Signals, issue 121 by Australian National Maritime Museum

SIGNALS quarterly NUMBER 121 DECEMBER • JANUARY • FEBRUARY 2017–18

ANMM.GOV.AU $9.95

AUSTRALIAN SAILING HALL OF FAME The first inductees

FRANKLIN’S TERROR

Long-lost wreck found

PNG CANOES

Documenting traditional craft

Contents

ANMM.GOV.AU

SUMMER 2017

Acknowledgment of country The Australian National Maritime Museum acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora nation as the traditional custodians of the bamal (earth) and badu (waters) on which we work. We also acknowledge all traditional custodians of the land and waters throughout Australia and pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to elders past and present. The words bamal and badu are spoken in the Sydney region’s Eora language. Supplied courtesy of the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council. Cultural warning Warning: People of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent should be aware that Signals may contain names, images, video, voices, objects and works of people who are deceased. Signals may also contain links to sites that may use content of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people now deceased.

3 BEARINGS From the director 5 THE MASSIM CANOES OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA An expedition to document traditional watercraft and culture 16 AUSTRALIAN SAILING HALL OF FAME Announcing the inaugural inductees 21 FAIR TRADE OR FAKE? Sourcing authentic and ethical Indigenous art 24 THE MAD CAPTAIN An unconventional 18th-century English mariner in the Spice Islands 35 BEHIND THE CONTAINER EXHIBITION An interview with Marika Calfas, CEO of NSW Ports 38 TERROR IN THE ICE Sir John Franklin’s second long-lost ship is found 45 VEGETABLE SHEEP How powerful were Cook’s telescopes aboard HMB Endeavour? 52 ‘AT THE WALLABY TROT’ Australian destroyers in the Mediterranean during WWI 59 MESSAGE TO MEMBERS AND MEMBERS SUMMER EVENTS Your calendar of activities, tours, talks and excursions afloat 69 MEMBER PROFILE A life-changing choice 71 SUMMER EXHIBITIONS Arctic Voices; Gapu-Mon_uk Saltwater; Maritime Moustaches and more 77 MARITIME HERITAGE AROUND AUSTRALIA Remembering Wyatt Earp, pioneering vessel of ANARE 87 FOUNDATION A model of SS Orontes, stalwart of the England–Australia route 91 COLLECTIONS The magnificent SY Ena joins the museum’s fleet 95 AUSTRALIAN REGISTER OF HISTORIC VESSELS The Admiral’s Cup victory, a milestone for Australian sailing 101 TALES FROM THE WELCOME WALL Migrants create a new Italy in New South Wales 107 READINGS Where Australia Collides with Asia by Ian Burnet 110 CURRENTS

Cover: Belinda Stowell (left) and Jenny Armstrong racing to a gold medal in their 470 class Ugly Duckling at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. They are among the inaugural inductees to the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame (see article on page 16). Image Nick Wilson/Getty Images

ANMM on Trove; Wild Oats XI visits the museum; AMC Study Centre announced

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Bearings FROM THE DIRECTOR

STEPPING INTO THE MUSEUM’S Wharf 7 building, you are immediately faced by a flotilla of some of Australia’s greatest sailing boats from the collections of the ANMM and Sydney Heritage Fleet. Sitting just astern of the impressive 18-foot skiff Yendys, built by Charlie Hayes, is another much-cherished boat, Barranjoey. Australia’s first Olympic sailing gold medal was won at the 1964 Games in Tokyo by Sir William ‘Bill’ Northam, James ‘Dick’ Sargent and Peter ‘Pod’ O’Donnell in Northam’s International 5.5 metre, R class yacht Barranjoey. Northam remains Australia’s oldest Olympic champion and on 3 November 2017 he and his gold-winning crewmates were among the inaugural inductees to the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame (ASHoF).

01 The Australian Sailing Hall of Fame inaugural

inductees and their representatives. Back row: Will Bailleu, John Bertrand, Damian Fewster. Row 5: John Longley, Phil Smidmore, Rob Brown, Mike Fletcher. Row 4: Belinda Stowell, Kay Cottee, Sophie Tasker (representing her late father Rolly Tasker). Row 3: Dick Sargeant, Scott McAllister, Jenny Armstrong, Rodney Northam (representing his late father Bill Northam). Row 2: Australian Sailing chair Matt Allen, Sir James Hardy, Barbara O’Donnell (representing her late husband Peter O’Donnell), Skip Lissiman, Hugh Treharne, ANMM Director Kevin Sumption PSM. Front row: Liesl Tesch, Daniel Fitzgibbon. Image Andrew Frolows/ANMM

