U-boat and received medals under two names – his own and a wartime alias.

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01 Sam Duncan in 1910, aged 16. Sam left his

home in Sydney to become a roustabout in western New South Wales, where he learned a bushman’s skills, including amateur boxing.

Photograph courtesy the Duncan family

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THE AUSTRALIAN SOLDIER in World War I gained many accolades as a fierce and dependable fighter, though tempered with a reputation for being independently minded and wary of authority. Private Samuel Duncan was one such individualist who got himself into more scrapes than the average Digger could think possible. What makes his story so interesting is that it has both military and nautical flavourings.

Samuel John Duncan was born in Sydney on 19 November 1893 to Frederick and Eliza Duncan. Frederick owned and operated Duncan and Sons, a steam laundry, clothing repair service and Sydney’s first suit-hire business. Sam left high school early to join the family firm, but he was never going to be comfortable with the highly structured Edwardian suburban lifestyle and strict business rules, nor his parents’ devout Presbyterianism. In 1911 he left home and rode his bicycle across the Blue Mountains to outback New South Wales where he became a bushman, working as a shearer and drover.

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Around the Horn by sail In 1913, aged 19 and full of self-confidence, Sam returned to Sydney for his elder brother’s wedding. The wanderlust was still strong, however, and later that year Sam signed on as a deckhand on the Lika, a Norwegian three-masted square-rigged sailing ship of 1,593 tons, similar to the Cutty Sark. Sam crossed the Pacific, but left Lika in Chile, where he tried his luck briefly in the boxing ring. In March 1914, Sam joined another sailing ship, the Italian Branchetto, bound for the Mediterranean via Cape Horn. He was one of the last sailors to make the difficult passage ‘around the Horn’ by sail, as the Panama Canal opened later that year, making the roundabout route unnecessary.

Sam arrived in Genoa in June 1914 and then went to North America. On 5 August 1914, the day after war was declared, Sam joined the steamship West Point at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and made two voyages to the UK, discharging from this ship in London on 5 October. Sam’s next ship was HMS Bristol, which was in dock for repairs. It was common for merchant seamen to be employed for warship sea trials, as this allowed most of the enlisted crew to take leave. Here Sam had his first brief taste of the way the armed services worked. After this short voyage, Sam joined the New Zealand cargo steamer SS Waimate, bound for Australia. He arrived in Brisbane in early 1915 and asked to be discharged, but when the captain refused, he jumped ship and went to Sydney. He had not seen his family for two years but his visit would be brief, as he had already decided to join the army.

02 Best mates – 89 Pte Sam Duncan (left)

and 70 Pte Horace Vivian Beresford ‘Vic’ Williams, taken after enlistment into the 19th Battalion AIF in early 1915.

Both men spent long periods in hospital in Egypt after Gallipoli, but Sam’s illnesses were life threatening. Photograph courtesy the Duncan family

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Egypt to England via Gallipoli Sam enlisted in Sydney on 21 February 1915, aged 21 years and four months. He was an ‘original’ (No 89) of the 19th Battalion AIF, then being formed at Liverpool Camp as part of the 5th Brigade, 2nd Division. On his enlistment papers Sam declared his occupation as ‘Bushman’ and his mother as his next of kin. His skills in semaphore and Morse code saw him mustered as a signaller. He also had a working knowledge of several European languages from his time on foreign ships.

The 19th Battalion sailed from Sydney on 25 June 1915 aboard the troop transport A40 Ceramic, which arrived in Alexandria in July 1915. They trained in Egypt for only a few weeks before being deployed to Gallipoli. Sam’s battalion landed at Anzac Cove on 21 August, just in time for the final actions of the August offensive. Sam then spent four months at Pope’s Post working as a company signaller, enduring the foul living conditions and the constant Ottoman shelling and small-arms fire. During the evacuation on the night of 19–20 December, Sam was the last unit signaller to go, one of about 40 men who held the front line until the last moment. They slipped away from Anzac Cove to the island of Lemnos for a few of weeks of rest.

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Back in Egypt, Sam was admitted to hospital in early January 1916 suffering from severe influenza with pneumonia.

Gradually his condition improved and he was discharged to the Australian Overseas Base in Cairo on 1 March with the intent of shipping him back to Australia as ‘MU’ (medically unfit).

But Sam volunteered to serve on with his mates, who were now all off to the Western Front. When this request was refused, he went AWL (absent without leave) and arrived at Alexandria in time to stow away (no doubt with inside help) on board the troopship Llandovery Castle bound for Marseilles. At sea, Sam reported for duty to Captain Harry Arnall, an officer he knew, and somehow a transfer was arranged for him to join the 2nd Pioneer Battalion in France with effect 16 March 1916.

Pioneer battalions were created, one per Division, to help with trench warfare on the Western Front. They performed various construction tasks in forward areas, such as digging trenches, dugouts and headquarters bunkers, plus light rail building and road repairs. These units contained a large proportion of skilled tradesmen and, when required, they could fight as frontline infantry. Sam, with his combination of bushman’s and seaman’s skills, was a prime candidate for the Pioneers. His new unit was initially tasked with road repair and the maintenance of local tramways near Fleurbaix. However, on 25 April Sam was again admitted to hospital in Etaples, this time with a hernia problem

03 Sam Duncan, alias Joe Vassalo,

aboard HMS Bristol during sea trials, January 1915. Sam served on a variety of merchant vessels using his alias, but his most notable adventures occurred while helmsman of the French freighter SS Aube.

Photograph courtesy the Duncan family

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that had been plaguing him since Gallipoli. He was fitted with a truss and sent back to work. In late July 1917 the 2nd Division Pioneers were responsible for digging the ‘jumping off’ trenches under severe German shelling, allowing the successful capture of the ridge line above Pozières village.

In early October Sam was suffering badly from the hernia; when he reported sick to hospital on 6 October to ask for a new truss, the doctor ordered surgery instead. As they were about to operate, Sam fell into a malarial fever and was then evacuated to England for further treatment. The hernia was finally repaired at the 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital in Harefield.

On 5 December he was discharged from hospital and sent to No 2 Command Depot at Weymouth to recuperate before returning to his unit. Sam disappeared on 30 December for a few days to celebrate the arrival of the New Year, and as a consequence of these celebrations was admitted to Bulford Hospital with gonorrhoea on 10 January 1917. The painful treatment lasted ten weeks. On 27 March, only three days after being discharged from Bulford, he was back in hospital with another bout of malaria. He wrote to his youngest brother, Phillip, in Australia, noting the miserable British weather and that he had been medically graded B1A, ‘which means nearly fit to be slaughtered, and so expect to be shoved across the channel in a month, altho’ a lot depends on the next classification on Tuesday next’. This letter dated 31 March 1917 shows that he still hoped to return to his Pioneer unit in France, but the fevers continued and Sam believed that he would be medically downgraded and sent home to Australia. On 13 April he absconded from the hospital and made his way to Cardiff with the vague hope of joining an outward-bound ship.

Joe Vassalo joins the war Sam Duncan was now officially AWL, and after about a month with no sign of his returning to camp, he was declared an illegal absentee. His pay was stopped and his name was now on a list of those men being actively sought by the Military Police throughout the UK. By this time, however, Sam had somehow obtained the papers of a merchant seaman from Gibraltar, Joseph Vassalo, and he enlisted as crewman on a French merchant vessel, the SS Aube. With his dark hair and swarthy complexion, plus his language abilities, he was able to pass muster as a Mediterranean sailor.

In retrospect, it is hard to fathom why Sam took such extreme steps. He could have requested discharge in the UK, like many others, and sought war-related employment with his identity and

Sam wrote to his brother that he had been medically graded B1A, ‘which means nearly fit to be slaughtered, and so expect to be shoved across the channel in a month’

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With his dark hair and swarthy complexion, plus his language abilities, Sam was able to pass muster as a Mediterranean sailor

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reputation intact. But Sam had again displayed his impulsive streak and he remained at sea for the rest of the war under the guise of Joe Vassalo.

Sam’s most exciting adventures would be as a crew member of the Aube, a 1,580-ton cargo carrier with triple expansion steam engines. Already 21 years old when Sam joined it, it was designed and built to haul cargo, not provide comfort for the crew. It had an open bridge with only a canvas awning to provide protection from the elements. There was, however, one significant difference between the Aube and the vast majority of merchant vessels of the day – a large-calibre deck gun had been mounted in the ship’s forecastle, hidden from sight by a large tarpaulin.

As the sun came up on the morning of 9 June 1917 the Aube was located about 85 miles west-south-west of Gibraltar – the most dangerous part of the journey from the Mediterranean to the UK. Sure enough, U-39, one of several U-boats lurking in the area, spotted smoke from the ship’s stack and moved in for the kill. Its captain was Kapitanleutnant Walter Forstmann, a highly experienced, successful and muchdecorated commander who had been in submarines since the very beginning of the war. U-39 was small but fast; its submerged speed was 9.7 knots (18 km/h), but its surface speed of 16.4 knots (30 km/h) gave it a superior tactical advantage – no freighter could match this speed to escape.

The normal procedure for a U-boat dealing with a freighter was to go to ‘action stations’ with the deck gun crew closed up, approach carefully and fire a shot across its bows to force a surrender. After the ship’s papers had been inspected,

04 Sam Duncan’s false ID: the merchant

seaman’s ticket issued to Joseph Vassalo, a British subject, by the US Customs Service in May 1918. Without such an ID card ‘Joe’ could not be employed in the merchant service. Image courtesy the Duncan family

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the civilian crew would then be allowed to take to the lifeboats with minimal possessions. Once clear, the deck gun would put a couple of well-placed shots on the waterline to sink the prize.

It was an almost civilised form of naval warfare, with perhaps just a hint of piracy thrown in.

The action commenced just after 9 am. When the master of the Aube realised he was being pursued, he sent a Morse code message to Paris to advise his superiors. A simple but unhelpful message came back: ‘The eyes of France are upon you’. It was now time for bold action. Instead of stopping dead in the water, a crewman aboard the Aube hauled its Tricolour to the highest mast-head, and the bold captain, with Sam at the wheel, gave the order to turn directly onto the submarine.

He also gave the engineer the French equivalent of ‘All ahead flank speed!’ Then, to the crew: ‘Action stations! Deck gun – open fire as we bear!’ He was not going to let the Aube go down without a fight.

This turning manoeuvre momentarily caught Forstmann and his crew aback. With the freighter approaching at speed and its now-exposed deck gun firing at him, he was forced into a cat-and-mouse dance on the surface with a larger vessel apparently being helmed by a madman. The freighter’s civilian gunners were no match for the battle-hardened Germans, but at close range even the inexperienced Frenchmen were more likely to score a hit. Relative size was another factor – the freighter could absorb more damage than the submarine,

05 The SS Aube aground after the storm

at Hartland Point, Devon, UK, July 1917.

Sam was the only crew member who spoke enough English to communicate with the people from Clovelly in Devon who gathered on shore to help rescue the crew.

Photograph courtesy the Duncan family

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and even one hit on the sub’s fragile outer hull could prove devastating. The combatants sparred against each other – the submarine using its superior speed to manoeuvre behind the Aube and out of its arc of fire; the freighter constantly turning towards the sub, with Sam steering the ship towards the danger.

The submarine tried to maintain both distance and a stable firing platform for its gunners, while the French captain tried to close in.

Down in the Aube’s engine room the fire doors were wide open with a ploy to ‘make smoke’ in an attempt to hide the freighter’s moves from the submarine. For the next 12 minutes they fired on each other at every opportunity, probably closing to within half a mile, neither vessel scoring a hit. But in the midst of the action, the submarine simply disappeared. The Aube emerged from its own smoke-screen to find its target had vanished, possibly sunk, but certainly nowhere to be seen. On the Aube there was great jubilation as the captain announced they had destroyed the enemy submarine. A flash radio message about the great victory was sent to Paris. The captain and crew were all heroes, now free to continue their journey northwards.

Sam noted later that the whole engagement, from first sightings to the sub’s disappearance, had lasted less than two hours.

The aftermath of this particular action has an interesting story of its own. When the captain of the Aube radioed in that he had successfully sunk a U-boat, there was much rejoicing in Paris, as this was seen as a great victory – the maritime equivalent of David versus Goliath. A grateful French government, in need of a good news story, later decorated both the captain and the chief engineer with the Croix de Guerre and the crew received a reward of 10,900 francs to be split between them. Helmsman Sam Duncan’s share of the loot was a mere 50 francs.

The truth was somewhat more pragmatic. The wily Kapitan Forstmann realised he had been on the surface too long; the noise of gunfire and the smoke-screen had attracted the attention of an Allied warship on guard patrol off Gibraltar. His conning tower lookouts had spotted this new, more powerful threat. Rather than waste any more shells, or even a valuable torpedo, on this cheeky old French tub that had dared to challenge him, Forstmann cleared his decks and crash-dived, moving away before help arrived. Better pickings could be found off the Straits of Gibraltar where Allied shipping regularly exited the Mediterranean. Since 1 June 1917 Forstmann had already sunk five merchant ships before encountering the Aube. He then sank eight merchant ships off the coasts of Spain and Morocco before returning to base in Pola on the Adriatic Sea.

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The U-boat captain was forced into a cat-and-mouse dance on the surface with a larger vessel apparently being helmed by a madman

06 Kapitanleutnant Walter Forstmann was

captain of U-39 between February 1915 and October 1917. He was credited with being the second highest scoring submarine commander of all time, having sunk not only the HMS Niger in November 1914, but also nearly 400,000 tons of Allied shipping.

Photograph courtesy uboat.net

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Having successfully avoided U-39, the Aube proceeded to the south coast of England where it was re-coaled and made ready for the next voyage. On the night of 12–13 July a huge storm arose in the Bristol Channel and the Aube, which left port just after darkness fell, was caught in the midst of it all. U-boats were one kind of threat, but bad weather was inescapable.

Attempting to sail west to outrun the fury, the fully laden ship was driven aground at 1 am. In the chaos, Sam was hit on the head by a heavy metal block. He later wrote to his parents: ‘My head felt as if it split in half; the blood pouring over my face. I was held fast while the Chief Officer put on a tight bandage.’

In the early light of dawn, local people began to gather on the cliff face. One signalled with flags, but Sam was the only one on board who spoke English well enough to understand the semaphore signals, so he was brought up on deck to interpret and ask for help, using both semaphore and a megaphone.

They had gone aground between Hartland Point and Clovelly on the north coast of Devon. The Clovelly lifeboat was launched, but could not get close enough to take off any of the crew. Eventually the storm abated enough for the Aube to launch its own lifeboats. Only one other sailor was injured, suffering a crushed hand. He and Sam ended up in Ilfracombe hospital for treatment.

The Aube, although not completely wrecked, was in a sorry state. It would need extensive repairs before resuming duty in anyone’s merchant fleet. The crew was dispersed, but Sam had no trouble finding more ships to join. He was still a wanted man, but as Joe Vassalo he served on a variety of merchant vessels for another three years before he could safely return home.

07 Sam Duncan’s medal collection.

Left to right: 1914–15 Star; British War Medal 1914–20; British War Medal #2 (to Joe Vassalo); Mercantile Marine War Medal (to Joe Vassalo); Victory Medal; The Somme Medal (unofficial, France); and King Albert I Veteran’s Cross, 1909–1934 (unofficial, Belgium).

08 Letter from the UK Board of Trade advising

Sam Duncan that he is entitled to two medals for service in the Merchant Marine during World War I, but only in the name of Joe Vassalo under which he served.

Both images courtesy the Duncan family

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Ashore and home Sam Duncan’s last sea voyage brought him back to Australia in July 1920. He arrived from Europe as crew on the SS Kigoma, but family legend tells that Sam also jumped this ship in Sydney.

With the war over and the AIF largely disbanded, the search for wartime deserters had stopped and Sam was no longer a wanted man – he had been formally discharged on 1 April 1920. Joe Vassalo, the Gibraltese sailor, could now disappear, allowing Sam Duncan to resume his previous life ashore.

In 1923 Sam married Beatrice Swinbourne and, with his brother Paul, went into a clothing manufacturing business making work overalls and nurses’ uniforms. Sam also began a lifelong association with the Salvation Army. He died in Sydney on 3 November 1977. But Sam’s links with the First AIF did not end in 1920. In 1991 the Australian government undertook to restore his medals to the family, including the Gallipoli Commemorative Medallion for those who had served on the Peninsula. This was part of a Defence Department review of cases in which World War I men who had forfeited their medals for various offences could have them restored and issued. These medals, plus the two earned by ‘Joe Vassalo’ for merchant marine service (issued by the UK Board of Trade) and a pair of unofficial commemorative medals, are now proudly held by the Duncan family.

Other AIF soldiers experienced incidents with German U-boats (for example, the sinking of the RMS Leinster by U-123 on 10 October 1918), but Sam’s encounter with U-39 is almost unique in that an AIF member, albeit AWL, engaged in combat with a submarine. An adventurous life indeed!

David Wilson is the co-author of Fighting Nineteenth and is the principal of AIF Research Services, based in Sydney, NSW. This article was written in consultation with John Duncan and Ian Duncan, the son and grandson of 89 Pte Samuel John Duncan of the 19th Battalion, AIF. References Duncan family history, ‘Samuel Duncan & Beatrice Swinbourne’, compiled by Ian Duncan, November 2009.

National Archives of Australia (NAA), World War I service records, Series B2455, Barcode # 3526691, service file of 89 Pte SJ Duncan.

Wayne Matthews and David Wilson, Fighting Nineteenth. History of the 19th Infantry Battalion AIF 1915–1918, AMHP, Sydney, 2011.

The museum’s exhibition War at Sea: The Navy in WWI is travelling to various regional and interstate venues; for details, see anmm.gov.au/waratsea. This exhibition has been made possible with the assistance of the Returned Services League Queensland Branch, Triple M, Foxtel, Australian Government, Australia Council for the Arts and 100 Years of Anzac.

The exhibition catalogue to War at Sea: The Navy in WWI is available to purchase at the museum’s Store or online at store.anmm.gov.au/waratsea

With the war over, the search for wartime deserters had stopped and Sam was no longer a wanted man

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‘…the ocean bed their tomb’ REMEMBERING THE LOST SAILORS OF AE1

A major new art installation by leading Australian light artist Warren Langley was recently unveiled at the museum.

It commemorates the disappearance of submarine HMAS AE1 and the loss of its 35 souls 101 years ago. Senior Curator Daina Fletcher explains the inspiration for the work and how it was constructed.

01 Warren Langley’s AE1 commemorative

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sculpture ‘… the ocean bed their tomb’ in the museum’s basin, September 2015.

Photograph Andrew Frolows/ANMM

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FLOATING ABOVE THE WATER in the museum’s basin is a stainless-steel wreath six metres in diameter, titled ‘… the ocean bed their tomb’. Its artist, Warren Langley, says: This is an art work about contemplation and reflection in both a literal and metaphorical sense … In sunlight, the polished stainless steel structure shimmers and reflects its image upon the water surface. At night a concealed light source creates a complex optical intrigue of reflections.

The concept for the work of art arose from the mysterious circumstances of submarine AE1’s disappearance; the necessarily truncated effort to search for it, given the exigencies of wartime operations; and the elusive shadow it leaves, in that neither the vessel nor the bodies of those on board have been found. Commander Lieutenant Besant, his two officers and 32 Australian and British petty officers, seamen, artificers and stokers remain lost at sea.

The loss and this unresolved mystery inspired Warren Langley to conceive the work in a lyrical homage to the lost sailors.

Its title is a line from a poem written at the time by South Australian Anne Almer.

Of the wreath form, Warren Langley says: A burial at sea is not uncommonly accompanied by a floating wreath of flowers. In September 1914, in the early months of World War I, it is unlikely that the luxury of a floral wreath would have been available. The concept for this art work imagines an alternative, equally beautiful wreath constructed of floating twigs, branches and vegetative flotsam from the waters off Papua New Guinea.

Immediate reaction to the loss of AE1 The unexplained loss so close to home and so early in the war had a major impact on the public consciousness in a nation marshalling its eager volunteers.

Newspapers across the country followed the loss intently and reported developments daily. Stories covered the search, the specialist expertise of the lost officers and crew, the benefit concert for wives, mothers and families held on 14 October, diplomatic messages of support and condolence, and, as the search continued without success, theories about the vessel’s fate. The news even reached Berlin, with the publication of German news reports postulating that its Pacific fleet had not been idle.

The engineers and naval architects who worked on the project faced many technical challenges

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Many regional papers reported a letter from the Sydney Morning Herald’s Special Commissioner in Rabaul, dated 27 September 1914, asserting the nobility of the men’s deaths: … though Lieut Besant and his companions perished without the firing of a single shot, the fact that their death lacked the qualities of spectacular detracts not a whit from its nobility or its example.

They obeyed their orders. And they died in that obedience.

They gave their lives for King and for the Empire as surely and as unhesitatingly as though the AE1 had sunk, bows toward the enemy, rent and shattered from stem to stern beneath a crashing rain of shells.

In the following weeks, eulogistic poems on similar themes of heroism, duty, sacrifice and nobility of spirit were published and republished in city and regional newspapers, including ‘Submarine AE1’ by Anne Almer, a regular contributor to Adelaide’s The Register, who was interested in the spirit and soul. The first stanza of her poem reads: The brave men at their duty met their doomSudden and sharp the ocean bed their tomb.No roar of battle warned them death was nigh;Silent and sudden they plunged into gloom.