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I am very pleased to support the establishment of the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame, a program that the museum has developed in partnership with Australian Sailing, the peak body for the sport in Australia. Some would say that it has been a long time coming, because sailing is a sport in which so many Australians have made their mark since the early colonial years. The sport has given us some of our greatest sporting moments. Who could forget the nationwide excitement of Australia II’s win in the America’s Cup more than 30 years ago? In 1983 the then prime minister wore a jacket emblazoned with Australian flags and declared the next day an unofficial public holiday. This inaugural year saw the team of Australia II, the 1964 Tokyo Olympics crew and five more individuals or teams inducted. They include the first Australian women to win an Olympic gold medal in sailing, Jenny Armstrong OAM and Belinda Stowell OAM; Kay Cottee AO, who in 1988 became the first woman to sail single-handed, non-stop and unassisted around the world in her 11-metre yacht Blackmores First Lady; and Daniel Fitzgibbon OAM and Liesl Tesch AM, who created history as the first crew to win back-to-back Paralympic gold medals in sailing, at the Rio 2016 Games. The Australian Sailing Hall of Fame also acknowledges the significant contributions made by innovators and coaches in the sport. This year it also recognised the outstanding successes of both the ‘medal maker’ Victor Kovalenko OAM, and Rolly Tasker AM, who won Australia’s first Olympic sailing medal and first sailing world championship. For more detail about the scope of the Australia Sailing Hall of Fame and images of the inaugural inductees, see page 16 for an article by project leaders, ANMM’s Senior Curator Daina Fletcher and Australian Sailing’s Megan McKay, and visit the Hall of Fame website at sailinghalloffame.org.au. Today, Australia’s sailors are acknowledged as some of the finest anywhere in the world and sailing is seen as both a national pastime and a major sport in our country. So, as we look ahead, it is my sincere desire that with the support of Australian Sailing, the achievements of our sailors will continue and ensure a bright future for the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame.

Kevin Sumption psm

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The Massim canoes of Papua New Guinea DOCUMENTING TRADITIONAL WATERCRAFT AND CULTURE

In August this year, Curator of Historic Vessels David Payne undertook a month-long research trip, travelling by boat through an isolated region of Papua New Guinea to document its traditional watercraft. He reports on what he found.

01 Sailau on Sabari island ready for regatta race.

All images David Payne/ANMM

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IN MID-AUGUST, close to the equator on a beach at Nimoa Island, I looked out over the broad expanse of Coral Haven at the eastern end of the Louisiade Archipelago of Papua New Guinea (PNG), which lies between the Coral Sea and the Solomon Sea. It was early evening, a rain squall was approaching, and it was an opportunity to imagine the scenes experienced by the crew on HMS Rattlesnake almost 170 years ago. In 1849 they had anchored in the lagoon, bordered by coral reefs and the coastline of Sudest Island, where they encountered the native Papuan population in their many unusual canoes. The images recorded as sketches and paintings by the shipâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s celebrated artist Oswald Brierly suggest a vibrant scene of decorated canoes paddled or sailed by their inquisitive crews. There is no hint of unease; instead, Brierley records a colourful and spectacular collection of diverse craft. These single outrigger canoes, as well as being the local peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s method of transport around the island communities, are an integral part of their culture and artistic expression. Brierly was probably the first person to put these boats on paper, capturing many key elements of their detail, but he had a short stay and was restricted in how much he could record. He possibly had to fill in sketches from memory, at times by candlelight, having earlier in the day drawn a quick outline, adding some notes on the side, as a canoe passed by. 02

In silence they slid out from the mangroves, hesitated as they looked across at us, then moved slowly along the shoreline

02 Sailau arriving at Sabari Island for a regatta.

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Between that time and this the Massim culture, as it is now known in the western world, has been extensively studied and recorded. In particular, the kula ring cycle – an exchange of valuable armbands and necklaces between the island communities – has become recognised worldwide as a unique aspect of their inter-island relationships. A significant element of the kula is the circular route taken and the wide range of single outrigger canoes used for this ritual and for general trade. Since Brierly’s time, the specific detail of the canoes’ many carvings has been explored further and recorded, but it was apparent from the few drawings in other reports and chronicles that the crafts’ structure had not been documented accurately in any form that could be called a plan. Other Pacific craft have been well documented over the centuries – the museum’s collection has noteworthy examples by Admiral FrançoisEdmond Pâris – but there is still little to show for the Massim canoes in PNG. The opportunity to fill that gap had brought me here in August, at the invitation of two specialists in the Massim culture who had identified the need to record the craft properly, and had plans to write a book based on this information. They needed someone skilled in recording watercraft to focus on that aspect, while they went much further into exploring and recording the symbols, motifs and language terms used by the different island communities with their diverse craft. Cambridge-based Dr Harry Beran has written many books and papers on the Massim culture and aspects of its art, and is widely acknowledged as an expert in the area. His colleague, retired South Australian heritage architect

03 Nagega canoes undertaking a leg of the kula

exchange, ashore at Gawa Island in the early evening.