02 The sculptural work was cut in

two to transport it to the museum.

Photograph Andrew Frolows/ANMM

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Commemorations In London on 21 October 1914 – Trafalgar Day – the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, former Australian Prime Minister Sir George Reid, placed a wreath at the Nelson Column ‘in memory of Australians lost in AE1 in the Pacific’, while the Navy League did the same for warships sunk in the North Sea. In Australia this first major loss was soon overtaken by the carnage at Gallipoli and the Western Front, and in 1916 Anzac Day was instituted to remember the fallen.

While newspapers reported a survey party on HMAS Suva in 1919 leaving Sydney to search for AE1, no further reports ensued and it was not until 1928 that the submarine and its crew were again publicly acknowledged. The Returned Soldiers and Sailors Imperial League instituted a series of commemorations at Sydney’s newly built cenotaph to mark key anniversaries of wartime losses. At the first of these, on 14 September, the bugler played ‘The Last Post’ to mark the disappearance of AE1.

03 The reassembled wreath form was lowered

onto its PVC pontoon in preparation for lowering into the water.

04 The moment of truth – would it float?

Photographs Andrew Frolows/ANMM

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Within the Royal Australia Navy, the story of AE1 and its sister ship AE2 – Australia’s first two submarines and its only two submarine losses ever – was marked in 1933 with the installation of a commemorative Submarine Flotilla stained glass window in the Naval Chapel at Sydney’s Garden Island naval base. Accompanying the window is an illuminated testimonial noting naval lives lost in World War I, listing all 35 men from AE1. This was erected by the ex-Naval Men’s Association of New South Wales.

Those 1930s stained glass windows are a material and conceptual link to Warren Langley’s installation ‘… the ocean bed their tomb’.

The use of light and reflection has been a constant in Langley’s work since he began his art practice in the 1980s.

In ‘… the ocean bed their tomb’, reflection is the principal design element, which provides a metaphor for the single most important intent of the concept: to create pause and evoke a sense of contemplation and inquiry in the viewer about the disappearance of the submarine and the loss of its 35 crew.

Warren Langley: glass, water, light Langley, a former geologist, sought out glass as his first and preferred medium. He was attracted by its form, materiality, aesthetic and optical qualities: reflection, refraction, diffraction – the way it played with light.He experimented with form, pattern and light, only limited by the scale of the medium.

Experimenting with bigger sheets of glass, he developed a lucrative commercial technique of slumped-glass sand casting that enabled him to capture gesture, almost drawing in glass.

05 Descendants of those lost in AE1 attended

the unveiling of the sculpture in September.

In the background behind scaffolding, the museum’s new building takes shape.

Photograph Andrew Frolows/ANMM

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‘This is an art work about contemplation and reflection in both a literal and metaphorical sense’

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This technique was the main interpretive form in the Australian Service Nurses National Memorial in Canberra, ACT, a public commission with Robin Moorhouse from 1999.

Langley gradually realised that water could do the same thing as glass but on a much larger scale. He began working with water and light, setting up large-scale light installations around Sydney Harbour at night with fibre optic cable. In this 1990s body of work, titled glass=water=glass, he worked with expanses of water – ‘the biggest piece of glass’ he could find – to create glass-like effects in works such as Light and water composition, Sydney Harbour. Initially guerrilla art projects, they became planned art installations and public art commissions sanctioned by local councils.

Langley’s next step was to take this site-responsive light work out of the water into the earthscape, and in 2004 he was awarded an Australia Council grant to travel to the Simpson Desert in the Northern Territory to explore readings of the landscape, overlaying his innate geologist’s viewpoint with readings from the local Aboriginal community. In the urban landscape Langley’s explorations of light, form and histories have resulted in some beautiful and stimulating commissions around the world.

‘… the ocean bed their tomb’ Warren Langley’s clever and poetic melding of metaphorical and physical, abstract and referential continues in ‘… the ocean bed their tomb’, which transforms from day to night in an intriguing interplay of light and shadow.

06 Light artist Warren Langley.

Photograph Andrew Frolows/ANMM

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The engineers and naval architects who worked on the project faced many technical challenges in designing the sculpture to move with the water, above the water. The major challenge was enabling the work to be unshackled and moved around the basin when visiting vessels are scheduled.

Attached to a cleverly engineered hexagonal pontoon of PVC piping, the work is anchored to concrete blocks on the sea floor attached by lines to a wharf pontoon. This design enables it to almost levitate above the water, moving with its tidal and transient rhythms, projecting its image onto the water below.

The scale of the work, fabricated in the artist’s workshop, presented more challenges to transport it to the museum.

The six-metre shape had to be cut in half to enable it to go on to a truck. While this was planned well in advance, the action of cutting a complete work in half would no doubt provoke some anxiety in even the calmest artist. Over a threeday period the work was reassembled on site, gently lifted into the water by crane, and secured to the blocks on the sea floor and then to lines back to a counter-weight secured to the pontoon in the museum’s basin.

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The form of ‘… the ocean bed their tomb’ is largely abstract, with stainless steel rods shaping the wreath. Its representational elements of laser-cut leaf forms reference the mangroves of Papua New Guinea, where the submarine disappeared.

At times the black PVC pontoon is visible, hinting at the fate and form of a submerged submarine.

This stainless steel work enjoys a striking presence in the museum’s waterfront location where its modernist form, standing apart from the smaller historic craft at the museum’s wharves, resonates with the clean lines of the submarine HMAS Onslow and the recently unveiled Warterfront Pavilion.

This year, amid the centenary years of World War I, and 101 years after AE1’s disappearance, the poignancy of Warren Langley’s work of art continues to keep the memory of these men alive. The museum hopes that this beautiful homage to those lost men will become even more resonant in future years and prompt conversations about the contribution of submariners and the Royal Australian Navy in Australia’s defence history.

The development of the work was supported by the Australian Government’s Anzac Centenary Arts and Culture Fund.

Find out more about the loss and legacy of HMAS AE1 at Action Stations, the museum’s new immersive experience: actionstations.sydney

07 The sculpture under construction in Warren

Langley’s studio. Photograph Andrew Frolows/ANMM

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A national speech competition remembers HMAS AE1 AN EXCITING THING ABOUT LEARNING, and a key outcome for an education program, is to discover something we didn’t know, or look at what we did know from a fresh perspective. This was the challenge for entrants in the museum’s recent national writing competition for schools, who were tasked with writing about HMAS AEI – Australia’s first submarine, lost without a trace with all 35 crew on 14 September 1914.

World War I falls into Year 9 of the Australian History curriculum, so this became the focus year for entries. The winners would take part in the unveiling ceremony for Warren Langley’s contemplative sculpture ‘…the ocean bed their tomb’ – a stainless steel wreath that sits atop the water in the museum’s basin, inviting visitors to stop and reflect on those who lost their lives at sea during wartime service.

A speech competition, rather than prose or poetry, seemed more apt for the occasion; it would be more meaningful for students to present their thoughts as part of the ceremony, directly engaging with the audience, which would include descendants of AE1 crew, navy personnel and the artist. Daunting as that might seem for a 15-yearold, it had to be their voice and perspective. However, it would be of no value to simply say ‘write about this’. Instead, their work needed to be a historical investigation based on primary sources so students could find their own connection to the story and therefore Warren’s artwork. With this in mind there were to be two winners, so that each student might bring a different interpretation of the same event.

To help get the word out to teachers in schools, the Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) created a wonderful website specifically for the competition. Here students could find the terms and conditions, a primary resource pack with artefacts and photographs from the museum’s collection, diary entries from the crew of other vessels at the time, links to websites and books for wider reading,

08 Emilia Haskey and Catherine McClymont

with museum Director Kevin Sumption (centre) and two of the three members of the judging panel, ANMM Senior Education Officer Jeffrey Fletcher and Senior Curator Daina Fletcher.

Photograph Andrew Frolows/ANMM

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information about the crew, the artist’s statement about his work and other tools. It was the students’ task to use these and their own research to create a three-to four-minute speech. We did provide a list of judging criteria and suggested areas of interest (see page 28), but it was up to the students to do most the work themselves.

Along with a transcript of their speech, entrants were to upload a 50-word summary, a video of themselves presenting the speech, and a 300-word personal reflection statement on the process they undertook and what they discovered. These statements helped us to understand how the students approached the process (a key syllabus outcome) and how involved they became in the story.

Catherine McClymont wrote: If you had asked me a month ago about how I feel about the AE1 submarine, its crew and the sacrifice they made for our country, I would have shrugged my shoulders and walked away. Now less than a month later I can strongly say the AE1 is a piece of history…

Throughout my writing process I wanted to give up, the stories were a lot for me to handle … However, I am thankful I persisted ... I learnt a lot about the AE1 … and I hope that now more people can learn about it, hopefully due to one simple piece of artwork.

Emilia Haskey noted: When I first started to do some research for my speech I immediately became quite intrigued by the story of AE1. Through researching I discovered how important this day was to many Australians, but I wanted to see if it is still as important today as it was 100 years ago. … I discussed the details of AE1’s disappearance to further inform the audience of how unexpected this loss was. But then I had to look at the bigger picture, what World War One was about and what it was like for Australians.

09 Catherine and Emilia delivering their

speeches. Photograph Andrew Frolows/ ANMM

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I was quite surprised to find out that the Australians that served in WW1 were mostly ordinary people who had signed up because they wanted to serve their country and make Australia a better place … That is what is most important … ordinary people becoming extraordinary through their courage and bravery.

The judges – senior curator Daina Fletcher, Robert Lewis, an independent judge appointed by ATOM, and I – each scored the entries separately against the criteria. The total provided our two winners – Catherine McClymont from Annandale Christian College in Queensland and Emelia Haskey from St Dominic’s Priory College in South Australia. We received entries from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia and all entrants will receive a certificate of commendation for their efforts. Looking at their reflection statements, it was clear that all entrants discovered something they didn’t know before.

It’s always exciting to ring teachers and parents to tell them their student or child has won a competition. So much hard work goes into each entry, and to say that everyone was excited would be an understatement! As part of the prize, the winners and their families were flown to Sydney to present their speeches at the unveiling ceremony of Warren Langley’s artwork on 14 September 2015 – exactly 101 years after the disappearance of AE1. First stop was a viewing of the artwork, which until then the entrants had seen only as an artist’s impression. It somehow made the occasion seem very real, but if the girls were overwhelmed they didn’t show it. Excited, yes – and after meeting Warren, navy personnel, the museum’s director and descendants of the AE1 crew, they were clearly aware of the importance and significance of the day. Both girls seemed very small against an imposing backdrop of history and expectation, as well as the physical scale of the museum’s ex-navy vessels, the harbour, the artwork and the audience. However, as soon as they took to the dais that impression vanished and Catherine and Emelia stood confidently centre stage. I knew the day was in good hands.

They spoke of commemoration, loss, duty, fear, longing, reflection and thanks. Their participation added a certain vitality to what was a moving and powerful ceremony, and this was education at its best, too – research, effort, connection, application and personal development.

It was a rare opportunity for two young girls from South Australia and Queensland, and one that taught them the valuable lesson that history is about people. What better way to ensure that the story of AE1 and its crew will not be forgotten than to place it in the hands of youth?

It was a day for remembrance, and a day to remember.

Jeffrey Fletcher ANMM Senior Education Officer Read Jeff’s blog about the day at anmm.wordpress.com/2015/09/24/ year-9-students-remember-submarine-ae1 Read the students’ speeches at anmm.gov.au/AE1speeches The museum would like to thank Novotel Darling Harbour for sponsoring the winners’ accommodation.

Suggestion list for students Students were not asked to use all of these points, but to select any that fitted the perspective they were most interested in.

• The world in the context of 1914, the nature of warfare and the event itself • Significance – what it meant then and what it means today • How it is relevant to the Anzac tradition • Why remember AE1?

Why search for it?

• What should we do if we find it?

• Why would we commission a work of art?

• Perspective and empathy • The families • Anything else you see as relevant

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What happened to AE1?

CLUES TO THE FATE OF AUSTRALIA’S FIRST SUBMARINE

The loss of the submarine HMAS AE1 while on patrol in 1914 remains the Royal Australian Navy’s greatest mystery. A volunteer organisation called Find AE1 has been researching the possible causes of the incident and the most likely search area in the hope of finally finding the missing vessel, writes Peter Briggs.

01 AE1 and AE2 in Fitzroy Dock,

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Cockatoo Island, Sydney, June 1914.

Photograph courtesy John Jeremy

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8:15 pm HMAS AE2 to Flag, ‘Submit had AE1 a destroyer scouting with her today. She has not yet returned to harbour’ (HMAS Australia’s signal log, 14 September 1914) SO BEGAN THE STORY of the loss of HMAS AE1, Australia’s first submarine, while on patrol off German New Guinea on 14 September 1914. The submarine has never been found, nor were any traces discovered by the searching ships following its loss.

This article summarises the research and interim conclusions of Find AE1 Ltd, an organisation that has been established to search for the submarine. While the cause of the loss cannot be definitively stated, we have evaluated the clues against a range of scenarios, to assess their probability of occurrence and impact on the search area.

Background Two E class submarines were ordered by the Australian government in December 1910 and delivered from the builders at the end of 1913. AE1 and AE2 were state-of-the-art in 1914.

The submarines were commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) on 28 February 1914 in Portsmouth, UK, where they were fitted with a medium-frequency wireless telegraphy (WT) set and a gyrocompass. The trip to Australia was extremely arduous and set a world record for submarine voyages at the time. Numerous technical challenges were overcome before reaching Sydney on Sunday 24 May 1914.

02 HMAS Australia’s rough signal log

noting AE1’s failure to return to base.

Photograph courtesy Darren Brown

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Each submarine had steamed about two-thirds of the 12,000 nautical miles (22,000 kilometres) from Portsmouth to Sydney and was under tow for the remainder.

The submarines undertook a three-week docking in Fitzroy Dock at Cockatoo Island during June. Their refit was truncated as the news from Europe indicated that war was on the horizon.

Shortly after the declaration of war on 6 August, the Australian Fleet deployed to German New Guinea to capture the German colony and wireless stations. AE1 sailed from Sydney at the end of August to rendezvous with the other fleet units in the Louisiade Island chain south-east of New Guinea on 9 September. Fleet units, including the two submarines, entered Rabaul and nearby anchorages on 11 September and successfully captured the German colony and WT station.

The submarines were employed guarding the approaches to the landing anchorages against an attack by the German cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. A torpedo boat destroyer accompanied them on their patrols: AE2 and Yarra undertook the first patrol on 13 September, while Parramatta and AE1 patrolled on 14 September.

Design factors What design factors could have contributed to the loss?

AE1 was fitted with four external ballast tanks on each side, incorporated in the saddle tanks positioned either side of the pressure hull. Two main ballast tanks were positioned forward of the broadside (beam) torpedo tube and two aft.

Analysis using the computer-based stability model developed from the General Arrangement drawings indicates that flooding two of the large external main ballast tanks on one side would result in a significant list, but would not place the upper conning tower hatch under water or cause the submarine to sink.

The construction of the pressure hull around the beam torpedo tubes is of interest in this grounding scenario. The riveted seam at the outer end of the pressure hull annulus constructed

03 Detail from a condolence book produced by

the Royal Australian Navy to commemorate the loss of AE1. It contains messages of sympathy, such as this from Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty.

ANMM Collection Gift from Annie H Goldie

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to accommodate the tubes could become a critical point of impact. The athwartships bulkhead forming the bulge to accommodate the broadside tube came out from the pressure hull. A cross section of the pressure hull at frame #50 shows the resultant shape (see page 24).

Overall, the broadside tubes would appear to be a source of strength, rigidity and support to the outer plating of the ‘saddle tanks’, rather than vulnerability. However, the forward riveted corner seam of the pressure hull annulus built to accommodate the tubes would be vulnerable as its shape could provide a single point to arrest the submarine’s forward motion, absorbing the force of the grounding and focusing these forces on a point of the pressure hull. If this seam failed then the pressure hull would be breached.

Based on a report by Lieutenant Henry Stoker, the commanding officer of HMAS AE2,1 we know that AE1 had a defect on the starboard shaft that prevented the electric motor from being used; it was to be repaired on return to harbour that evening.

Find AE1 Ltd believes the engine clutch was jammed in.

This was a problem that had occurred several times on the delivery trip from the UK. The defect had no impact on the submarine’s ability to propel ahead on the surface using both main engines, but had major implications for the power available and redundancy in all other situations:

04 The book also lists the men who died.

ANMM Collection Gift from Annie H Goldie

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• Astern power on the surface was reduced to the port shaft only; so a 50 per cent power reduction and no redundancy.

• In the event of a delay in disengaging or defect with the port engine clutch, the submarine had no astern power on the surface.

AE1 was under strict instructions to return to the anchorage in Rabaul Harbour by dark; sunset was at 1750 hours

• When dived, the submarine had only the port shaft for propulsion.

In a further clue, HMAS Sydney’s signal log records a signal at 1425 hours on 14 September, requesting a receipt for the transfer of ‘submarine stores’ by 2000 hours (before it sailed that evening). It is surmised that the ‘submarine stores’ referred to may have been the toggle bolts required to repair a faulty main engine clutch, responsible for the defect on the starboard power train discussed above.

HMAS Sydney had been the escort ship for AE1’s delivery voyage from Singapore to Sydney and had previously manufactured these bolts to repair a similar defect during that voyage.

Its deck log records the transfer of an engine room artificer to Upolu, the merchant ship being used as a submarine depot ship, at 1030 hours on 13 September, possibly to assist in the repairs.

Analysis We are reliant on Parramatta’s brief account of the day’s events, as none of the signals that passed between AE1 and Parramatta on that day was recorded by any other units. Nor have we been able to locate any record of the board of inquiry that was ordered by the Fleet Commander. It does not appear to have been convened – overtaken by the exigencies of war, perhaps?

05 Officers and crew from both AE1 and AE2

pose together for a newspaper photograph in Portsmouth, UK, 1914, before the vessels made the long journey to Australia.

ANMM Collection Gift from Jennifer Smyth

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The method of passing the signals between AE1 and Parramatta on this fateful day is not known as we have not located Parramatta’s signal logs. Wireless telegraphy could have been used but this would have required AE1 to rig its wireless mast, a cumbersome and time-consuming operation. Since the submarine would have had to unrig it prior to diving this seems an unlikely proposition for a submarine heading out potentially to intercept the enemy. If WT had been used then other ships would have received and logged the exchange as all ships were on a common frequency. Alternatively, communications could have been by flashing light or megaphone. The latter seems most likely.

After rendezvousing at sea on the morning of the 14th, AE1 and Parramatta parted company, Parramatta patrolling to the southward off Cape Gazelle.

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We believe that AE1 deviated from its orders to patrol with Parramatta, proceeding to the north-east towards the Duke of York Islands possibly to investigate a report of a German steamer sighted by Yarra on the previous evening. Vice Admiral Patey was also puzzled by AE1’s actions; he observed in his report to the Naval Board on the loss:2 ‘Lieutenant Commander Besant appears to have gone rather far to the Northward, but he was the Senior Officer’.

Parramatta turned north to close the submarine later that morning and reported that they were close to AE1, located in a position two nautical miles (four kilometres) off the southeast corner of Duke of York Island at 1430 hours. Visibility was approximately five nautical miles (nine kilometres) in a tropical afternoon haze common in this part of the world. It is not obvious how Parramatta was able to quickly relocate AE1 in these conditions; the Fleet Commander reported that they were communicating by WT, but no other units logged these signals.

The simple tracing off Parramatta’s chart that accompanied their report of the loss is the last record we have of AE1. At 1520 hours Parramatta lost sight of AE1 and turned back towards the last seen position, but no further sightings were made.

The remainder of this account is based on knowledgeable supposition and evaluation of the probabilities.

We suspect that Parramatta and AE1 had agreed to separate to enable AE1 to investigate the sighting of a German steamer off the Duke of York Islands the evening before, while Parramatta undertook the patrol off Cape Gazelle. The rendezvous later that afternoon off the Duke of York islands was not a matter of chance.

06 Pressure hull cross section at Frame #50

showing the extensions to accommodate the beam torpedo tubes. Image courtesy Ken Greig

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AE1’s last seen position @ 1520 14/09/14 reported by HMAS PARRAMATTA

AE1 Most Likely Route home

AE1

PARRAMATTA

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AE1 was under strict instructions to return to the anchorage in Rabaul Harbour by dark; sunset was at 1750. This directive was reinforced by a personal signal from the Fleet Commander as AE1 sailed that morning.

We believe that AE1 deviated from her orders to patrol with Parramatta, proceeding to the north-east towards the Duke of York Islands

Environmental factors The German and British charts used at the time of the invasion in 1914 both showed extensive fringing reefs around the entrance to Mioko Harbour. The reefs were well-formed and visible from close range at that time.

Early versions of the British and American Pacific Sailing Directions, or Pilots, dating back to the sailing days of the late 18th century, also noted the strong current flows of up to three knots (5.5 km/h) in St George’s Channel. This makes the southeastern corner of Mioko Island forming the western entrance of Mioko Harbour a particularly difficult and challenging spot for navigation.

The large body of water moving north-west by the current faces a significant obstruction as the depth rapidly decreases and the water strikes the near-vertical wall of the fringing coral reefs. The combination leads to strong, locally variable currents, swirling to escape around the obstructions – navigation in this area would require particular care. The water is then driven to the north-east and north-west around the obstruction represented by the Duke of York Island, its surrounding reefs and minor islands.

07 The estimated tracks of AE1 and HMAS

Parramatta during the patrol on 14 September 1914. Image courtesy Find AE1 Ltd

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Dusk was the wrong time of day to approach this area – with a low height of eye (AE1’s bridge deck was at 3.6 metres), AE1’s lookouts would be looking into the setting sun, low on the horizon, and the off-lying reefs would be invisible beneath dark reflecting waters. It is possible that the Commanding Officer and his officers, who were an inexperienced command team, unfamiliar with the area and the precautions necessary when operating in proximity to reefs, were not aware of or failed to appreciate the significance of this confluence of factors.

Other possibilities Could AE1 have been sunk in a battle with an armed German steamer? This scenario would fit some of the clues reasonably well. A German petty officer prisoner claimed that he was in command of the river steamer Kolonialgesellschaft when just such an attack occurred. This steamer was found 70 nautical miles (130 kilometres) to the west, aground on a reef, on 19 September.

It was fitted with a 1-inch (25-millimetre) cannon and reported to be carrying a party of 12 German Army reservists to join the defence of Rabaul, so the capability to attack AE1 was there.

Could this be the ‘smoking gun’?

While the records are far from complete, Find AE1 has concluded that the German account of sailing from Madang on 9 September before being wrecked on the reef off Cape Lambert on 16 September, 70 nautical miles (130 kilometres) short of Rabaul, is probably correct. The low-powered river steamer appears to have lacked the endurance to steam continuously for four days at five knots (nine km/h) in order to be off Duke of York Island on the afternoon of 13 September.

08 The last image of AE1. Photograph courtesy

Sea Power Centre Australia

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It had a crew of two and is unlikely to have been able to carry sufficient firewood or fresh water for the boiler for four days; such stores are readily available on a river, but not on the open sea. No stories corroborating this account of an attack on AE1 have since emerged – an extraordinarily effective conspiracy if the petty officer’s story is correct. Finally, the local people have no account of a battle between a German steamer and a submarine, but any such encounter must almost certainly have taken place within visual and audible range of Mioko Harbour.

Could AE1 have dived for some reason and then been inadvertently run down by a surface ship? This scenario also fits the clues quite well. Rumours at the time told of collisions with submerged objects. Apart from Yarra’s grounding on a reef while searching for AE1 on the afternoon of the 15th, none of the surface ships reported a collision or damage.

It is more likely that the unknown bumps were semi-submerged logs that seem to have been common in the area.

The most likely cause If the submarine damaged two of the ballast tanks located in the ‘saddle tanks’ on one side of the pressure hull by a glancing impact on a coral outcrop – that is, a beam-on grounding – it would have effectively lost approximately 20 per cent of its buoyancy and significantly reduced its stability as it settled to a new equilibrium position on its damaged beam. This alone would not be sufficient to sink the submarine, but the vessel would then be vulnerable to anything that further reduced its buoyancy or stability.

Whatever the source, it would take an additional loss of buoyancy or force to increase the list so as to place the conning tower upper hatch under water, allowing water to enter the submarine via the conning tower. Unless this hatch or the lower conning tower hatch was quickly shut the submarine would flood and sink in an uncontrolled descent to the bottom.

Alternatively (and more likely in this author’s opinion), the force of the grounding was arrested by the athwartships bulkhead on the leading edge of the broadside tubes annulus in the pressure hull. The current held the submarine there, grinding and pivoting against the bulkhead with the diesels still propelling ahead.

The crew, thrown from their feet by the impact and working with a developing list, took several minutes to stop the diesels and engage astern power on the port shaft. This exacerbated the damage already experienced. With difficulty AE1 extracted itself, using full power astern on the port shaft, and moved astern off the reef.

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A new factor or combination of factors then intervened; probably the pressure hull failed at the seam on the broadside tube bulkhead. The resultant flooding would cause a loss of power as water reached the switchboard and main batteries.

As it sank AE1 probably drifted to the north-east on the current before settling on the bottom.

We conclude that on the balance of probabilities AE1 was damaged in a beam-on grounding on the reefs surrounding the southern and eastern end of Mioko Island, leading to flooding and consequent sinking. The submarine was probably carried off to the north-east on the strong currents and settled on the bottom otherwise intact, some distance from the grounding position.

The detailed analysis underpinning this hypothesis can be found at: findae1.org.au/reports/ae1-search-report-2012/

The geography The geography is set out in image 2 opposite. AE1’s last seen position as reported by HMAS Parramatta was about two nautical miles (four kilometres) off the south-east corner of Duke of York Islands. The shortest and safest route back to its berth alongside the merchant ship being used as a submarine depot ship involved skirting the southern fringe of the Duke of York and Mioko islands, passing north of the Credner Islands and thence to Rabaul. HMAS Parramatta took a different route, passing north about the Duke of York Islands before heading to its anchorage off Kokopo.

In 2002 John Foster, in his book AE1 Entombed But Not Forgotten, recorded a story of the local indigenous people, handed down from their forebears, of a submarine approaching from the north-east, about to round Wirian Reef on the southeastern point of Mioko Island before stopping then drifting or moving off to the north-east on the current and disappearing.

The story is time and date stamped by other stories relating Encounter’s bombardment that morning and the searchlights and flares used by the searching ships that night.

Defining a search area The possibility of loss following a grounding off Mioko Island and consequent either slow or rapid descent to the bottom should determine the primary search area. The secondary area should include the last seen position, the most likely area for a dived collision with Parramatta and the return track to Rabaul.

The latter is a hedge against the proposition (unlikely in this author’s opinion) that AE1 dived after the collision to remove

As it sank AE1 probably drifted to the north-east on the current before settling on the bottom

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the list and then attempted to return to harbour, before suffering a further pressure hull failure.

We believe that none of the earlier searches should be considered comprehensive; any areas already searched in the primary and secondary search areas set out above should be searched afresh.

Armed with this analysis we are able to construct a search area to cover the range of scenarios.

Finding the submarine is possibly the only way of solving the puzzle, bringing closure to the descendants of the 35 men on board, solving the RAN’s greatest mystery and providing a fitting recognition of AE1’s sacrifice.

1 Lieutenant Stoker’s report on the loss of AE1, dated 16 October 1914.

2 Vice Admiral Patey letter No X42, dated 23 September 1914.

Peter Briggs ao csc is a retired Rear Admiral of the RAN, a submarine specialist, past President of the Submarine Institute of Australia and an ANMM Research Associate.

Find AE1 Ltd is a not-for profit company, supported by the Royal Australian Navy, the Australian National Maritime Museum and the Submarine Institute of Australia, established for the sole purpose of finding Australia’s first submarine. A search of the primary search area is planned for late 2015. Should this prove unsuccessful then a follow-up search using towed side scan sonar and magnetometer is planned.

Donations would be welcome to assist in the searches. Further details are available at findae1.org.au.

Finding the submarine is possibly the only way of bringing closure to the descendants of the 35 men on board

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > DARDANELLES DEFENDER

Dardanelles defender THE OTTOMAN TORPEDO BOAT SULTANHISAR

The exploits of the Australian submarine AE2 during the Gallipoli campaign are legend in Australian naval history. Far less is known about AE2’s captor, the Ottoman torpedo boat Sultanhisar. Curator of RAN Maritime Archaeology Dr James Hunter explores Sultanhisar’s service history and its role in one of World War I’s most famous naval engagements.

01

IN THE EARLY HOURS OF 25 APRIL 1915, the Australian submarine AE2 passed through Turkey’s Dardanelles Strait into the Sea of Marmara. Tasked to ‘run amok’ and sink troopships trying to reinforce Ottoman forces repelling the Allied assault on the Gallipoli Peninsula, AE2 roamed the Sea of Marmara over the next five days, attacking ships and surfacing in multiple places to give the impression that several Allied submarines had penetrated the strait. On 30 April, AE2’s luck ran out when it was struck by gunfire from the Ottoman torpedo boat Sultanhisar. Forced to abandon ship, the submarine’s crew scuttled their vessel and were subsequently picked up by Sultanhisar and taken into custody. They would spend the remainder of the war in POW camps, and four would die in captivity.

01 Sultanhisar under way in Turkish waters,

c 1910. It was armed with a torpedo tube at the bow and (visible towards the stern) a turntable torpedo launcher. Image from Jane’s Fighting Ships (1915 edition), p 401

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > DARDANELLES DEFENDER

While much has been written about AE2, comparatively little literature exists that highlights Sultanhisar’s origins, military service and movements in the days leading up to its famed engagement with the Australian submarine. AE2’s voyage through the minefields of the Dardanelles has been rightfully described as harrowing, but one could easily say the same for Sultanhisar, operating as it was in waters under intense and continued assault from land-based artillery, surface ships, aircraft and submarines. Unlike AE2, Sultanhisar was also a veteran of conflict by the time World War I began, assigned to protect the Dardanelles and Sea of Marmara in a series of short-lived wars that pitted the Ottoman Empire against neighbouring countries.

Origins On 25 October 1906, the Ottoman government placed an order for four steel-hulled torpedo boats from the French firm Schneider & Cie. Construction of Sultanhisar began later the same year at the company’s shipyard in Chalon-sur-Saône, a riverside port in the Burgundy region of eastern France.

Originally an iron and steel mill that specialised in railway and locomotive equipment, Schneider & Cie diversified its portfolio during the second half of the 19th century to include the manufacture of artillery and steel-hulled ships. By the first decade of the 20th century it was one of France’s biggest producers of torpedo boats, and heavily engaged in the export of military hardware for foreign markets. The Demirhisar class of torpedo boats to which Sultanhisar belonged was identical to both the French Navy’s 38m class boats and vessels of the Druzki class constructed for the Bulgarian Navy.

Sultanhisar was named for a small town in the Aegean region of Turkey founded in 1270 and incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1425. The other Demirhisar class boats included in the order were Demirhisar, Sivrihisar and Hamidabad.

As built, Sultanhisar measured 38 metres between perpendiculars and 40.2 metres overall. It had a maximum breadth and draught of 4.4 metres and 1.9 metres respectively, and displaced 98.5 tonnes. The vessel’s vertical triple-expansion steam engine was fired by twin Du Temple boilers.

Together, they delivered 2,200 horsepower to a single screw that generated a maximum speed of 26 knots (48 km/h) during the vessel’s sea trials in 1907.

Owing to its relatively small size, Sultanhisar was lightly armed. It carried a bow-mounted torpedo tube and two rotating ‘turntable’ torpedo launchers located amidships.

Each accommodated a single 17.7-inch (450-millimetre) torpedo, but limited space aboard the vessel meant that only two reloads

Sultanhisar’s crewmen spent much of their time keeping a sharp lookout for submarine interlopers

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02

could be stored. Defensive weaponry comprised two 1.46-inch (37-millimetre) Hotchkiss quick-firing (QF) guns mounted on the weather deck to either side of Sultanhisar’s conning tower.

Early Ottoman service Sultanhisar was launched in 1907, but how it was transported to Turkey is unclear. Each of the Druzki class torpedo boats was shipped in prefabricated sections via rail to Bulgaria, where assembly and outfitting were completed. It is likely that the Ottoman vessels were delivered in the same manner, although they may also have been transported by ship (in whole or in part), or have undertaken the lengthy voyage to Turkey under their own power. Following sea trials in 1907 and its arrival at Istanbul later the same year, Sultanhisar was commissioned into the Ottoman Navy.

Two years later, Sultanhisar participated in training exercises with the Ottoman fleet in the Sea of Marmara – part of a naval reform program implemented by Sir Douglas Gamble, an admiral in the Royal Navy and commander of the British Naval Mission at Istanbul. Charged with continuing a century-old tradition of instructing Ottoman naval officers, Gamble organised the 1909 manoeuvres because the Ottoman Navy had not held exercises of its own in over two decades.

Sultanhisar, along with its sister vessel Demirhisar and torpedo boats of the Hamidiye, Akhisar and Antalya classes, conducted a mock torpedo attack on several large Ottoman warships.

These exercises proved timely, because within two years the Ottoman Empire was fighting the first of three consecutive wars in which naval assets played a significant role. During the Italo–Ottoman War (1911–12), Sultanhisar served in a primarily defensive capacity, patrolling both the Dardanelles and Sea of Marmara. By contrast, the torpedo boats Ankara, Antalya,

02 Sultanhisar moored at Istanbul,

date unknown. Image courtesy istanbul Deniz Müzesi

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > DARDANELLES DEFENDER

03

Hamidiye, Alpagot and Tokad saw action in various theatres of operation. At the close of hostilities on 18 October 1912, three of these vessels had been lost: Hamidye and Alpagot were sunk by enemy fire at Reşadiye (today’s Greek port city of Igoumenitsa) and Ankara was scuttled by its crew in the port of Beirut.

Ironically, the day the Italo–Ottoman War ended marked the outbreak of the Balkan Wars (1912–13), which pitted the Ottoman Empire against the combined militaries of Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece. Once again, Sultanhisar was tasked with defending the Dardanelles, but this time it would see combat.

On the morning of 14 December 1912, the torpedo boat was ordered to lure two Greek destroyers, Sphendoni and Lonchi, into range of the guns of the Ottoman cruiser Mecidiye.

Shortly before noon, Sultanhisar encountered and was fired upon by these ships and pursued towards the mouth of the Dardanelles. During the chase, five additional Greek warships appeared and converged on the torpedo boat, but were engaged

by Mecidiye. The resulting battle lasted an hour and ended in stalemate, with the Ottoman vessels ultimately embarking for the port of Nara to join the rest of their fleet. In March 1913, Sultanhisar and Demirhisar left the relative safety of the Dardanelles to search unsuccessfully for the Greek submarine Delfin along the Anatolian coast. Sultanhisar then returned to the Dardanelles and remained there for the duration of the conflict.

03 Sultanhisar crewmen Ömer and Ahmet pose

with the gun that they used to fatally damage AE2. Image courtesy ¡stanbul Deniz Müzesi

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04

World War I and engagement with AE2 Between the end of the Balkan Wars in July 1913 and the beginning of World War I approximately one year later, Sultanhisar and its Demirhisar class sister ships were stationed in the Bosphorus near Istanbul. On 6 August 1914 all of these craft were moved to the Narrows in the Dardanelles to act as advance scouts against Allied warships. Three months later, Captain Ali Riza took command of Sultanhisar and began escort patrols protecting Ottoman supply vessels and troopships travelling between Istanbul and the Gallipoli Peninsula.

By the beginning of 1915, Sultanhisar was operating within the western third of the Sea of Marmara in an area roughly bounded by Marmara Island to the east and the town of Gelibolu, at the northern end of the Dardanelles, to the west.

In addition to patrol duties, the torpedo boat transported German adviser and military commander Otto Liman von Sanders between Gelibolu and the town of Maydos (today’s Eceabat) daily. Allied submarines were now considered a potential threat, and Sultanhisar’s crewmen spent much of their time keeping a sharp lookout for interlopers from below.

04 Crewmen at work on Sultanhisar’s deck,

date and location unknown. Note the port side Hotchkiss QF gun and vessel name plate on the smokestack. Image courtesy ¡stanbul Deniz Müzesi

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Reports of AE2’s incursion into the Dardanelles reached Sultanhisar on 26 April, following the submarine’s unsuccessful attack on the Ottoman battleship Turgut Reis earlier the same day. While on patrol the following afternoon, the torpedo boat encountered No 38, a ferry transporting a contingent of Ottoman troops to the frontlines. As the two vessels came abeam of one another, Captain Riza noticed a ‘torpedo fast approaching [No] 38’ from Sultanhisar’s port side and signalled the ferry to immediately alter course. The torpedo missed its target and reportedly detonated against the shoreline. Riza and his crew immediately began looking for the submarine that had fired it, but after a fruitless two-hour search were recalled to Maydos to pick up von Sanders.

The next day proved uneventful for Sultanhisar, but the morning of 29 April brought with it a ‘strange edginess’ that affected Riza and his crew. With the Allied assault on the Gallipoli Peninsula well under way, the Ottoman military was mobilising to counter the invading force. That evening, Sultanhisar travelled to Maydos. As they approached the entrance to the port, Riza and his crew observed that the town was under continual shellfire from the super-dreadnought battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth. A sustained barrage was also aimed at the port’s waterfront. Despite the danger, Riza ordered his vessel forward ‘at full speed, bending and weaving through water columns caused by shells falling in the sea’,1 and reached the waterfront safely. However, their success was short-lived,

Sultanhisar’s captain met his Australian counterpart with a firm handshake and consoling words

05 Group portrait of Sultanhisar’s officers and

ratings. Captain Ali Riza is seated in the second row at centre right. Image courtesy ¡stanbul Deniz Müzesi

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as a spotter in an observation balloon began directing artillery fire at the torpedo boat. Sultanhisar was forced to continually manoeuvre around the harbour to avoid being struck by enemy shells.

Although occupied with avoiding enemy shellfire and preserving their own lives, Sultanhisar’s crew were greatly affected by the devastation wrought on Maydos. As Riza observed: During all these manoeuvres my soldiers were lined up on deck watching with sorrow the burning of Maydos across from us.

All their faces had sharp lines reflecting a deep sadness … Ömer from Edremit who was number one on the starboard cannon yelled at Ahmet at the helm: ‘Did you see the villainy of the enemy, Corporal Ahmet? They are burning the hospital …’2 The outrage shared by crewmen Ömer and Ahmet would prove significant only a few days later, as would Riza’s exhortation to Sultanhisar’s entire complement that it would soon ‘take revenge in a more honourable manner’.

On the morning of 30 April 1915, word passed to Riza that an enemy vessel was in sight. It soon became apparent to Sultanhisar’s crew that they had discovered an Allied submarine. The news was electrifying. Riza ordered his vessel full steam ahead and the crew to action stations, but as the distance closed between the torpedo boat and its prey, the latter slipped beneath the waves and it seemed the battle was over before it could begin.

The submarine was AE2, and its commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Henry Stoker, was preparing to rendezvous with the British submarine E14 when he spotted Sultanhisar. Stoker ordered his vessel submerged, with the intention of stealthily outmanoeuvring the torpedo boat and – if the opportunity presented itself – attempting an attack.

06 This copper-alloy nameplate on display at the

Istanbul Naval Museum is one of only a small handful of surviving physical remnants from Sultanhisar. Image courtesy ¡stanbul Deniz Müzesi

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > DARDANELLES DEFENDER

However, for reasons that remain a mystery to this day, AE2 entered into an uncontrolled dive that forced its crew to take emergency measures to surface. Sultanhisar was waiting above, and commenced firing on the submarine as it broke the surface. Stoker ordered AE2 submerged a second time – with the same result. What followed was, in Riza’s words, a ‘kind of tap dance’ between the two vessels: AE2 attempting escape and being thwarted by mechanical failure, and Sultanhisar attempting to disable the submarine with gunfire and torpedoes every time it surfaced. In the end, the torpedo boat’s starboard gun – operated by crewmen Ömer and Ahmet – found its mark and hit AE2’s stern in three places as it rose out of the water during its final uncontrolled ascent.

His vessel mortally damaged, Stoker’s thoughts turned to saving his crew and he gave the order to abandon ship. He then set about preparations to scuttle AE2 so that it would not fall into enemy hands. As the submarine’s crewmen emerged from the conning tower and stepped into the water, Riza gave the following order to his crew: The battle is now over. Hostility has ended here. Now, you will do your humanitarian duty … in a manner befitting the generosity of the Turkish soldier. No sword is lifted against one who asks for quarter. Pick up the prisoners. No one will have so much as a nose bleed, no one will suffer.3 The torpedo boat’s crew then rescued AE2’s submariners, brought them aboard, and offered what little food and drink was available. For his part, Riza met his Australian counterpart with a firm handshake and consoling words. He would subsequently defy orders and deliver AE2’s officers and crew to Ottoman authorities in an effort to spare them the humiliation he feared they would endure at the hands of the German military.

Final years After discharging AE2’s crew at Istanbul, Sultanhisar returned to patrol duty in the Sea of Marmara. On 15 May 1915, it returned to Istanbul, where Riza learned he had been promoted and was awarded a medal of honour by Sultan Mehmed V. As a consequence of his promotion, Riza relinquished command of Sultanhisar and was assigned to a larger vessel, the torpedo boat Kütahya. Sultanhisar continued to conduct patrol and escort duties within the Sea of Marmara and Dardanelles until the end of World War I, when it was decommissioned following the Armistice of Mudros.

Sultanhisar’s Captain Riza met his Australian counterpart with a firm handshake and consoling words

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > DARDANELLES DEFENDER

In 1920, the Treaty of Sèvres was ratified by the Allied powers and Ottoman Empire. Under its provisions, the Ottoman Navy was reduced to seven sloops and six torpedo boats. One of the latter was Sultanhisar, but it was ultimately relegated to coast guard and police duties within Turkish territorial waters.

Further, its armament was reduced to a single deck gun.

Following the Turkish War of Independence (1919–23), Sultanhisar appears to have returned to military service – this time as part of the fledgling national navy of the Republic of Turkey. By then, the vessel was obsolete and suffering the ravages of nearly two decades of continual use.

Unsurprisingly, in 1928 its distinguished naval career finally came to an end. Seven years later, its surviving hull was stripped and broken up. No physical remnants of Sultanhisar are known to survive today, save for a handful of copper-alloy name plates displayed at Turkish naval museums in Istanbul and Çanakkale.

1 ‘Captain Ali Riza’s Story’, quoted in Vecihi and Hatice Başarin, Beneath the Dardanelles: The Australian submarine at Gallipoli, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, 2008, p 90 2 ‘Captain Ali Riza’s Story’, p 91 3 ‘Captain Ali Riza’s Story’, p 127 Further reading Fred and Elizabeth Brenchley, Stoker’s submarine, Harper Collins Publishers, Sydney, 2001 Bernd Langensiepen and Ahmet Güleryüz, The Ottoman steam navy, 1828–1923, Conway Maritime Press, London, 1995 Fred Jane, Jane’s fighting ships, Sampson, Low, Marston & Co, Ltd, London, 1907–1927 Henry Stoker, Straws in the wind, Herbert Jenkins Ltd, London, 1925 Michael White, Australian submarines: A history, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1992 For more articles on AE2’s Dardanelles mission and the discovery and exploration of its wreck site, see Signals 108.

The museum’s travelling exhibition War at Sea – the Navy in WWI is touring to regional and interstate venues until 2018. For more details, see anmm.gov.au.

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > COMMEMORATING KRAIT

FOUNDATION SUMMER 2015–16

Commemorating Krait A SMALL BOAT’S BIG MISSION

The Operation Jaywick story is a ripping yarn of daring and courage from World War II, in which the crew of MV Krait, a nondescript former fishing boat, managed to evade detection in enemy waters and destroy 40,000 tonnes of Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbour. Krait is now berthed at the Australian National Maritime Museum, and the National Maritime Foundation is seeking support to fund its ongoing preservation and other maritime heritage projects.

01

01 Krait is maintained by the museum’s Fleet

staff and regularly taken out on Sydney Harbour to make sure that it is in good order.

Photograph Andrew Frolows/ANMM

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > COMMEMORATING KRAIT

FOUNDATION SUMMER 2015–16

THE AUSTRALIAN COMMANDO Association recently marked the 72nd anniversary of Operation Jaywick with a dinner aboard South Steyne. This retired Sydney ferry has been doing duty as a floating restaurant in Cockle Bay, next to the museum, for many years and makes an excellent venue to mark a maritime operation like the Australian Special Forces’ raid on Singapore. On 26 September 1943 a small crew of Z Special Unit operatives sailed to Japanese-occupied Singapore aboard MV Krait. Formerly a Japanese fishing vessel named Kofuku Maru, the 68-ton, 70-foot vessel had been captured in 1941 and put to work evacuating 1,100 people from ships sunk along Sumatra’s east coast. It reached Australia in 1942 and was renamed Krait by its new military masters, after the small but deadly snake found in India and South-east Asia. (The snake is pronounced ‘krite’, while the vessel is often pronounced ‘crate’.)

The Z Special Unit men were tasked with executing Operation Jaywick. On board Krait when it left Exmouth, Western Australia, on 2 September 1943 were 11 Australians and three Brits (see breakout box). They stained their skin brown to appear more Asian, as the success of their mission and their survival depended on their disguise as the crew of a local fishing vessel.

02 One of 14 maps believed to have been

used by Krait personnel in planning attacks on shipping in Singapore Harbour, 1942.

ANMM Collection

02

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > COMMEMORATING KRAIT

On the night of 24 September 24, six of the crew slipped their folding canoes into the water and paddled 50 kilometres to a small island near Singapore Harbour, where they set up a forward post in a cave. After sunset on 26 September, they were back in their canoes heading for Singapore.

Under cover of darkness they made it into the busy port undetected. There they attached their limpet mines to Japanese ships before paddling back to their island hideaway.

As the mines detonated, seven enemy vessels comprising nearly 40,000 tonnes were sunk or severely damaged. After lying low for several days, the commandos returned to Krait and headed for home, arriving at Exmouth on 19 October.

The mighty Japanese war machine had been attacked by a handful of courageous Australians in folding canoes.

The Japanese couldn’t believe that such a destructive operation could have come from Australia, and on 10 October they commenced a wave of reprisals, including torture and executions, against the local community. Operation Jaywick is still commemorated annually in Singapore.

Krait, now owned by the Australian War Memorial, is a floating exhibit at the Australian National Maritime Museum.

Both institutions are collaborating on ways to preserve and interpret Krait for the future.

Andrew Markwell Manager, Australian Maritime Foundation The Australia National Maritime Foundation is the fundraising organ of the museum.

It has deductible gift recipient status, enabling it to issue tax receipts for donations and gifts in kind. Broadly, the foundation’s purpose is to support the acquisition, conservation and enhancement of the National Maritime Collection. The foundation has recently initiated development of an active and sustainable fundraising program with a view to gaining significant long-term support for the collection, such as the restoration and display of MV Krait.

For more information about donating or leaving a bequest to the foundation, please contact Andrew Markwell on 02 9298 3777 or email amarkwell@anmm.gov.au

FOUNDATION SUMMER 2015–16

The men of Krait Major Ivan Lyons (mission commander) Lieutenant Hubert Edward Carse (Krait’s captain) Lieutenant Donald Montague Noel Davidson Lieutenant Robert Charles Page Corporal Andrew Anthony Crilly Corporal R G Morris Leading Seaman Kevin Patrick Cain Leading Stoker James Patrick McDowell Leading Telegraphist Horace Stewart Young Able Seaman Walter Gordon Falls Able Seaman Mostyn Berryman Able Seaman Frederick Walter Lota Marsh Able Seaman Arthur Walter Jones Able Seaman Andrew William George Huston

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > EAST AFRICAN ADVENTURE

East African adventure HMAS PIONEER AT WAR 1915–1916 01

The Australian navy ship that saw the most actual fighting in World War I was not a well-known or celebrated warship, but an antiquated vessel performing tedious patrol and blockade duty in an East African backwater.

Greg Swinden relates the story of HMAS Pioneer.

01 HMAS Pioneer at Simonstown,

South Africa, c 1915, looking aft from the top of the main mast over the deck and the adjacent wharf. Photograph Australian War Memorial P01585.004

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > EAST AFRICAN ADVENTURE

AT 8 AM ON 7 FEBRUARY 1915 the light cruiser HMAS Pioneer dropped anchor off Zanzibar and joined the Royal Navy squadron operating off German East Africa. At midnight on 22 October 1916, some 20 months later, it returned to Sydney.

Its arrival went relatively unheralded and is today largely forgotten; but ironically, this worn-out ship and its equally tired crew saw more actual fighting and fired more rounds in anger than any other Royal Australian Navy (RAN) unit in World War I. A Royal Navy cruiser, Pioneer commenced service in 1900.

In 1905 it was attached to the British squadron on the Australia Station and then transferred to the RAN in 1913 as a sea-going training ship for the naval reserve. Armed with eight four-inch (100-millimetre) guns, crewed by 230 men and, under the command of Acting Commander Thomas Biddlecombe, RAN, it was dispatched to Western Australia when war broke out in August 1914. While guarding the approaches to Fremantle it captured the German steamers Neumunster and ThĂźringen; having no wireless sets, these vessels were unaware that hostilities had commenced.

In September 1914 Pioneer conducted patrols along the northern Australian coastline as far as Darwin, to secure the sea lines of communication against attack from the German raider Emden.

On 24 December 1914 the British Admiralty requested the cruiser as part of a force to hunt down and destroy the German cruiser KĂśnigsberg (sister ship to Emden, which by then had been destroyed), which was active off the coast of German East Africa. Pioneer left in the early hours of 10 January 1915 and steamed via the Cocos Islands, Diego Garcia and Mombasa, reaching Zanzibar on 7 February.

02 HMAS Pioneer, c 1914. Photo by Allan

02

C Green/State Library of Victoria H91.325/2122

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > EAST AFRICAN ADVENTURE

There Pioneer became part of the naval force, under Vice Admiral Sir Herbert King-Hall, RN, which was blockading the Rufiji River where Königsberg had taken refuge. Königsberg was still a threat to British shipping in the area and had destroyed the British cruiser HMS Pegasus (a sister ship to Pioneer) off Zanzibar in September 1914. Additionally the British force conducted patrols to prevent coastal vessels, mainly dhows, reaching German East Africa to re-supply the Königsberg and the German troops under Colonel (later Major General) Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, who was conducting an effective guerrilla war against British and South African land forces.

The destruction of Königsberg was uppermost in King-Hall’s mind as the warships conducting the blockade were needed elsewhere, particularly the Mediterranean, rather than the backwater of East Africa. The shallow waters of the Rufiji delta, effective German shore defences and a lack of British troops to conduct an assault had created a stand-off, with Königsberg unable to escape and the British unable to destroy it, but mindful of the damage it could do to British shipping if it left the delta. King-Hall requested two shallow-draft river monitors and sea planes to help destroy the German cruiser, but it would be several months before they would arrive.

King-Hall divided the coast into three sectors. Pioneer was allocated the northern section (from Tanga to Dar es Salaam) with Biddlecombe in command of three other vessels. The work was necessary but monotonous, as local dhows and merchant ships were intercepted and searched in often arduous tropical heat and rain. Pioneer also spent days anchored off the mouth of the Rufiji River to prevent Königsberg from escaping to sea.

It was resupplied with coal weekly by going alongside a collier and transferring up to 200 tonnes of coal across by winch.

But once on the cruiser’s deck, the coal had to be man-handled into the coal bunkers. This was heavy, dirty work which took hours, involved the entire ship’s company except the Commanding Officer, and was occasionally done at night.

Commander Biddlecombe also kept the men busy with physical exercise, cleaning the ship daily, frequently removing rust and repainting, exercising the boat and gun’s crews and even the occasional route march on remote islands. This was deliberate to ensure the ship was kept at a high state of readiness for action and also to stop the men from becoming bored. Due to the threat from the Königsberg, night defence stations were put into practice, with the ship’s guns manned by a skeleton crew throughout the night.

The men’s morale was generally good with few incidents or absentees from leave

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03

But it was not all hard work. The ship’s volunteer band would often play to entertain the crew and a newsletter, The Pioneer Observer, was published under the editorship of Melbourneborn Able Seaman (7864) John Neely. It made frequent reference to the ordinary food (including goat meat), infestations of cockroaches, the antics of the ship’s pet monkey ‘Jennie’, ongoing problems with the boiler condenser’s ‘kidney’ and the potential of Königsberg breaking out of the Rufiji. The cruiser also had a canteen run by the civilian canteen manager Joseph Zammit, who had been with the ship since 1908. The canteen sold tobacco, confectionery, tinned food and writing material.

The crew were only paid every three months, so they had to keep their money secure as the canteen did not offer credit – but a portion of the canteen’s profits was paid into the ship’s welfare fund to buy sporting equipment, new band instruments and other items to help improve the men’s morale and welfare.

Leave was given when the ship visited Zanzibar, and alternated between the port and starboard watch with half the crew allowed ashore at any one time. The leave was only for four hours but gave the men the chance to escape the confines of the ship. Additionally leave parties were frequently allowed ashore on some of the more remote islands along the coast for swimming and recreation. The men’s morale was generally good, with few incidents or absentees from leave, although many complained about the constant painting and polishing to make the ship look good. Biddlecombe also lent some of his men to other smaller vessels when they were short of crew – another way to combat the boredom of constant patrol work.

03 Coaling party from the crew of HMAS

Pioneer on the deck of the ship, c 1915.

Photograph Australian War Memorial P01585.006

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Pioneer’s first action against the enemy came on 1 April 1915 when it intercepted a dhow off the Pangani River, carrying supplies to the German forces ashore. The vessel was sunk by 17 four-inch (100-millimetre) rounds from the cruiser. Later that month and in early May Pioneer bombarded German positions at the mouth of the Nhadi River and near Mahoro Bay. The cruiser ran aground on a reef on 23 June 1915, earning Biddlecombe the displeasure of his senior officers, but it was soon back at work and preparing for the main action against Königsberg.

By late June the monitors, HM Ships Mersey and Severn, had joined the blockading force. King-Hall’s plan was to sail them up the Rufiji River, under the umbrella of supporting naval gun-fire, and use the monitor’s 15 inch (375-millimetre) guns to destroy the German cruiser, which was now 10 miles (16 kilometres) up the river. Sea planes would be used to signal the fall of shot to the monitors who would then correct their fire as required. The attack commenced on 6 July and Pioneer entered the Rufiji River and fired over 100 rounds at German gun emplacements on the north bank of the river near Simbu Uranga. German guns replied but without effect and eventually Pioneer had to withdraw due to the falling tide. Mersey and Severn, however, were hit by German shells during the attack and men were killed, but three gunners from Pioneer, who had been lent to Mersey in early July, returned unhurt.

Königsberg was damaged in this engagement but not destroyed, so the attack was repeated on 12 July. Once again Pioneer bombarded the northern bank of the river while the monitors steamed up the Rufiji. This time there was no answering fire from the German guns ashore and the monitors soon completed the destruction of the cruiser, aided by a German scuttling charge. Although the Königsberg had been sunk, many of its crew survived and they salvaged what guns and equipment they could. They then joined von Lettow-Vorbeck’s forces ashore and served with him until the end of the war, in infantry and artillery units.

On 29 July Pioneer took part in the destruction of the German steamer President in the Lindi River. A boarding party from Pioneer also released 70 Indian seamen held prisoner on board the steamer. In mid-September it was sent south to Simonstown, in South Africa, for much-needed maintenance on its hull and engines, and the men had their first real break from the constant patrol work. Ten of the crew also took this opportunity to desert from the ship and enlist in South African army units or seek passage to Australia and join the 1st AIF. Among them was Melbourne-born Stoker (2539) Harry Rickard, who deserted on 26 September and later joined the South African Horse Artillery.

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04

Pioneer left port on 21 October and sailed to Durban for coal.

It was here, on 26 October, that Stoker (3808) William Edwards chose to desert by jumping overboard as the ship was leaving port. He swam towards shore, was picked up by a tug, and later returned to the ship.

Pioneer arrived back at Zanzibar on 8 November and was soon on patrol again, this time in the southern sector. On 20 November 1915 all of Pioneer’s officers and 50 men were landed at Mafia Island (Chole Shamba) to witness the execution of two Arab men convicted of assisting the Germans. The two men had provided African clothing and shelter for a small group of Germans who had conducted a reconnaissance of the island.

Surgeon Lieutenant Gustave Melville-Anderson from Pioneer later wrote: The full penalty was carried out in the market place, and all were drawn up in the square including the men from the ship to witness it and to impress the natives. The Arabs were each bound to two upright poles and blindfolded and handcuffed.

The firing party of Askaris [African troops] were in position in front of the victims, and the first volley was fired.

Another Medical Officer and myself examined them and considered that life was extinct in one, but as one groaned it was decided to fire another volley. This completed the somewhat gruesome business. Several very good photographs were obtained by one of the members of the crew.

On 21 December, Pioneer was patrolling near the Portuguese border with German East Africa. That morning the ship’s cutter was launched and sent ashore to Mnazi Bay to gather fresh provisions for the crew. As the boat approached the shore

04 Shore party from Pioneer on Mafia Island,

east Africa, 1915. Photograph Australian War Memorial P01585.003

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it came under heavy and accurate rifle fire and two ratings were wounded. They were British-born Able Seaman (2085) Arthur Snape and Able Seaman (3691) Hope Waddell from Southern Cross in Western Australia. Waddell’s wound was serious enough to later warrant the award of a wound stripe.

Pioneer’s gun crews quickly opened fire to cover the cutter’s escape and targeted a number of African huts. Whether the rifle fire was from German troops or local Africans was never confirmed. Snape and Waddell were transferred to another vessel and taken to Zanzibar the next day for hospital treatment.

The ship’s volunteer band would often play to entertain the crew and a newsletter, The Pioneer Observer, was published

Pioneer was due to leave East Africa in February 1916 and return to Australia, but to the men’s disappointment the ship’s deployment was extended by another six months. Due to poor-quality food (there was no refrigeration on board) and the austere onboard living conditions in the tropics, illness and disease were now prevalent among the men, especially the stokers, who toiled below decks in the stifling boiler and engine rooms. There was, fortunately, only one death when Britishborn Stoker (3120) William Bryant succumbed to dysentery on 7 June 1916. He was buried at Zanzibar but his remains were moved to Dar es Salaam in the 1970s. Several men, however, were returned to Australia suffering from illness – one, Britishborn Able Seaman (1953) Frederick Bennallack, was sent home in mid-1915 suffering from tuberculosis and was discharged in November 1915. Less than a year later he died from this disease.

Those men returned to Australia were not easily replaced, so Commander Biddlecombe overcame the problem by using the time-honoured Royal Navy system of recruiting local black Africans. These were known as ‘Seedie boys’ and most were

05 Group portrait of the members of HMAS

Pioneer’s brass band on deck, c 1915.

Photograph Australian War Memorial P03687.005[1]

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Muslims who were subjects of the local Seyyid, or Sultan, of Zanzibar. The men were employed as stokers, gun crew and officers’ stewards and paid one shilling per day, or one shilling and four pence for stokers. (By comparison, pay rates for the white crew ranged from one shilling for a Boy 2nd Class to five shillings for an able seaman or stoker.) Photos from the time show these African men dressed in full RAN tropical uniform with Pioneer cap tallies and a dark sash around their waists.

Details of who these men were are scant, but it is known that Abdullah bin Dahomy served on board Pioneer as an Officer’s Steward 3rd Class from May 1915 until February 1916. The White Australia policy was certainly not in force off German East Africa in 1915–16.

Biddlecombe handed over command of Pioneer to Acting Commander Waldemar Wilkinson on 21 May 1916 and then proceeded to England, where he eventually took command of the submarine decoy (Q-Ship) HMS Warner. On 13 March 1917, Warner was attacked and sunk by the German submarine U61 off the west coast of Ireland and Thomas Biddlecombe was killed in action.

In mid-June 1916 Pioneer took part in the bombardment of German defences at Tanga and, on 30 July, was part of the British force that bombarded Dar es Salaam. Then, in early August, the crew was informed that the ship would leave East Africa later that month, but Pioneer still had one more job to do. In mid-August several men under the command of Lieutenant John Bovill, RN, and the ship’s medical officer, were landed to provide a garrison at the town of Sadani while British troops attacked the town of Bagamoyo to the south on 15 August. Additionally Pioneer’s boats were used to land troops at Bagamoyo and Commander Wilkinson acted as the beach master while Lieutenant Reginald Creer, Pioneer’s navigator, was the Provost Marshall for the town – although it did not stop him from ‘liberating’ a German post box, which is still in use at HMAS Cerberus in Victoria.

Finally on 22 August 1915, with the bulk of the German forces driven inland, Pioneer was allowed to sail for home. The Seedie boys were not allowed to remain on board and had left the ship the day before. Rear Admiral Edward Charlton, who had taken over from King-Hall, wrote to the Australian Naval Board stating: In parting with HMAS Pioneer which has now left my command on her return to Australia, I desire to bring to the notice of the Board my great satisfaction with the behavior of the Ship’s Company, and the very good work they have been doing on this station. I have found the ship of the greatest assistance and the

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06

men keen and active … The ship has frequently been in action with the enemy’s coastal forces and has acquitted herself well, and it is with much regret that I part with her.

On arrival in Sydney, Pioneer’s crew marched through the streets of Sydney to the Domain where they were addressed by the Governor General, Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson, who congratulated them on their hard work and stamina during their service in East Africa. Regrettably no honours or awards were given to Pioneer’s crew and the Naval Board later refused to allow the notation ‘Took part in operations against German East Africa’ to be placed on crew service records. It was not until 2010 that the campaign award ‘German East Africa 1915–16’ was announced for HMAS Pioneer.

Photos show ‘Seedie boys’ – locally recruited African men – dressed in full RAN tropical uniform with Pioneer cap tallies and a dark sash around their waists

After returning to Australia, Pioneer was decommissioned, on 7 November 1916, with the final entry in its log written

by Commander Wilkinson – ‘1245 Paid Bi-Monthly payment.

Ships Company proceeded on leave. HMAS Pioneer paid off’. Most of her crew were then sent to the new cruiser, HMAS Brisbane, which operated in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean in 1917 and 1918. Pioneer was used as an accommodation ship at Sydney’s Garden Island naval base until 1922, and scuttled off Sydney in 1931. Its wreck lies in 70 metres of water off Sydney Heads and is now a popular dive site.

Greg Swinden is a Commander in the RAN and the author of several books and articles on the Australian Navy during World War I. 06 ‘Seedie boys’, or local African sailors,

employed on board HMAS Pioneer.

Photograph Australian War Memorial P03687.004

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL

Classic & Wooden Boat Festival RETURNING TO SYDNEY IN 2016

A re-invigorated Classic & Wooden Boat Festival is on its way to the museum’s waterfront in April 2016. It will be the first of a series of themed biennial festivals, writes project officer Emma Ferguson.

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01 The museum’s basin was jammed

with craft for the 2012 festival.

Photograph Andrew Frolows/ANMM

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IT’S BEEN NEARLY FOUR YEARS since the last Classic & Wooden Boat Festival, and for more than a year the museum has been working to re-create this event. It will celebrate all classic and wooden boats, acknowledge traditional boatbuilding skills and showcase the passion of the dedicated craftspeople who make these unique and celebrated vessels.

More than 100 boats and 30 stallholders will make their way to Sydney for the 2016 event, the first in a series of three biennial festivals. At the launch in May this year, museum Director Kevin Sumption said: ‘The festival is one of the key events in the museum’s calendar, where we celebrate the beauty and diversity of Australia’s heritage vessels and the amazing people who keep them going … The ANMM is extremely proud to have managed the Classic & Wooden Boat Festival for the last 20 years, and as we look to the future we are delighted that we have strong support from Australia’s boating community in planning and delivering three outstanding festivals in 2016, 2018 and 2020.’

The 2016 festival, to be held from 15 to 17 April, will have maritime heritage as its theme. The themes of the other two festivals in the series will be Oceania in 2018 and Captain Cook in 2020, to tie in with the 250th anniversary of Cook’s exploration of the east coast of Australia.

The festival program will see many boats both afloat and on land around the museum and the adjacent Wharf 7 building, as well as a maritime marketplace where trades of all types will showcase their wares for festival goers to peruse and purchase.

02 More than 5,000 people attended the 2012

festival, which featured some 70 vessels.

03 The festival is a chance for boat enthusiasts

to admire the range of enviable craft on show and to talk to other boat owners about their vessels. Photographs Andrew Frolows/ ANMM

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Behind-the-scenes tours will focus on an array of items from the museum’s collection, and visitors will be able to cruise on some of Sydney Heritage Fleet’s vessels, taking in all the atmosphere of the festival and our beautiful harbour. A swimwear parade through the ages will showcase a selection of ‘cossies’ that our Education section has collected over many years.

So you can make the most of the festival, the program will extend into the evenings with entertainment and a waterfront bar/restaurant where you can relax, listen to home-grown music and watch the setting sun highlight the Sydney skyline.

Make sure to keep the middle weekend of the April school holidays free to come to the museum and feast your eyes on glorious boats of all shapes and sizes. For more information see anmm.gov.au/cwbf or sign up for our email updates at cwbf@anmm.gov.au.

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04 The museum’s own Thistle (centre) and

other classic couta boats will feature in the 2016 festival.

05 Classic lines and fine workmanship.

Photographs Andrew Frolows/ANMM

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > CWBF INSTAGRAM PHOTO COMPETITION

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CWBF Instagram photo competition – enter now!

GRAB YOUR CAMERAS! The museum is excited to announce a photography competition in association with the 2016 Classic & Wooden Boat Festival. Readers are invited to submit photographs via Instagram to win cash prizes worth $4600.

Each winner will also receive an engraved trophy crafted from a timber spar salvaged from the HMB Endeavour replica.

Photographs should depict any of the following subjects, in either saltwater and freshwater environments:

The overall winner will receive $2000. In addition, three prizes will be awarded in each of two age brackets:

• Scenic. Can be underwater or above water, including shore scenes. Can include marine animals or plants.

16 years and over First prize: $1000

Second prize: $500

Third prize: $250

• Life, work and leisure: for example sport; working boats and ships; images of people in marine trades or skills; or maritime lifestyles

Under 16 years

• Portraits of classic and wooden boats

First prize: $500 Second prize: $250 Third prize: $100

• Abstract images of marine subjects

01 Classic Halvorsen cruisers at the 2012 festival.

Photograph Andrew Frolows/ANMM

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02

02 Bells Beach, Victoria, at dawn.

03 Reflections from the museum’s Cape

Bowling Green Lighthouse.

Photographs Andrew Frolows/ANMM

03

The competition runs from 1 December 2015 until 18 April 2016. All entries must be received by 5 pm on 18 April 2016. The terms and conditions of the competition and further details of the prizes can be found at anmm.gov.au/cwbf.

Entries should be submitted via Instagram with #cwbfsydney AND via email to cwbfphotocomp @anmm.gov.au The judges will include ANMM staff members Emma Ferguson, Classic and Wooden Boat Festival project officer; Janine Flew, publications officer and editor of Signals magazine; and Andrew Frolows, senior staff photographer.

Winners will be announced in early May 2016 via social media channels. The winning images will be published in the June 2016 issue of Signals.

Happy snapping, and we look forward to seeing your entries!

Janine Flew

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > A PIRATE-PACKED SUMMER

MEMBERS SUMMER 2015–16

A pirate-packed summer MESSAGE TO MEMBERS

We’ve got plenty of attractions to entice you into the museum this summer, including our new interactive navy exhibit Action Stations, a pirate-packed family program and some of your favourite annual events and cruises.

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01 Staff and visitors get a preview of Action

Stations before the official opening.

Photograph Andrew Frolows/ANMM

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SYDNEY’S WARM WEATHER has set in and this season includes annual events as well as some interesting extras as a result of your ongoing feedback.

Summer and the festive season present the opportunity for family time and to reflect on the year gone. For the museum’s Members department, 2015 has been a year of review, rejuvenation and reconnecting with our many long-standing members as well as the many new. We have more than 4,500 memberships representing over 12,000 members. We thank you for your continued support and welcome new members to our museum family.

Another vote of thanks goes to the large number of members who participated in our Master Planning Feedback sessions.

An overwhelming response meant we are planning more sessions for the new year.

Oliver Isaacs joined us as Manager, Members this spring and he’s slowly introducing himself. Please say hello when you see him about the museum.

Spring saw members participating in some of our old favourite events as well as a few new. Stan Stefaniak had a captive audience for a talk on his artworks hanging in the Members Lounge, and Peter Plowman talked us through the arrival of the five P&O cruise-liners – a most spectacular welcome to Sydney Harbour. We also launched Action Stations, with members being some of the first to experience this immersive and interactive attraction. Make sure you come and see it if you haven’t already.

For the summer, Horrible Histories® – Pirates: the exhibition opens mid-December and members will enjoy a special access evening with a swashbuckling guide on Saturday 19 December.

For those who crave on-the-water events, the popular Boxing Day Cruise will take members on the harbour for the starting gun of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

02 Life aboard our ex-navy vessels HMAS

Vampire and HMAS Onslow is the focus of our new attraction Action Stations.

Photograph MediaServicesAP © 2015 03 Members were among the special guests

invited to the unveiling of a new art installation dedicated to those lost in submarine AE1 in 1914. Photograph Andrew Frolows/ANMM 04 Getting into the spirit of our recent pirate-

themed family fun day. Photograph Annalice Creighton/ANMM

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Also on the water, members can book for the annual Australia Day cruise aboard HMB Endeavour. In addition, as a result of your feedback, a second Australia Day cruise will head into the harbour, with the option to bring a picnic lunch aboard.

This will be a private charter vessel for our members and their families.

You may be aware that cultural institutions in Sydney have made pricing changes this year. For us, with a new attraction and our aim to be a ‘must-visit’ museum, we took the opportunity to review our ticketing prices. The Big Ticket has seen a slight increase, while the Galleries Ticket is now free. This means your membership offers even better value for money, and there has been no change to your annual membership prices.

07

The museum was saddened to hear of the recent passing of Warwick Abadee, and we send our condolences to his family.

Warwick was a founding member and volunteer since 1991, and wore his Volunteer No 1 badge with great pride. Personally he welcomed me with open arms and I enjoyed sharing a cup of tea or two and hearing his many tales of the museum.

In closing, with Oliver Isaacs joining, I will hand over the daily management of the Members Department to him. I have thoroughly enjoyed diving into this department and getting to know and share stories (and laughs) with many of you.

Please keep in touch, continue to send me feedback, and most importantly, say hello when you come to the museum.

Wishing you all a wonderful festive and holiday season with your families. We look forward to sharing more adventures with you in 2016.

All the best, Deanna Varga Assistant Director Commercial & Visitor Services

05 Members on a tour of the Australian

Bronze fine art foundry at North Head, led by Senior Curator Daina Fletcher (centre).

Photograph Janine Flew/ANMM 06 Curator Dr James Hunter (in grey)

led a tour and forum on shipwrecks and corrosion at Watsons Bay in October.

Photograph Annalice Creighton/ANMM 07 AE1 memorial ‘… the ocean bed their tomb’,

by Warren Langley. Photograph Andrew Frolows/ANMM

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MEMBERS SUMMER 2015–16

SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > MEMBERS EVENTS

Members events SUMMER 2015–16

DECEMBER

JANUARY

Family activities

Under 5s tours

Kids on deck

Treasure-hunting tots

11 am–3 pm Sundays 6, 13 and 20 December Fun-filled creativity for primaryschool aged children and their families

Tuesdays and Saturdays in January Special character tours for under 5s and their carers

Members’ special access

The terrible truth about pirates

Horrible Histories – Pirates: the exhibition ®

5–7 pm Saturday 19 December Pirate-themed fun for our younger members

Members’ exclusive

Boxing Day cruise

Two-day youth TV workshop

10 am–4 pm Wednesday 13 and Thursday 14 January Kids can learn to script, film, present and edit their own creative TV segment

Family torchlight tour

12 noon–3 pm Saturday 26 December Enjoy a prime position for the start of the Sydney to Hobart race

Pirates treasure hunt

Summer school holidays

Family program

Pirate-themed holiday program

Family fun Sundays – Pirates

27 December–25 January Exhibitions, vessels, workshops, themed creative activities, performances and more

11 am–4 pm Sunday 17 January Enjoy lively performances, creative activities, character tours and face painting

6–7.30 pm Friday 15 January Follow our pirate captain for themed games, crafts and refreshments

Youth DJ workshop

Yo ho pirate radio 10 am–3.30 pm Wednesday 20 January Kids can learn professional music editing and compositing techniques

On the water

Australia Day on Endeavour 10 am–5 pm Tuesday 26 January A fully catered cruise aboard Australia’s most famous tall ship

New event – family cruise

Australia Day on Sydney Harbour 10.30 am–3.30 pm Tuesday 26 January Pack a picnic and enjoy the harbour activities aboard our exclusive charter

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > MEMBERS EVENTS

Members events SUMMER 2015–16

FEBRUARY Exclusive members’ preview

Rough Medicine 6–8 pm Wednesday 10 February An insight into the grisly world of 18th- and 19th-century shipboard medicine

Family program

Family fun Sundays – Row Row Regattas 11 am–4 pm Sunday 14 February With lively performances, creative activities, character tours and face painting

For your diaries New member induction tours – see page 76 for details Annual Phil Renouf memorial lecture – Thursday 31 March (evening) Vampire wardroom dinner – Thursday 21 April (evening) Battle of the Coral Sea commemorative lunch – Saturday 7 May (day) Vivid Sydney opening night cruise – Friday 27 May (evening) Ships, Clocks and Stars featuring Vivid Sydney – Wednesday 1 June (evening)

On the water

Meet the neighbours: Q Station 10.15 am–2.30 pm Wednesday 17 February Tour the Quarantine Station for an insight into 150 years of immigration history

Members’ exclusive

Behind the scenes: Conservation 2–3 pm Thursday 25 February Find out what’s involved in conserving the museum’s diverse collection

Bookings and enquiries Booking form on reverse of mailing address sheet.

Please note that booking is essential unless otherwise stated. Book online at anmm. gov.au/events or phone (02) 9298 3644 (unless otherwise indicated) or email members@anmm.gov.au before sending form with payment. All details are correct at time of publication but subject to change.

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MEMBERS SUMMER 2015–16

Members events SUMMER 2015–16

Members’ special access

Horrible Histories® – Pirates: the exhibition 5–7 pm Saturday 19 December This is a fun night for our little members! Explore our new piratethemed exhibition and see all the scurvy dogs and peg-leg action up close. Let our personal pirate be your guide and enjoy free playtime and snacks. Sound like fun? We’re looking forward to seeing you there.

Members free. Includes exhibition entry, snacks and pirate tour guide 08

Members’ exclusive

Boxing Day cruise 12 noon–3 pm Saturday 26 December An annual cruise for members on Sydney Harbour to enjoy the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. Our exclusively chartered vessel will have a prime position for the race, and with lunch and refreshments included, your day will be stress-free.

Members $90, guests $115. Includes lunch and refreshments

Family program

Family fun Sundays

09

11 am–4 pm Sunday 17 January and 14 February Join us for special themed family fun Sundays twice a term with lively performances, creative activities, character tours and face painting.

Subscribe to the museum’s family e-newsletter to keep up to date on all the details. The full program of activities will be available closer to the date.

17 January – Pirates!

14 February – Row Row Regattas Child $8.50. Adults general museum fees apply. Included in Big Ticket. Members free. Members receive 20% off kids’ pirate meals at Yots (Members’ usual discount is 10%) 08 Younger visitors can enjoy piratical activities

aplenty over the summer. Photograph Annalice Creighton/ANMM 09 Sydney to Hobart race start on Sydney

Harbour. Photograph David Cunningham

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MEMBERS SUMMER 2015–16

Members events SUMMER 2015–16

On the water

Australia Day on Endeavour 10 am–5 pm Tuesday 26 January Join our annual Australia Day event with a trip on our famous tall ship, HMB Endeavour. See all the harbour activities, including the ferry parade and tall ships race, from a different point of view on this impressive vessel. With morning tea and lunch included, all you need to do is show up and relax.

Members $230, guests $250. Includes morning tea, boxed lunch and entertainment aboard.

10

New event – family cruise

Australia Day on Sydney Harbour 10.30 am–3.30 pm Tuesday 26 January This new event has been added to the events calendar as a result of member feedback. Watch the harbour activities on board this members’ exclusive charter. Pack your own picnic lunch and enjoy complimentary tea and coffee.

Member adult $50, guest adult $65, child $10, member family $140, guest family $175. Includes cruise, tea and coffee. Bring your own lunch. Additional drinks, snacks and food items will be available for purchase on board

Family activities

Kids on deck 11 am–3 pm every Sunday during school term (hourly sessions) Play, discover and create in Kids on Deck – a fun-filled activity and art-making space for primary school-aged children and their families.

Sunday 6 December – Bats, Rats and Bunting Tossers, in celebration of our new Action Stations experience Sundays December 13 and 20 – Mariners, Myths and Monsters Sundays 31 January and 7, 21 and 28 February 2016 – Patch-eyed Pirates Child $8.50, adults general museum fees apply. Included in Big Ticket. Members free 10 Sydney Harbour on Australia Day.

Photograph Gareth Christian, courtesy Australia Day Council of NSW

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MEMBERS SUMMER 2015–16

Members events SUMMER 2015–16

DE

Summer school holidays

CE COM M BE ING R 20 1

A pirate-themed holiday program!

5!

27 December–25 January Have a swashbuckling adventure at the museum these school holidays with interactive exhibitions, vessels, hands-on workshops, themed creative activities, performances and more. It’s fun for the whole family!

This summer it’s all about pesky, pernicious pirates! Daily activities include art-making, games and dress-ups in Kids on Deck, exploring touchable objects and artefacts from the Cabinet of Curiosities, participating in lively and interactive kids theatre performances, relaxing with family film screenings and more. Don’t miss Horrible Histories® – Pirates: the exhibition and a chance to enjoy the new Action Stations experience.

DO DO YOU YOU HAVE HAVE WHAT WHAT IT IT TAKES TAKES TO TO BE BE A A PIRATE? PIRATE?

11

FOR CHILDREN 6+

See anmm.gov.au/schoolholidays for the full program

DARLING HARBOUR | 02 9298 3777

Connect with us online #anmm

anmm.gov.au/pirates

Horrible Histories® is a registered trademark of Scholastic Inc and is used under authorization. All rights reserved. Based on the bestselling books written by Terry Deary and illustrated by Martin Brown. Illustration © Martin Brown.

Kids on Deck – Patch-eyed Pirates!

10 am–4 pm daily 27 December–25 January These holidays learn to tell fact from fiction as we explore pirate history. Craft your own terrific tall ship, sculpt a swashbuckling piratical accessory or a splendiferous spyglass, design a jolly roger flag or a terrifying temporary tattoo. Dress up in costumes and learn about the golden age of piracy through interactive games. For primary school-aged children and their carers.

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Cabinet of Curiosities – Pernicious pirates and their wicked weapons 11 am–12 noon and 2–3 pm daily 27 December–25 January Touch and discover replica weaponry, clothing and navigational tools related to the golden age of piracy in this hands-on discovery device inside the galleries.

Family film screening 2.30 pm daily Check anmm.gov.au/schoolholidays for a full list of what’s on.

Pirate theatre performances daily except Saturdays, 3–24 January Yo ho yo ho, to sea we go, in a fun-filled and fanciful tale inspired by real-life pirates Calico Jack and Anne Bonny.

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Illustration by Martin Brown/courtesy Scholastic

12 Family activities this summer focus on pirates

and their horrible deeds. Photograph Andrew Frolows/ANMM

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MEMBERS SUMMER 2015–16

Members events SUMMER 2015–16

Family torchlight tour

Pirates treasure hunt 6–7.30 pm Friday 15 January Take a theatrical treasure hunt through the museum galleries by torchlight with your hilarious character guide, Captain Grognose Johnny! See Horrible Histories® – Pirates: the exhibition and enjoy games, souvenir crafts and themed refreshments. For ages 4–12.

Adult $18, member adult $10, child $22, member child $18. Book online anmm.gov.au/schoolholidays

Under 5s activities

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Mini mariners program Every Tuesday during term time and one Saturday each month Explore the galleries and sing and dance in interactive tours with costumed guides. Enjoy creative free play, craft, games, dressups and story time in our themed activity area. For ages 2–5 and carers. Session 1: 10–10.45 am; session 2: 11–11.45 am February – Drip Drop Splash!

Child $8.50, first adult $3.50, extra adults $7 (includes admission to galleries). Members free. Booked playgroups welcome. Online bookings essential at anmm.gov.au/whats-on

Under 5s tours

Treasure-hunting tots Tuesdays and Saturdays in January Dive in and explore curious creatures, hidden treasure and more in special character tours for under 5s and their carers. Enjoy stories, sing songs and move and dance through the galleries in this funfilled learning program. Afterwards you can head to Kids on Deck for creative crafts and messy play. Ages 18 months–5 years.

Child $8.50, first adult $3.50, additional adult $7. Members free.

Bookings essential at anmm.gov.au/schoolholidays

13 Swashbuckling fun for mini mariners.

Photograph Annalice Creighton/ANMM

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MEMBERS SUMMER 2015–16

Members events SUMMER 2015–16

Two-day youth TV workshop

The terrible truth about pirates 10 am–4 pm Wednesday 13 and Thursday 14 January Join filmmaker Nicola Walkerden to script, film, present and edit your own creative TV segment inspired by Horrible Histories® – Pirates: the exhibition. Have your work exhibited in a special museum screening for your family and friends. For ages 8–14.

General $165, members or earlybird special (before 6 January) $140. Book online at anmm.gov.au/youth

Youth DJ workshop

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Yo ho pirate radio 10 am–3.30 pm Wednesday 20 January Remix, reverb and record your own songs inspired by Horrible Histories® – Pirates: the exhibition in a fun-filled workshop on digital music making. Learn professional music editing and compositing techniques. For ages 8–14.

General $55, members $45. Bookings essential: 9298 3655 or book online at anmm.gov.au/schoolholidays

Exclusive members’ preview

Rough Medicine

15

6–8 pm Wednesday 10 February Members have an exclusive opportunity to preview the new exhibition Rough Medicine before the official opening. This exhibition tells the story of medicine at sea in the 18th and 19th centuries, when ships’ surgeons carried saws to amputate limbs, trephines to remove sections of skull, and tooth keys to break off teeth at their roots. The exhibition probes passengers’ letters and diaries and surgeons’ journals, bringing together an extraordinary collection. Enjoy a curator-led presentation then visit the exhibition.

Members free. Includes light refreshments

14 Older kids can learn practical skills in our

youth workshops. Photograph Annalice Creighton/ANMM 15 Powdered quinine, used in the 1850s

to prevent malaria. Loan from Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, SA Branch

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MEMBERS SUMMER 2015–16

Members events SUMMER 2015–16

On the water

Meet the neighbours: Q Station 10.15 am–2.30 pm Wednesday 17 February Pack your own picnic lunch and join us on the Manly Fast Ferry to one of Australia’s most important historical places, the legendary Quarantine Station. This tour, led by Q Station guides, walks through the history of the site as well as offering panoramic views of Sydney Harbour. Includes Fast Ferry ticket and Q Station Museum access.

Members $60, general $70. Book through WEA Sydney weasydney.com.au or phone 02 9264 2781.

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Members’ exclusive

Behind the scenes: Conservation 2–3 pm Thursday 25 February A look behind the scenes of the museum’s Conservation Department, located in our Wharf 7 building. The team responsible for conserving our collection will show members the ins and outs of this vital role in any museum. Afterwards, members can relax and enjoy a cuppa in the Members Lounge.

Members free, guests $10. No catering. Meet at Wharf 7 Reception

For your diaries

New member induction tours of the museum Starting in 2016 With over 4,500 memberships and 12,000 members, we will be implementing a new range of ‘induction tours’ for members, to help you maximise the benefits of your membership and learn about all that is available to you as a member of the museum.

If you are an existing member of the museum and would like to be an ‘ambassador’ on one of these tours, to meet our new members, please email members@anmm.gov.au to express your interest.

16 The museum’s conservation laboratory.

ANMM photographer

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EXHIBITIONS SUMMER 2015–16

SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > HORRIBLE HISTORIES®–PIRATES: THE EXHIBITION

Horrible Histories – Pirates: the exhibition ®

GET SET FOR A SWASHBUCKLING SUMMER

HISTORY PROVIDES myriad fascinating stories: civilisations, cultures, professions, individual lives – all of which can be mined to make a cracking yarn or a wry joke. And this is what is behind the publishing phenomenon that is Horrible Histories.

Horrible Histories began life as a book series in 1993, intended as history/joke books, but author Terry Deary takes this concept to a rather more sophisticated level. The books – there are now more than 60 titles – present themselves as ‘history without the boring bits’, or as ‘history with gore’, but also challenge more traditional styles of history education.

Illustration by Martin Brown, courtesy Scholastic

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > HORRIBLE HISTORIES®–PIRATES: THE EXHIBITION

EXHIBITIONS SUMMER 2015–16

The books themselves are entertainingly subversive, proposing that any traditional history curriculum dealing in uncontested ‘facts’, and obsessed with dates and events rather than people, is selling history short. They explore the lives of everyday people as well as poking fun at the great and the good, and they seem to take a special delight in finding all that is gross, ridiculous or just plain yucky – and are all the more memorable for that.

The Horrible Histories approach has been given further popularity by the creation of the successful TV series, which takes the style and humour of the books and applies it to a sketch comedy medium. The books have also spawned stage shows (Barmy Britain recently played to full houses at the Sydney Opera House as part of a national tour) and now an exhibition, currently being developed here at the Australian National Maritime Museum.

For Horrible Histories® Pirates – the exhibition, the exhibition team has been working closely with Scholastic, the Horrible Histories publisher, and the series’ authors and illustrators to turn the books into an experience that children and adults alike can walk through and interact with.

As a theme, piracy is a perfect subject for the Horrible Histories treatment – a diversity of times and places, memorable characters, heroes and villains, unlikely yet true events, and violence aplenty. There are two Horrible Histories pirates books, and the TV shows are liberally sprinkled with pirate songs and sketches. So now the museum is playing with these stories. In our take on the theme, both the design and the content reference the books. The visual approach is based in the illustrative style of Horrible Histories illustrator Martin Brown – who hails from Australia and whom we hope will visit the museum to share his skills during the exhibition’s run.

In our exhibition, our visitors meet a pirate parrot whose previous owner has died (horribly, obviously). So the parrot needs a new pirate, and it is up to the visitor to meet the challenge of proving themselves worthy. Get recruited, fit out your ship, design your colours, take to the seas, keep your crew happy and escape the Royal Navy – doesn’t sound too horrible.

Or does it? …

Michael Harvey Horrible Histories® Pirates – the exhibition opens at the museum on 15 December.

For more information please see anmm.gov.au/pirates

Illustration by Martin Brown, courtesy Scholastic

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > EXHIBITIONS

EXHIBITIONS SUMMER 2015–16

X-Ray Vision: Fish Inside Out Until 28 February 2016 Striking X-rays of fish dazzle in this fascinating travelling exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Forty prints of specimens from the 20,000 contained in the museum’s National Fish Collection are arranged in evolutionary sequence, so you can go with the flow of fish evolution. Many of the species X-rayed are found in Australian waters.

X-ray Vision: Fish Inside Out is organised by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES).

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A Different Vision Until 28 February 2016 This companion exhibition to X-Ray Vision: Fish Inside Out in our USA Gallery displays a small selection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander fish images and maritime art using the X-ray technique pioneered in Arnhem Land thousands of years ago.

Koori Art Expressions 2015 Until 31 January 2016 Be inspired by artworks produced by students in Public Schools NSW across Sydney (Kindergarten to Year 12) in their exploration of the 2015 NAIDOC Week theme, ‘We all Stand on Sacred Ground: Learn, Respect and Celebrate’. This year the theme highlights Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ strong spiritual and cultural connection to land and sea, and is an opportunity to pay respects to country, to honour those who work tirelessly to preserve land, sea and culture, and to share the stories of many sites of significance or sacred places with the nation.

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Shackleton: Escape from Antarctica Until 29 March 2016 One hundred years ago, Sir Ernest Shackleton sailed aboard Endurance to Antarctica aiming to be the first to cross its vast interior. A support party followed, led by Aeneas Mackintosh on Aurora. Both ships were crushed in the ice and lost to their crews, who endured incredible hardship. How did they cope in this treacherous place?

Their exploits are contrasted with those of modern-day adventurer Tim Jarvis, who re-enacted parts of Shackleton’s epic trip.

The exhibition features Australian Frank Hurley’s stunning images, multimedia and interactive elements, and rare and unusual artefacts, specimens and equipment.

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01 Viper moray Enchelynassa canina.

Image courtesy Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History 02 Sacred Sea, by students of Drummoyne Bay

Public School.

03 Crew on Elephant Island farewell

Shackleton as he leaves for South Georgia.

Photograph Frank Hurley ANMM Collection

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EXHIBITIONS SUMMER 2015–16

Action Stations Now open!

The striking building that has recently opened on the museum’s south wharf houses our newest attraction, Action Stations, which traces the story of the Royal Australian Navy and the museum’s ex-navy ships, the destroyer HMAS Vampire and submarine HMAS Onslow.

Featuring a dramatic immersive cinematic experience, a new discovery and exploration space and audio-visual encounters that recall sailors’ memories on board the vessels, Action Stations gives visitors new insight into the inner workings of navy life at sea.

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For more information visit anmm.gov.au/actionstations

Mission X – The rag tag fleet Until 28 February 2016 This story of Australians sailing under the US flag during World War II is one of daring and courage. The US Army Small Ships Section comprised some 3,000 requisitioned Australian vessels of every imaginable size and type, which plied the dangerous waters between northern Queensland and New Guinea to establish a supply lifeline to Allied forces fighting the Japanese.

This little-known story is told using objects and documents lent by the men of the Small Ships and their descendants.

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Painting for Antarctica Until 29 March 2016 In 2014 Australian artists Wendy Sharpe and Bernard Ollis voyaged to Antarctica in the footsteps of Shackleton.

Their paintings of its land and seascapes are on display and for sale in this exhibition. All proceeds will benefit the Mawson’s Huts Foundation.

Special charity exhibition made possible courtesy of Wendy Sharpe and King Street Gallery on William, Sydney; Bernard Ollis and N G Art, Sydney; chief sponsor Chimu Adventures; and Mawson’s Huts Foundation.

For sales enquiries visit mawsonshuts.org.au

04 Interactive exhibits and oral histories in Action

Stations tell of life in the navy.

Photograph Andrew Frolows/ANMM 05 US Army Captain Sheridan Fahnestock

in New Guinea. Ladislaw Reday Photographic Collection, Courtesy San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park

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EXHIBITIONS SUMMER 2015–16

Black Armada Until 24 February 2016 At the end of World War II in August 1945, Indonesians declared their independence from Dutch colonial rule. The declaration began a four-year political and military struggle. During this period, Australian support for Indonesia was prominent.

From late 1945, Dutch ships in Australian ports preparing to return to Indonesia with military arms and personnel were paralysed by a series of black-bans by maritime trade unions. Support for Indonesian independence then grew beyond the labour movement and Australia led the way in international political recognition of Indonesia.

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This central moment in the Indonesian struggle for independence has since been largely forgotten in both nations.

Rough Medicine: Life and death in the age of sail Opens 11 February 2016 In the 18th and 19th centuries, medicine on board a ship was brutal. Ships’ surgeons carried saws to amputate limbs, trephines to remove sections of skull, and tooth keys to break off teeth at their roots. Rough Medicine explores immigrant voyages that are part of the family histories of millions of Australians. The exhibition probes passengers’ letters and diaries, surgeons’ journals and brings together an extraordinary collection.

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Rough Medicine was designed and toured by the South Australian Maritime Museum

ANMM travelling exhibition

On Their Own: Britain’s child migrants UK tour V & A Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, London UK Until 12 June 2016 From the 1860s until the 1970s, more than 100,000 British children were sent to Australia, Canada and other Commonwealth countries through child migration schemes. The lives of these children changed dramatically and fortunes varied. Some forged new futures; others suffered lonely, brutal childhoods. All experienced dislocation and separation from family and homeland.

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06 Scene from the 1946 film Indonesia Calling

by Joris Ivens. Courtesy National Film and Sound Archive 07 Children bound for Fairbridge Farm School,

Molong, NSW, 1938. Reproduced courtesy Molong Historical Society 08 Wax cast from arm of smallpox sufferer,

1900. Loan from Sydney Quarantine Station, NSW Parks and Wildlife Collection

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > SYDNEY HERITAGE FLEET

MARITIME HERITAGE AROUND AUSTRALIA SYDNEY

Sydney Heritage Fleet CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF MARITIME HERITAGE PRESERVATION

Run entirely by volunteers, the Sydney Heritage Fleet is a non-profit organisation that works tirelessly to restore, maintain and operate historic vessels and promote traditional techniques and skills. Its recently retired public relations manager Hugh Lander profiles the Fleet’s history and achievements.

01 01 The Fleet’s flagship Lady Hopetoun is named

after the wife of Australia’s first governor general. All photographs courtesy Sydney Heritage Fleet

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THE LADY HOPETOUN and Port Jackson Marine Steam Museum, the forerunner of the Sydney Heritage Fleet (the Fleet), was founded in December 1965 by a group of public-spirited individuals to preserve Sydney’s 1902 VIP steam yacht Lady Hopetoun. It later became known as the Sydney Maritime Museum Ltd and in 1998 adopted the trading name Sydney Heritage Fleet to distinguish it from the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM). The Fleet now comprises 10 historic vessels, one of the largest such collections in Australia, five of which are more than 100 years old and fully operational.

The Fleet’s mission is to build and maintain an internationally recognised centre of excellence in maritime heritage for the benefit of all Australians by presenting through research, acquisition, conservation, restoration, education and operation, our continuing maritime history. It is funded through donations, membership subscriptions and income from vessel charters and tours.

In October 2015, the Fleet celebrated its 50th anniversary with an official function on board its largest and oldest vessel, the 1874 iron barque James Craig. Found as a hulk in Tasmania’s Recherche Bay, James Craig was refloated by Fleet volunteers in 1972 and towed into Sydney Harbour in January 1981.

It has been fully restored and regularly puts to sea under sail.

02 The hulk of James Craig in Recherche Bay,

Tasmania, where it was abandoned in 1932 after breaking its moorings and beaching in a storm. It remained beached until 1972, when Fleet volunteers re-floated it.

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The Fleet also operates four of the most historically significant vessels on Sydney Harbour – the 1902 VIP steam launch Lady Hopetoun, which is the Fleet’s flagship; the 1902 steam tug Waratah, acquired in 1968; the 1903 schooner Boomerang, donated in 1987; and the small 1908 motor launch Protex, acquired in 1981. All of these vessels regularly take passengers on harbour cruises – including on New Year’s Eve, Australia Day and Boxing Day for the start of the Sydney to Hobart Race – and are available for charter.

Other operational vessels include the 1943 ex-RAN harbour launch Harman, the 1954 Botany Bay motor launch Berrima and the 1950s wooden speedboat Kookaburra II. The Fleet has recently added two tug boats – Bronzewing and Currawong – on permanent loan from the Royal Australian Navy.

Currently under restoration is the 1927 pilot vessel John Oxley, and the 1912 Sydney Harbour ferry Kanangra is a possible future project. The Fleet also has more than 50 small boats of maritime heritage significance and one of the largest collections of marine engines in Australia. All are being restored and conserved. The Fleet’s collection also includes more than 50 model ships, including models of some of the Fleet’s own vessels.

Records of the Fleet’s collections are maintained by its Maritime Records and Research Centre. Assembled over a period of 40 years, the collections continue to grow as items of maritime interest are donated by committed individuals.

The Fleet’s collection of more than 300 ships’ plans represents of a variety of sailing vessels, steam ships and motor vessels, including those of some of the Fleet’s own vessels. In addition to its own collection of printed and digital images, the Centre also holds images from ten different donated collections of maritime history. More than 5,000 non-fiction books cover

03 The interior of James Craig reveals the

extent of the restoration it required – a project that took nearly 40 years.

04 The handover of John Oxley in 1970.

Restoration of John Oxley commenced in 1982 and continues today in the hands of Fleet volunteers.

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a wide range of maritime subjects, providing valuable reference material for research. The Centre also holds various atlases, sheet maps and a large collection of navigational charts compiled by the British Admiralty, the Australian Hydrographic Service and other international services. Complementing these is a wide selection of pilot books (sailing directions) which cover many areas of these charts. Ephemera, oral histories, certificates, diaries and logs, letters, research files and artworks also form part of the collection.

The Centre is staffed entirely by Fleet volunteers and is able to respond to a wide range of enquiries and search requests from individuals and organisations. This service is based on material held in the Centre, which generally relates to Australian subjects with particular emphasis on New South Wales and Sydney.

05 John Oxley at the Fleet’s heritage dockyards

in Rozelle Bay. This 1927 steamship is the only remaining example of a type of vessel once very common in Australian coastal waters.

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Volunteers are the lifeblood of the Sydney Heritage Fleet; without them it could not exist. They encompass the officers and crew of its ships; the trained ships’ guides, who share their treasures with visitors; and the shore-based volunteer workers in the office and library and at the Fleet’s workshops and heritage ship berths at Rozelle Bay. The Fleet operates with a total of just nine full-time and six part-time staff, all volunteers. It also has about 1,250 members and around 500 active volunteers who annually record some 120,000 hours of invaluable service restoring, operating and maintaining the fleet of heritage vessels. In the process they preserve the traditions of the ships and their operational periods as well as traditional technical methods and skills.

Records of the Fleet’s collections, assembled over 40 years, are maintained by its Maritime Records & Research Centre

Since its inception in December 1965 the Fleet has had many ‘homes’, including Blackwattle Bay, Rozelle Bay, Birkenhead Point, Cockle Bay and Rozelle. Currently the ANMM generously hosts our head office at its Wharf 7 Heritage Centre at Pyrmont, and provides a berth for James Craig alongside.

06 James Craig, the Fleet’s best-known vessel,

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is a common sight on Sydney Harbour and also undertakes longer offshore voyages.

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The Fleet’s heritage docks and workshop are on the shores of nearby Rozelle Bay, where the space for them is kindly provided by NSW Roads and Maritime Services.

The Sydney Heritage Fleet made significant contributions towards the establishment of the Australian National Maritime Museum, which opened at Darling Harbour in 1991. While the two organisations differ in emphasis, they have complementary roles, with Sydney Heritage Fleet placing emphasis on preserving, restoring and operating its vessel collection.

Sydney Maritime Museum Ltd, the Fleet’s parent organisation, is a corporation, limited by guarantee and ‘owned’ by its members. It has not-for-profit tax-deductible gift recipient status (DGR) under Australian Taxation Office rules. It receives no direct government funding, whether federal, state or local, and relies on the dedication of its volunteers and the generosity of its donors, sponsors and benefactors to survive.

Each year, around 500 active volunteers record some 120,000 hours of invaluable service restoring, maintaining and operating the Fleet’s historic vessels

For more information on the Sydney Heritage Fleet and its events, tours and boat charters, see shf.org.au If you would like to volunteer with or otherwise support the Fleet, please phone 02 9298 3888.

The Maritime Records and Research Centre is located at Wharf 7, 58 Pirrama Road, Pyrmont. It is open on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays except for public holidays, and may be visited by prior appointment. For further information contact the curator on 02 9298 3850 or mrrc@shf.org.au

07 Berrima was built at La Perouse and launched

as AOR1 in 1955 for the Australian Oil Refinery Ltd. Refinery workers would travel by tram to the end of the route at La Perouse and then travel on AOR1 to the refinery.

08 Harman is a Royal Australian Navy motor

launch built in 1944 and acquired in 1992 by the Sydney Heritage Fleet.

09 Built and launched in 1902 at the Cockatoo

Island dockyard in Sydney Harbour, Waratah is the oldest working tug in Australia.

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OUT OF PORT SUMMER 2015–16

SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > SALTWATER AND SACRED GROUND

Saltwater and sacred ground INDIGENOUS ART IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Indigenous culture was represented at the recent 14th Istanbul Biennial, with important bark paintings from the museum’s collection exhibited for the first time outside Australia.

Closer to home, Koori Art Expressions, currently on display at the museum, showcases artworks by public school students.

Staff members Donna Carstens and Jeff Fletcher profile both events.

01 Staff from the Istanbul Museum of Modern

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Art, Turkey, install one of the ANMM’s Saltwater barks. The cross-shaped light visible against the painting is made by a laser device used to help hang the work straight.

Photograph Rebecca Dallwitz/ANMM

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Saltwater barks visit the Istanbul Biennial

The Saltwater collection is a remarkable body of works explaining how the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land are spiritually bound to their coastal lands

By Donna Carstens, Manager Indigenous Programs A selection of the Saltwater barks from the ANMM collection found themselves front and centre at this year’s 14th Istanbul Biennial, one of the most prestigious biennials on the world’s visual arts calendar. This is the first time these significant works have been viewed outside Australia and the first time the museum has been invited to participate in this international event. The works were on display from September to November.

The Saltwater collection is a remarkable body of works explaining how the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land are spiritually bound to their coastal lands. They assert the Yolngu’s inherent responsibility to protect this ‘sea country’ above and below the tidal line. The paintings, in their entirety, map and describe hundreds of kilometres of coast south and west of Cape Arnhem. They explain the spiritual and legal basis underpinning the community’s native title sea rights claim in the ‘Blue Mud Case’, and were used as a substantial part of evidence in the landmark High Court ruling in 2008 that legally confirmed the Yolgnu people’s ownership of their coastal waterways.

The theme of this year’s biennial was ‘Saltwater: A theory of thought forms’ and the artworks were installed in various venues throughout Istanbul and its surroundings. The Saltwater barks were displayed at the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, on the shores of the Bosphorus. This is Turkey’s first museum to organise modern and contemporary art exhibitions and make them accessible to a wide range of audiences, with the works being seen by more than 337,000 visitors and arts professionals.

02 Some of the Saltwater barks installed

at the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art for the 14th Istanbul Biennial.

Photograph Rebecca Dallwitz/ANMM

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Through these artworks we look at the history of the Yolngu people and the strong impact of their art on the history of Australia, as it was on the basis of these works that sea rights were first achieved in this country.

Curator of the 14th Istanbul Biennial, Carolyn ChristovBakargiev, said of the exhibition that it aimed ‘to look for where to draw the line, to withdraw, to draw upon, and to draw out …

Invisible and visible waves, waves of people, waves of language, waves of history, shape the vision of the exhibition’. She chose the Saltwater barks as she felt it was crucially important to show the constructive story of how art helped to achieve Indigenous land rights and sea rights in Australia in the 20th century.

To ensure that the works were being represented and presented in a respectful and culturally appropriate manner, the barks were exhibited in consultation with the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Arts Centre and artists in the Northern Territory community of Yirrkala, and with myself as Manager of Indigenous Programs at the ANMM. The works were also represented in Istanbul

by Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Arts Centre Manager Will Stubbs, artist and senior leader of the Madarrpa clan, Djambawa Marawili, and myself. This gave a further platform for the ANMM, the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Arts Centre and the artists to convey their cultural practices and stories and the significance of these works face to face to an international audience, cementing the high calibre, strength and resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and art practice within Australia.

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Having these barks travel has also been useful for the museum in a more practical sense, as it has allowed us to assess the durability of these objects, which are made from thin sections of fibrous tree bark and are highly susceptible to changes in climate, humidity and temperature. It has also enabled us to understand how our hanging systems might be modified for bark preservation and to allow the works to be hung more easily, so limiting the extent to which they are handled.

Koori Art Expressions

By Jeff Fletcher, Senior Education Officer Koori Art Expressions is an annual exhibition of inspiring artworks by students from NSW Public Schools across Sydney.

Each year it is linked to the theme of NAIDOC Week and is open to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students from Kindergarten to Year 12, who interpret the theme through their own creations. The works are displayed at a host venue such as a museum or gallery, and this year the ANMM is proud to present the show.

03 Our Special Place, by students of Randwick

Public School, NSW. Photograph Andrew Frolows/ANMM

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The theme for 2015 is ‘We all Stand on Sacred Ground: Learn, Respect and Celebrate’.

An interesting thing that happens in education is meeting people on one project who often lead you to various other projects. This was the case with the NAWI Indigenous Watercraft Conference held at the museum in 2012.

We worked extensively with the team from Public Schools NSW to showcase youth perspectives, and the connections made there led to several exciting projects in Indigenous education, such as our ongoing bark canoe project and hosting the Koori Art Expressions exhibition in 2013. That year the theme centred on the anniversary of the 1963 Yirrkala bark petitions, a topic closely linked to our collection of Saltwater bark paintings. This year’s theme encourages us to think on past, present and future Indigenous perspectives, cultural connections to sacred places, and what we can learn together about that relationship wherever we are in this country.

Unlike most displays in museums, Koori Art Expressions is purely a community-led exhibition that showcases the responses of the contributors to its theme. As entry is open to all students across a range of age groups, with both individual and collaborative works created, there is a wonderful diversity in style, medium and complexity plus a particularly personal interpretation of the message. As an educational experience, the exhibition’s value is in the application of critical thinking skills and reflective learning as well as the creative

04 Place of Echoes, by students of Yowie Bay

Public School, NSW. Photograph Andrew Frolows/ANMM

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This year’s theme encourages us to think on past, present and future Indigenous perspectives

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process and artistic technique. From past experience this is one element that has captured the imagination of our visitors and we are looking forward to this year’s works continuing that tradition.

Something that has always struck me about events by Public Schools NSW is that the students are always at the centre of the occasion and contribute in a very meaningful way. It’s a true learning experience. For example, each year a group of Years 9–11 visual arts students works on creating the exhibition’s graphic identity, which will feature on the invitation, advertising material and websites. Members of the museum’s design and education teams go to the school and mentor students through that process. This provides a valuable lesson in working with a professional designer and collaborating on a project that will have a real-life outcome.

One of the privileges of working on this project is the opportunity to be involved in the broader scope of pulling the exhibition together. Earlier this year we held a professional development day at the museum for teachers whose students will enter works in the exhibition. Familiarising the teachers with the gallery space assists in deciding the size of the works and how they might best be displayed. Further to this we introduced our Indigenous education programs and visited the exhibition Undiscovered: photographic works by Michael Cook.

05 Journeys, by students of Double Bay Public

School, NSW. Photograph Andrew Frolows/ ANMM

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The museum’s contribution also includes staff from the Registration section, who transport and care for the works; preparators, who provide expertise on how to display them; Communications staff, who work on media and promotion; 3D designers, who create the layout plans; and 2D designers, who create promotional material and object labels. In addition, the Manager of Indigenous Programs liaises with the Indigenous community, an education officer works with the schools and creates learning programs, and the Temporary Exhibitions Manager pulls everything together. So overall, this is a process where staff from across the museum work together and with Public Schools NSW, teachers and students to create an exhibition that brings Indigenous and non-Indigenous people of all ages together to promote understanding, respect and collaboration.

It is very exciting to see both teachers and students so involved and eager to share their experience and enthusiasm with anyone who will listen! One only has to attend the exhibition opening to see that. It’s full of noise, activity, conversation and energy from the students, their families, friends and teachers.

It echoes precisely the second part of this year’s theme, ‘Learn Respect, Celebrate’ … and that’s as it should be.

Koori Art Expressions is on at the museum until 31 January 2016. For more details see anmm.gov.au/kooriart

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > THE POWER OF OARS

The power of oars

AUSTRALIAN REGISTER OF HISTORIC VESSELS

ANMM.GOV.AU/ARHV This online, national heritage project devised and coordinated by the Australian National Maritime Museum reaches across Australia to collate data about the nation’s existing historic vessels, their designers and builders, and their stories.

01 01 A gathering of friends and family in 1914

at Blink Bonnie, the Anglesea home of the McMillan family. Some of the men pictured would soon leave for the Great War and not all would return. Terrell Crowl (far right) died in June 1915 at Gallipoli and William Appleton (centre, looking down) died at Pozières in July 2016. Both men were part of the seven who signed the original regatta challenge in 1910.

Photograph courtesy Ian McMillan and the Anglesea Recreation and Sports Club

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The diverse range of craft recently nominated to the ARHV includes several vessels that used oars as their primary or reserve method of propulsion. David Payne, curator of historic vessels, focuses on four that share a complete social story, being built by the same builder in the same year for the same owner, and then used annually for over a century in a New Year’s Day regatta.

TORQUAY, AIREYS, Anglesea and Gladstone are clinker rowing skiffs. The first two are rowed as a pair with a coxswain, while the last two are fours plus coxswain. All four were built in 1913 by James (Jas) Edwards and Sons at Princes Bridge North in Melbourne, Victoria, for the Anglesea Recreation and Sports Club at the small Victorian seaside town of Anglesea.

They have remained with the club for over a century and are all in original condition, representing the typical construction of rowing skiffs of their period and the workmanship of Edwards’s firm, one of the main rowing craft builders in Australia at that time. Edwards had a national reputation as the premier boatbuilders for competitive rowing as well as being extremely successful rowers themselves. The main occasion for which these craft were built and are still used is a social regatta that began as a humorous challenge between the well-to-do of Anglesea and Aireys Inlet in 1911. That regatta is still contested in these four boats every year by over 150 oarsmen and women.

All four craft share the same characteristics – a plumb stem and rounded forefoot, a transom stern supporting a rudder with a coxswain sitting on the aft thwart, and steering with a yoke and lines. The rowing thwarts are opposed to gunwalemounted brass rowlocks and they have stretchers in the bilge.

The planking is New Zealand kauri which is copper riveted throughout, the frames are blue gum and the gunwales are Western Australian jarrah. As a finishing touch there is an oval-shaped brass ‘Jas Edwards & Sons’ builder’s plate on the transom.

They were built for the Anglesea Recreation and Sports Club in 1913 for a sports day of ‘rowing, tennis, swimming and beer chewing’ (drinking), which started as a mock-formal challenge from the lads at Anglesea to those of neighbouring Aireys Inlet in 1911. Both towns are on the Great Ocean Road coastline about 100 kilometres to the west of Port Phillip heads.

While the gauntlet to compete in the ‘Grand Challenge Cup’ was thrown down in 1913, the build-up to it began as early as 1887. The early landholders of the two villages often met for riverside picnics that inevitably included all manner of sporting engagements, which were central to these gatherings. As the

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Anglesea River was particularly suitable for events both on and in the water, these became the focus. By the turn of the 20th century Aireys Inlet also held sports meetings at Christmas or Easter, at which golf and tennis were the main events. Late in 1910 a challenge was issued by Anglesea to Aireys Inlet. Unfortunately the original challenge and the response documents (which had a white feather affixed) held by the Noble and McMillan families were lost in the disastrous Ash Wednesday bushfires of 1983, but photographs of the documents survive and extracts from the text of both are provided later in this story.

The New Year’s Day ‘Grand Challenge Cup’ regatta was a major social event of the summer, with many prominent Melbourne and Geelong families represented. It has been held every year since, except for two years during World War II. The regatta has always been managed by a committee of volunteers whose fathers and grandfathers preceded them in the same roles: a tradition that has been maintained along with the boats.

The four boats are housed in the club’s shed, which was built specifically for them in about 1916 on the low ground of the eastern riverbank. It appears that the humid environment of the shed has been a key factor in the boats’ longevity and their excellent condition today.

The 1911 challenge from Anglesea to Aireys Inlet set out the events to be contested and the rules under which they would be engaged. Of the five events in the original program – rowing, swimming, golf, tennis and ‘beer chewing’ – rowing is the only one still contested, and it is run in the spirit established by these original rules – a spirit the reflects an Australian sense of humour that is still recognisable to us today.

The Challenge We, the undersigned, being the crème de la crème of the residents of the township of Anglesea River, formerly Swampy Creek, do hereby challenge the like residents – if there be any – of the village of Aireys Inlet sometimes termed Split Point, to despatch a team of young men to do battle with the aforementioned undersigned in any of the athletic arts hereunder mentioned – the aforesaid meeting to take place at Anglesea River at any date agreed upon by the captains of the opposing sides, between the dates of December 25th 1910 and January 5th 1911.

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Appended are the bones of contention together with the conditions thereto attached: 1. The Head of the River race is to be rowed over a course not longer than two miles in pull boats. The use of clinker boats and oar riggers to be prohibited. No restriction to the number of the crew but competitors are asked not to take girls or drink in the boat as the race must be finished by dark to enable married men to look after their wives. Coxswains must not weigh less than two pounds in their stockinged feet.

Motor boats must remain moored whilst the race is in progress.

Photographers wishing to obtain snaps for the English and Continental papers may obtain permission from the Marine Board through Jonas Hollingworth – Harbourmaster. …

Signed this twenty third day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and ten, under the seal of the Martyred Rooster.

This was signed by: S. T. McMillan (Captain) Terrell Crowl A.A. Bateman A. Cunningham H.B. Parrington Lt. W. T. Appleton Jnr. L. McMillan Keith Cecil and Roger Carr, in their 1987 history of the regatta, noted ‘that the men from Aireys Inlet were not the type to let such a challenge go unanswered and the following was soon dispatched to Anglesea’.

The Acceptance KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENT that we, the undersigned residents of ‘Angahook’, situated at Aireys Inlet (also known as Split Point) EXTEND GREETINGS to the crème de la crème of the residents of Anglesea River and HEREBY accept their challenge to the trials of skill and endurance as enumerated under the seal of the Martyred Rooster, represented by the White Feather.

1. The Head of the River Race. We are pleased indeed of the opportunity of measuring blades in this classic event, under the conditions stated. …

Given under our Hands and Seal of the Spirits of Sport this twenty-second day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and ten.

Allen G. Noble (Captain) Geo. C. Noble J MacMullen J. Bell Norman Hurst R. Smith A.M. Douglass P. W. Fisher R. W. Noble W. Ritchie

ARHV SUMMER 2015–16

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All images courtesy of the vessels’ owners except for images 7 and 8 courtesy of Peter Marshall

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The regatta is still a highlight for the region, and in 2013 the club ventured out beyond the traditional race to take the fours to the Geelong Wooden Boat festival. They were raced in the inaugural Bellarine Challenge Cup on Corio Bay – the winner of the New Year’s Day ‘Grand Challenge Cup’ racing against a Royal Geelong Yacht Club crew. The challenge document repeated the tone of the original document from 1911, and was delivered by stabbing it to the yacht club wall with a dagger.

Oars come into play as primary power on two other craft recently nominated to the ARHV. 747 is one of the last Gladstone* class skiffs ever built, and is a fine recreational rowing skiff for its owner, an airline pilot. The Mandurah patrol dinghy was a wooden skiff that used its oars for stealth, being able to remain relatively silent while approaching fishermen to inspect their licences on the Peel Estuary in Mandurah, Western Australia, in the 1950s and 60s. Wildflower and Canopus were sailing craft that were assisted with oars for many years until both had engines installed. On the Indigenous outrigger canoe from Cairns, Queensland, the rower stood and paddled with a longer-handled single-bladed paddle. *Despite the similar names, the four-oared skiff in Anglesea called Gladstone is not an example of the Gladstone skiff class, which is a single-oared craft. Neither has anything to do with the Queensland city of Gladstone.

Search the complete Australian Register of Historic Vessels at anmm.gov.au/arhv NAME

DATE

BUILDER

TYPE

CODE

01

Wildflower

1889

Clement Blunt

Fishing boat

HV000656

02

Sam Male

1957

Male and Co

Pearling lugger

HV000657

03

Canopus

Unknown

Unknown

Cargo and fishing boat

HV000658

04

Valdura

1912

T Hill

Ferry

HV000660

05

Mandurah patrol dinghy

1958

Jeff Beale

Rowing skiff

HV000661

06

747

Unknown

Sargent and Burton

Rowing skiff

HV000664

07

Torquay

1913

Jas Edwards and Sons

Rowing skiff

HV000668

08

Aireys

1913

Jas Edwards and Sons

Rowing skiff

HV000669

09

Anglesea

1913

Jas Edwards and Sons

Rowing skiff

HV000670

10

Gladstone

1913

Jas Edwards and Sons

Rowing skiff

HV000671

11

Wilson tunnel hull

1958

Wilson Bros

Fishing launch

HV000672

12

Cairns Aboriginal outrigger canoe

c1910

Unknown

Single outrigger canoe

HV000673

13

Centurion II

1955

Torataro Arata

Pearling lugger

HV000691

1897

A H Landseer

Paddle steamer

HV000695

14 PS

Tarella

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WELCOME WALL SUMMER 2015–16

SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > A TWIST OF FATE

A twist of fate

THE BARNARDO BOY FROM LIVERPOOL

During the 20th century, thousands of unaccompanied British children were sent to far-flung parts of the Commonwealth as part of government-sponsored child migration schemes. One of these was Jim Stone, whose childhood hardships in a farm training institution did not prevent him from coming to love his adopted country.

Curator Kim Tao tells his story.

01 01 Jim Stone and his ‘auntie’ Connie at Thurlby

House in Woodford Bridge, Essex, UK, 1947.

All photographs reproduced courtesy Jim Stone

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JIM STONE’S JOURNEY TO AUSTRALIA as a British child migrant was determined by a twist of fate during World War II. Shortly before the outbreak of conflict in 1939, the three-yearold and his five-year-old sister Marjory were taken into the care of Dr Barnardo’s Homes in Liverpool, England. Their single mother, Johanna Riding, did not have the means to support two growing children from her meagre income as a hostel worker in the seaside town of Hoylake in Merseyside. When she met and married a widower 20 years her senior, she did not dare to reveal to him that she had two illegitimate children. In the days before the modern welfare state, Johanna had little choice but to hand them over to Barnardo’s, a charity that had been providing residential care to vulnerable children since the late 1860s. Jim and Marjory never saw their mother again.

In one of history’s great migrations, more than six million people have crossed the seas to settle in Australia. The museum’s tribute to all of them, The Welcome Wall, encourages people to recall and record their stories of coming to live in Australia

In 1943 Jim and his sister, like many children from Britain’s war-ravaged cities, were evacuated to the safety of the countryside, where they were placed on separate farms in Tamworth, Staffordshire. It was here, in 1945, that Jim received a severe beating from his foster parent.

Fatefully, the very next day, he was visited by the district nurse for a routine medical inspection. When the nurse found the welts on his back, Jim was immediately removed from Tamworth, and consequently from his sister. He was sent to the Barnardo’s home at Stepney Causeway in London’s East End, and then the Dalziel of Wooler Memorial Home at Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, setting in motion a series of events that would culminate in his migration to Australia with Barnardo’s after World War II.

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Jim’s lasting memory of Kingston was the cold weather, and the rough wool shirts the boys had to wear during the long, miserable winter. It chanced one winter’s day that they were visited by a group of officials looking for boys to emigrate to Canada or Australia. Although Jim had little knowledge of either country, he was aware that Canada was as cold as England, while Australia was significantly warmer. He promptly made his decision and raised his hand for Australia.

From the late 19th century, the mass migration of unaccompanied children from overcrowded orphanages, institutions and children’s homes became part of a broader strategy to consolidate the growing British Empire with ‘good British stock’. The Australian government actively pursued these child migration schemes throughout the 20th century as part of its ‘White Australia’ policy and, later, its post-war mandate to ‘populate or perish’, accepting more than 7,000 children through various philanthropic and religious organisations (including approximately 2,800 from Barnardo’s).

02 Jim Stone undergoing a medical examination

in the UK prior to his selection for Australia, c 1946.

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Children were required to be physically and mentally fit to be approved for emigration. Jim remembers undergoing several medical examinations over a period of 12 months, before becoming one of five boys selected from the Kingston home.

In October 1947 they joined a group of child migrants at Thurlby House in Woodford Bridge, Essex, to prepare for departure. While there Jim was visited by his ‘auntie’ Connie, a corporal in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (the women’s branch of the British Army) who had befriended him and taken him on outings to Nottingham Castle, Sherwood Forest and the Kent coast. Connie tried to persuade Jim to change his mind about Australia but, at the age of 11, he was adamant about his decision. Many years later Jim discovered that she had wanted to adopt him, but was unable to because she was not married.

From the late 19th century, the mass migration of unaccompanied children became part of a broader strategy to consolidate the growing British Empire with ‘good British stock’

On 10 October Jim and the other boys, dressed in suits, shirts and ties, travelled by bus to London’s Tilbury Docks, where they embarked on SS Ormonde for their six-week voyage to the other side of the world. The ship was farewelled by a brass band and many publicity photographs were taken of the group, as they were the first Barnardo’s child migrants to depart after the war, and were thus of great political and media interest in Britain and Australia.

Ormonde passed through Port Said, the Suez Canal and Aden, but the children were not allowed ashore because of a cholera epidemic. In Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), they were received by dignitaries and treated to lunch and musical entertainment at a grand hotel. While the heat was unbearable for some, Jim relished it and looked forward to their

03 Jim Stone (seventh from right, holding parcel

of cakes) on departure from Thurlby House, 1947.

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arrival in Fremantle, waking before dawn to wait on deck for his first glimpse of Australia. The children were feted at each Australian port of call, with a reception from the Lord Mayor of Perth and a picnic on the banks of the Swan River, another mayoral reception and picnic on Mount Lofty in Adelaide, and a visit to a large department store in Melbourne.

On 18 November the group disembarked in Sydney and attended a wharfside reception with numerous speeches, before finally boarding a bus for the Dr Barnardo’s Farm School, Mowbray Park, at rural Picton, south of Sydney. This marked the beginning of what Jim describes as a period of incarceration.

The smart clothes with which he and the other boys arrived were removed and sent back to Britain for use by the next party of child migrants. They were issued with khaki shirts and shorts and would go barefoot, even in the winter, wearing shoes only on Sundays for church.

Jim has often contemplated how his life might have turned out had he not become a ward of Barnardo’s in wartime Britain

Opened in 1929, Mowbray Park was a farm training school for children aged six to 15, who lived in small cottages under the care of a cottage mother. Discipline was strictly enforced and the day began early. Jim recalls that the boys would assemble at 5.45 am for exercises, before returning to their cottages to make their beds, eat breakfast and prepare for school.

The farm school was self-sufficient, with 200 chickens, 70 dairy cows and half a dozen Clydesdale draught horses for land clearing, ploughing and transporting milk. The children grew their own fruits and vegetables and also supplied them to the Dr Barnardo’s Girls’ Home in the Sydney suburb of Burwood, where girls were trained in domestic skills such as cooking and cleaning. The farm had no refrigeration, and during the summer months, ice was obtained from an iceworks some five kilometres away. Jim remembers loading a horse and cart with blocks of ice about one metre in length, which would be diminished to half their size by the time they reached the farm

04 Jim Stone (front row, fifth from left) with

Barnardo boys at Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, UK, c 1945–1947.

Photograph courtesy Jim Stone

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several hours later. This problem was overcome once the school acquired a small Massey Ferguson tractor, reducing the trip to a third of its previous duration.

When they turned 16, children would spend six months as farm trainees, before being sent to remote agricultural regions to become farm labourers. Jim and another student were permitted to remain at school until the age of 17 as they had shown an aptitude for learning and were encouraged to complete the Leaving Certificate. Jim left Mowbray Park in 1953 and spent two weeks on a sheep station in the Wagga Wagga district, where he assisted the grazier in crutching ewes (shearing wool from around the tail and between the hind legs) prior to lambing. This experience spurred his interest in grading and classifying wool and led to his first job as a wool classer at Grazcos in Alexandria, Sydney. In 1957 he became a roustabout (shearing shed hand) for a contractor near Nyngan in central western New South Wales, to learn wool classing in the sheds.

In 1960, with the economy moving into recession, Jim decided it was time for a career change and studied at night to become a chartered accountant. He and his partner Josie relocated to New Zealand, where they later married and lived for 32 years, with Jim operating an accounting practice in the small town of Taumarunui on the North Island. He then worked as a senior investigating accountant and senior technical officer with the Inland Revenue Department in Auckland, while also farming green-lipped mussels in partnership with two friends.

After his wife died in 1998, Jim returned to the country he loved, retiring to Yamba at the mouth of the Clarence River in northern New South Wales. He was attracted by the warm climate of the region, and the enduring memory of a childhood visit to the Bellingen dairy farm once owned by the son of the superintendent at Barnardo’s Mowbray Park.

Jim has often contemplated how his life might have turned out had he not become a ward of Barnardo’s in wartime Britain, and believes that his chances of success or even survival would have been poor. He says, ‘When I reflect on my past, I cannot help but hold the view that I have been blessed by chance, good fortune and a certain amount of luck. There is not much in my life that I regret having done. If I had to go over my life again, then I imagine I would be happy to repeat it.’

Jim’s daughter Penelope registered his name on the Welcome Wall as a proud and tangible reminder of the Barnardo boy from Liverpool for his two grandsons, Ryan and Liam, and future great-grandchildren.

Jim Stone’s story is featured in the ANMM’s international travelling exhibition On their own – Britain’s child migrants, which is showing at the V&A Museum of Childhood in London until 12 June 2016. See britainschildmigrants.com

The Welcome Wall It costs just $150, or $290 for a couple, to register a name and honour your family’s arrival in this great country. We’d love to add your family’s name to The Welcome Wall, cast in bronze, and place your story on the online database at anmm.gov.au/ ww. Please call our staff during business hours with any enquiries on 02 9298 3777.

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > HIGH STYLE ON THE HIGH SEAS

READINGS SUMMER 2015–16

High style on the high seas

A DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF NAUTICAL FASHION

WHAT DO EVERYDAY ITEMS of clothing such as the Breton striped top, pea coat, cable knit jumper, yellow raincoat or even the basic crewneck t-shirt have in common? The answer is that they all have roots in a fascinating seafaring past – one that is vividly evoked by Amber Jane Butchart in Nautical Chic, the first book to celebrate maritime fashion and all its iconic looks, from the humble fisherman to the high street and the catwalks of haute couture.

Butchart explores the perennial appeal of nautical style over the last two centuries, arguing that maritime traditions began to influence fashion from the mid-18th century onwards.

This comes as no surprise given that, at the time, the navy was one of the largest employers in Britain, the great sea powers of Europe were building their empires, the United States was emerging as an independent nation, and maritime trades and industries were shaping the modern world. It is this historical context that establishes the framework for the book’s focus on Britain, France and the US as the primary producers and exporters of nautical chic.

Meticulously researched and richly illustrated, Nautical Chic is part fashion history and part cultural study. It shows that fashion, far from being ephemeral, is instead firmly embedded in our social, cultural and political history. To demonstrate this Butchart opens with an anecdote about a feverish 1778 sea battle between the British warship Arethusa and the French frigate Belle Poule off the coast of Brittany, one of the earliest actions between the two naval powers during the American Revolutionary War. The battle was widely celebrated as a victory in France, where aristocratic women wore an elaborate ship-shaped headdress, the coiffure à la Belle Poule, to display their patriotism. Some two centuries later this headdress provided the inspiration for the ‘ship hat’ created by renowned Irish milliner Philip Treacy in 1995 for the fashion director Isabella Blow. As Butchart writes, ‘This headpiece links not only the past and the present, but also serves to map the geography of contemporary nautical style.’

Nautical Chic

By Amber Jane Butchart, published by Thames & Hudson, London, 2015. Hardback, 224 pages, illustrations, notes, index. ISBN 978 0 500 51780 2.

RRP $58.00 (Members $52.50).

Available at The Store or online at store.anmm.gov.au

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Butchart takes a multidisciplinary approach to her subject, emphasising that the contemporary fashion landscape is deeply informed by the past and that nautical style has continually been invented and reinvented at the intersection of maritime history, politics, war, imperialism, leisure and life on the ocean waves. This dynamic thematic approach reflects her diverse background as a fashion historian working across the fields of heritage, broadcasting and academia.

Nautical Chic comprises five chapters, each one dedicated to an archetypal maritime figure: Officer, Sailor, Fisherman, Sportsman and Pirate. In the first, Butchart discusses the origins of British naval uniform in the 18th century and corresponding notions of power and adornment, considering how regimental embellishments such as epaulettes and brass buttons came to be staples on the catwalk and in the bespoke tailoring houses of London’s Savile Row. She also outlines how articles of military-issue outerwear, including the duffle coat and the pea coat, made the crossover into civilian fashion in the 1950s and 1960s.

Butchart also examines the timeless appeal of the sailor with his characteristic square collar and bell-bottom trousers, and the swashbuckling sense of danger embodied by the pirate and imagined in the work of designers like Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen.

In the chapter ‘Fisherman’, Butchart looks at how the hardwearing occupational garments of fishing communities have evolved into popular fashion, such as the yellow waterproof jacket (for visibility if lost overboard), the patterned jumper with symbols of seafaring life (cables for ropes, diamonds for fishing nets) and the colourful Fair Isle knit with its distinctive motifs (which according to legend were introduced to the island by seamen stranded after the wreck of the Spanish Armada flagship in 1588). Perhaps most iconic of all is the classic blue and white French marinière top, with its 21 stripes purportedly signifying each one of Napoleon’s naval victories – an enduring favourite of designers from Coco Chanel to Jean Paul Gaultier.

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Meticulously researched and richly illustrated, Nautical Chic is part fashion history and part cultural study.

The transition of uniform and functional workwear into fashionable dress is a recurring theme throughout the book, and in the chapter ‘Sportsman’, mirrors the shift of the coast from a place of work to a space for recreation.

Butchart traces the development of sportswear from the rowing teams of Oxford and Cambridge to the Ivy League campuses of America’s east coast, and from the luxury beach resorts of the French Riviera to the elite yacht clubs 01 Red, white and blue summer holiday cruising

fashions on board a liner, illustrated by Pat Charles in The Sketch, 22 June 1932.

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of Newport and Nantucket. Vintage drawings, archival images and contemporary fashion photography combine to evocatively illustrate this theme, reminding the reader that much of what we wear today is shaped by maritime history – that modern nautical style represents the tangible legacy of our historical engagement with the sea. Nautical Chic makes for a wonderfully accessible and visually enticing read over the summer break, whether you are holidaying at a Riviera resort, cruising the high seas or relaxing on a beach closer to home.

Kim Tao

02 The ship that launched a thousand hats.

Named after a French frigate, the elaborate coiffure à la Belle Poule headdress became an early example of nautical chic when it caught on in Paris in 1778.

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > A LONG HARD JOURNEY

READINGS SUMMER 2015–16

A long hard journey A FATHER’S SEARCH FOR SOLACE

MANY OF US ARE ENTHRALLED by the sea – its vastness, limitless power and landscapes – but only a select group of us are brave, skilled and adventurous enough to take a small cruiser and sail around the world. An even smaller group of those who take the journey can write about their experiences in an engaging and moving style that further raises the reader’s admiration of the sea and the seafarer alike.

Paul Heiney is one such seafarer. In One Wild Song, Heiney writes about his extraordinary voyage from Falmouth (UK) to Cape Horn (the southernmost point of South America) and back, which he undertook as a tribute to his son, Nicholas, whom he had lost to suicide a few years before.

In essence, the book is about two voyages: ‘one is the long trek, under sail, to one of the most profoundly remote parts of the world … the waters of the infamous Cape Horn.

The other is the long, hard journey through the death of my son … to travel this road is to suffer desolation that no earthly place can inflict upon you’.

As he battles the oceans, Heiney ponders one of his son’s last poems, The Silence at the Song’s End, to gain a closer understanding of his son’s voyages (Nicholas was an accomplished tall-ship sailor) and his passing. His acceptance of reality and determination to pay tribute to his son, rather than be hurt by his suicide, are the most poignant themes of the book.

‘Many people sail in the wake of their heroes, and Nicholas would be mine,’ he writes. ‘I was sailing to achieve the high standard that he set, both in thoughts and deeds.’ Heiney’s open and honest writing style brings his emotions, thoughts and beliefs to the surface without making the story bleak; instead it is emotionally powerful, thought-provoking and inspirational.

He has succeeded in paying a memorable tribute to his son, both through the completion of his voyage, and through writing this evocative book.

The book is an account of Heiney’s round trip of 18,000 nautical miles (33,000 kilometres), including 11,000 nautical miles (20,000 kilometres) on his yacht, Wild Song. For the majority of the trip

One wild song – A voyage in a lost son’s wake

By Paul Heiney, published

by Bloomsbury, London, 2015. Hardcover, 230 pages, illustrations, bibliography.

ISBN 9781472919489.

RRP $35.00 (Members $31.50).

Available at The Store or online at store.anmm.gov.au

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he sailed alone, in all conditions including gale-force winds and four-storey-high waves. The trip took more than two years in five stages: south through the Bay of Biscay, west towards the coast of Brazil, and into the Roaring Forties and the Furious Fifties of the Southern Ocean (latitudes nicknamed by sailors for the almost constant high winds), before sailing up the Beagle Channel off the coast of Chile and skilfully negotiating the waters of Cape Horn, then retracing his route back north across the Atlantic to Dartmouth.

‘to travel this road is to suffer desolation that no earthly place can inflict upon you’

Heiney tells us, ‘It is easy to be inspired by the sea but harder to cope with the more mundane demands that sea-going makes’. Yet he copes with both the everyday and the extremely gruelling demands in a ‘take-it-on-the-chin’ manner. He deals with flat batteries, stitches ripped sails and lugs heavy stores in foreign ports to stock the boat. He also suffers a dislocated shoulder after slipping on the cabin steps and endures the subsequent ‘fixing’ in a foreign port without anaesthetics.

He is mugged in Rio and rips the tendons in his arms after 12 hours’ fighting with punishing winds to get into harbour in the Azores, before a rescue boat arrives to take him to shore.

The reader shares the pleasant and nourishing moments of the trip as he bakes bread and the occasional cake, watches the stars in the night sky and enjoys the unspoilt coastal landscapes of South America. There are also funny moments, such as when his serene star-gazing is interrupted by the unsettling thought that he may be running out of tea and he runs below deck to make urgent tea/distance/speed calculations.

03 Paul Heiney rounds Cape Horn after 9,000

nautical miles (16,500 kilometres) of sailing.

Photograph Mike Godfrey

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READINGS SUMMER 2015–16

Heiney is a skilful sailor and an equally competent writer.

Readers of both the seafaring and non-seafaring types will find the book enjoyable. Technical accounts of navigation, sailing and problem-solving during a storm can be foreign to some readers, but Heiney’s pragmatic attitude, intellect and engaging writing style transform these technical parts into an educational and even entertaining read. Heiney’s descriptions of foreign ports, interactions with the local authorities and inhabitants, picturesque landscapes and different weather systems give us a glimpse of other lives, cultures and environments through the eyes of an experienced journalist and down-to-earth traveller. The book also contains a selection of photographs taken at different stages of the voyage.

The book is an account of Heiney’s round trip of 18,000 miles, including 11,000 miles on his yacht, Wild Song

Heiney’s characteristically poetic prose leaves no doubt that independent sea-voyaging can be very dangerous but highly rewarding: ‘To arrive in your own boat in an unknown harbour on an unknown coast is an experience more potent than any other form of travel can provide. You have changed elements from earth to sea and back again, and harnessed the natural forces of the weather to achieve your transport and for that reason the thrill of arrival is all the more. It is simply a greater kind of victory.’

Heiney is undoubtedly victorious with this book, as he was in accomplishing his journeys.

Violeta Najdova

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 113 > LAST OF A LINE

Last of a line VALE MAGNUS HALVORSEN 18 AUGUST 1918–27 JULY 2015

01

I was completely taken in by the power of the 12 metre machine … and there was the added attraction and adventure of being part of Australia’s first challenge for the America’s Cup THIS QUOTE – from Magnus Halvorsen’s memoirs of Australia’s first bid for the America’s Cup in 1962 – encapsulates Magnus Halvorsen: his joy in taking on a challenge.

Magnus Halvorsen was born in the small southern Norwegian town of Helle on 18 August 1918, the son of boatbuilder Lars Halvorsen and his wife, Bergithe. In 1922, the family left Norway to find a better life. They moved to Cape Town, but two years later arrived in Sydney.

01 Magnus Halvorsen and Stan Darling

on Peer Gynt in 1948. All photographs courtesy the Halvorsen family

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Magnus left school at 14 and joined the family’s boatbuilding business. His father set him to work sweeping and making the tea, before teaching him how to draw line plans and make mould loftings from his drawings. He inherited his father’s eye for detail and drive for perfection.

Lars had looked forward to having his five sons working with him in Lars Halvorsen and Sons but died in 1936, aged only 49. The family was determined to continue his legacy and after his death they formed Lars Halvorsen Sons Pty Ltd, named in his memory.

During World War II, Magnus was responsible for production planning of the Halvorsen-built Fairmiles, but his dream was to become an air force pilot. While he passed the exam, his work as a boatbuilder was deemed essential to the war effort and he was rejected.

In 1948, Magnus met Paula Wilson at a party and was smitten.

The couple became engaged on 18 August 1948 – Magnus’s 30th birthday – and were married on 24 June 1949.

Magnus was a successful rugby player but in 1947 gave up the game to concentrate on sailing. With his brother Trygve, he designed and built a number of yachts for both competition and family cruising. Their Sydney to Hobart Race debut came in 1946, in the 34-foot (10.36-metre) engineless Saga.

This maiden race saw them battle a three-day storm in Bass Strait with winds in excess of 60 knots (110 km/h). When they reached the waters of the Derwent River, Saga was becalmed, but despite this setback they gained second place on handicap.

Peer Gynt, Solveig, Anitra V (whose silky-smooth hull was constructed using glue, with no nails or caulking, and carried sails of the newly developed Dacron) and Norla followed,

02 Trygve (left) and Magnus with their mother,

Bergithe, in Honolulu, 1955.

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and – finally – the famous Freya, on which Magnus and Trygve acted as joint skippers. Freya is still the only yacht to have delivered three successive Sydney to Hobart wins on handicap: in 1963, 1964 and 1965. Freya’s hull was designed with emphasis on strength and fitness for rough-water sailing but she delivered wins in both heavy and light conditions and could carry full sail to windward in a 30-knot (55 km/h) blow.

The brothers shipped Freya to Britain for the 1965 Admiral’s Cup and, in 1966, Magnus and Trygve shared the Ampol Yachtsman of the Year trophy.

In the mid-1960s, along with long-time Halvorsen employee Trevor Gowland and steel fabricators Jim and Jock Morson, Magnus and Trygve formed Halvorsen, Morson and Gowland.

Magnus became the firm’s managing director. Soon, however, Magnus decided to go out on his own as a marine surveyor – an exacting job that he relished – and Freya was sold.

Magnus went on to successfully navigate a number of yachts, notably Kialoa III, which in 1975 established a Sydney to Hobart line honours record that stood for 21 years.

After a formidable career, Magnus could boast five Hobart wins on handicap and two line honours trophies, as well as five wins from five starts in Tasman Sea racing.

With all his experience, Magnus became more and more concerned about the quality of new yachts being built and in 1979 he went public with his concerns, predicting a disaster in the Sydney to Hobart race if standards weren’t improved.

These concerns were proved prescient when, in the 1998 race, six men died and five yachts sank.

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In 1966, Magnus and his brother Trygve shared the Ampol Yachtsman of the Year trophy

Magnus was a long-time member of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. He was the official race starter of the Sydney to Hobart race in 2005 and 2009 and was awarded the Australian Sports Medal in 2000. In his memoirs Magnus wrote: I have lasting memories of some great sailing, with many staunch shipmates … but I must add that in matters like seamanship and my flair for celestial navigation, it pays to carry the right genes. These came through our mother’s lineage, though our artisan skills came from father, Lars Halvorsen.

Magnus Halvorsen lived a long and fulfilling life and died peacefully in his sleep on 27 July after a short illness – the last of that generation of revered Halvorsen brothers. He is survived by his children, Anders, Jan, Niel and Ruth, 12 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Paula died in 1993.

Randi Svensen

03 Freya in the 1963 Sydney to Hobart race,

when it took the first of its unequalled three successive line-honours crowns in the bluewater classic.

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On their own opens in London In October the museum’s international travelling exhibition, On their own – Britain’s child migrants, opened at London’s Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum of Childhood – the final venue in an extensive six-year tour. There was something very symbolic about the tour culminating at Bethnal Green in London’s East End, where early campaigners for child migration such as Annie Macpherson and Thomas Barnardo first established their children’s institutions, and where names like Spitalfields and Stepney Causeway still resonate with a compelling sense of place.

ANMM Director Kevin Sumption is pictured addressing guests at the private view of the exhibition, which will remain on show at the V&A until 12 June 2016. The UK tour of On their own has been supported by the Australian Government’s National Collecting Institutions Touring and Outreach Program and the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

Story by Kim Tao; photograph reproduced courtesy Victoria and Albert Museum, London

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Black Armada opens in Indonesia and Sydney The exhibition Black Armada – Australian support for Indonesian Independence 1945 to 1949 was developed by the ANMM for the 70th anniversary of Indonesian independence on 17 August 2015. It was opened in Sydney on 20 August by His Excellency Nadjib Riphat Kesoema, the Indonesian Ambassador to Australia.

Black Armada outlines the critical but not widely known Australian support in upholding the Indonesian declaration of independence in the face of re-colonisation by the Dutch after World War II. It was ANMM’s first major collaboration with an Indonesian museum and a version of the exhibition was displayed simultaneously at the Museum Benteng Vredeburg in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

The opening in Yogyakarta attracted substantial media interest in Indonesia. The 120 guests included representatives of Indonesia’s museums and cultural sector.

Story and photograph by Dr Stephen Gapps

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Major international award for Voyage to the Deep The museum’s exhibition Voyage to the Deep was awarded silver in the category ‘Best Scenography for a Temporary Exhibition’ at the prestigious 2015 International Design and Communication Awards (IDCA).

The award was announced on 9 September at the Hagia Eirene in Istanbul, Turkey, during the Communicating the Museum conference.

Created in 2007, the IDCA awards assess communications, design and branding strategies within the arts and museum sphere. This year’s winners were selected from 84 applicants from 20 countries and 63 cultural organisations and design agencies, across seven categories. After a very successful opening season last summer at the museum, Voyage to the Deep will now travel to New Zealand, where it will open at the Puke Ariki museum in New Plymouth in May 2016.

Story by Shirani Aththas; photograph courtesy Andrew Frolows/ANMM

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Award for Shire of Peppermint Grove Museum Director Kevin Sumption visited the Shire of Peppermint Grove in Western Australia on Tuesday 8 September to present it with the first-ever Director’s Award for Excellence for its Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club Digitisation Project.

The museum, in partnership with the Australian Government, provided a Maritime Museums of Australia Project Support Scheme (MMAPSS) grant of $6,149 in 2014 for a significance assessment of the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club’s extensive collection of historic photographs. The Grove Community Library, in collaboration with the club, has digitised 645 historic images and published them online at photosau.com.au/ thegrovelibrary/scripts/home.asp.

Pictured (left to right) are Sindy Dowden (Community History Librarian) and Debra Burn (Manager of Library and Community Development), both from Shire of Peppermint Grove), and ANMM Director Kevin Sumption.

Story by Shirani Aththas; photograph courtesy Shire of Peppermint Grove

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Remembrance Day Service On Wednesday 11 November 2015, the museum honoured the contribution made by service men and women in conflicts past and present in a special Remembrance Day service in front of the World War II commando vessel Krait, which was formally dedicated as a war memorial in 1964. The service was attended by members of the World War II Commando Association and the Australian Commando Association.

And for the very first time, the service was live-streamed via the NSW Department of Education & Communities’ Distance and Rural Technologies (DART) Connections video conferencing platform to schools across New South Wales, to give students the opportunity to learn more about Krait and its story and to pay their respects.

Pictured are veteran Ken Curran and Mason Heany of Amaroo School, ACT, laying a wreath during the service.

Story by Shirani Aththas; photograph Andrew Frolows/ ANMM

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The search for HMB Endeavour Australia’s ConsulGeneral in New York, Nick Minchin, recently hosted a reception and exhibition at the Consulate-General on East 42nd Street. Its theme was the museum’s maritime archaeology program, and in particular, the search for Captain Cook’s Endeavour. More than 50 Americans and ex-patriate Aussies attended. Museum Director, Kevin Sumption, and Head of Research, Dr Nigel Erskine, spoke of our archaeological interests, including HMAS Perth, USS Houston, AE1, AE2 and, of course, Endeavour.

His Majesty’s Bark Endeavour was the Royal Navy vessel commanded by Lieutenant James Cook on his first voyage of discovery, from 1769 to 1771. After Cook’s command, it was renamed Lord Sandwich and later scuttled in a blockade of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, during the American War of Independence. Pictured is Dr Kathy Abbass, Executive Director of Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP), who told of the work being carried out on the blockade ships, which is a collaboration between the museum and RIMAP.

Story and photograph by Andrew Markwell

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100 STORIES FROM THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM The museum’s curators reveal the fascinating stories behind some of the museum’s 130,000 amazingly diverse objects.

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BY SUZANNE RICKARD Features facsimile pages from Cook’s private journal.

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SIGNALS quarterly Signals ISSN 1033-4688 Editor Janine Flew Staff photographer Andrew Frolows Design & production Austen Kaupe Printed in Australia by Pegasus Print Group.

Material from Signals may be reproduced, but only with the editor’s permission.

Editorial and advertising enquiries signals@anmm.gov.au Deadline mid-January, April, July, October for issues March, June, September, December Signals is online Search all issues from No 1, October 1986, to the present at anmm.gov.au/signals

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Foundation partner ANZ Major partners Nine Entertainment Returned and Services League of Australia (Queensland Branch) Partners AccorHotels’ Darling Harbour Hotels Antarctic Heritage Trust Antarctica Flights APN Australian Pacific Touring Pty Ltd Foxtel IAS Fine Art Logistics Laissez-Faire Royal Wolf Holdings Ltd Southern Cross Austereo Sydney by Sail Pty Ltd Founding patrons Alcatel Australia ANL Limited Ansett Airfreight Bovis Lend Lease BP Australia Bruce & Joy Reid Foundation Doyle’s Seafood Restaurant Howard Smith Limited James Hardie Industries National Australia Bank PG, TG & MG Kailis P&O Nedlloyd Ltd Telstra Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics Westpac Banking Corporation Zim Shipping Australasia

ANMM council Chairman Mr Peter Dexter am faicd Director Mr Kevin Sumption Councillors The Hon Ian Campbell Mr Robert Clifford ao The Hon Peter Collins am rfd qc ranr (nsw) Prof Sarah Derrington Rear Admiral Stuart Mayer csc and Bar The Hon Margaret White ao

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Shackleton: Escape from Antarctica

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War at Sea: The Navy in WWI

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Exhibition Sponsors

Painting for Antarctica: Wendy Sharpe and Bernard Ollis follow Shackleton

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Australian National Maritime Museum Partners 2015