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John Greenshields, has lived and worked in PNG in the past. From that experience he began developing his own interest in and collection of Massim art and artefacts, and over time has made many good connections, especially in the Milne Bay area. Drawing on these, he brought together a month-long motor launch trip among the islands of the region so that we could record the canoes and their artwork. We were accompanied by five friends of theirs to offset the cost of the vessel’s charter, and we had the opportunity to see remote and spectacular places where few would ever consider travelling, and to engage with a welcoming community.

Our objective seemed simple enough –we had a month to document a handful of specific canoes

It was a big challenge in many ways, although our objective seemed simple enough. We had the month of August to document just over a handful of specific canoes: three traditional types of kula and trading canoe – the epoi, the masawa or tadobu, and the big nagega – a kaibwag traditional fishing canoe; the gebo or lopo, recently built examples of war canoes now used in festivals; and the contemporary sailau, the modern trading canoe developed in the 1960s. They were all likely to be there, but it was a case of making a determined search for them rather than being able to prearrange times and locations for inspections. But there were others that just appeared. In an apparently deserted bay on Fergusson Island they seemed to come out from nowhere. As evening fell we were suddenly aware of movement in the distance. In silence they slid out from the mangroves and hesitated as they looked across at us, before moving slowly along the shoreline. Then, leaving the security of the mangroves, they came straight towards our motor launch Curringa.

04 Nagega canoe on Ole Island.

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They were men and boys who had been diving in the mangroves for fish and crabs. They wore a curious mixture of old goggles, had handmade spears and nets, and a pile of betel nut, all in leaky overladen canoes. Alongside, they were perfectly happy to start a conversation. Their village was hidden onshore by the fringing mangroves and only apparent in the evening as they lit their fires. Their main canoe in the little flotilla was a four-metre-long miniature version of the bigger ones we were documenting. It was single outrigger, and had a dugout keel with planked sides, a decorated splashboard and prow at either end. As we found out from seeing similar-sized craft, they could be fitted with a sail. We found the bigger canoes too – they are up to 11 metres long – but to do so we visited 30 islands over 27 days, moving almost daily and even overnight at times, with the strong southeast trades providing some rough passages. Each time we found one of the canoes, it was a different and interesting experience. Within two days of leaving Alotau we were seeing sailau as we made our way down the Louisiades. When we anchored off Panapompom Island in Duboyne Lagoon, I had my first opportunity to measure one. Pulled up on the shoreline, it was out in the open, lying at all angles. I had anticipated this uneven and challenging set-up, so, dressed in long sleeves, with hat on and water bottle nearby, I set my string line as a datum, pulled taut between branches wedged into the sand beside the keel, and was able to work through recording the canoe’s shape and construction in just over two hours.

05 Sailing aboard a tadobu canoe at Kitava

Island.

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The builder was there too, and despite our different language skills, much was learnt, helped by some sketches, sign language and charades. And then we went sailing on another sailau â&#x20AC;&#x201C; an exhilarating experience as it took off in the gusts, but vital too, as being on board enables a much better understanding of how it all works. The shunting technique that allows the canoe to change tack and direction while keeping the outrigger to windward is an art form in boat handling, and we did this many times that afternoon.

We visited 30 islands over 27 days, moving almost daily and even overnight at times, with the strong southeast trades providing some rough passages

Later in the journey, we were treated to another amazing opportunity. Having located a tadobu on Kitava Island in the Trobriands, we were happily informed that once I had measured it, they would bring it out from its custom-made shed and take us for a sail on the ocean! It then got even better. Back on shore after an exciting and fast reaching sail in open seas, they decided to do some joyrides for the kids milling around, so I joined in again. But this time they had left half the crew behind onshore, so I picked up the unattended mainsheet and once again, despite neither of us understanding the otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s language, I worked with the skipper and other two crew members at sailing it back and forth a few times. This privilege of being accepted as part of the crew is really the best way to understand things properly; you get a feel for the forces involved and the skills needed. These canoes are not only fast, but they feel balanced, are responsive in waves to the adjustment of their simple rudder, and give you a real sense of being part of the waves and wind.

06 Fishing canoe, Fergusson Island.

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Our experiences had actually started much earlier, even before we left on the launch. Within about three hours of arriving by plane in Alotau, Milne Bay, we were in luck, heading out by van to a village where we had permission to inspect and measure up a gebo war canoe – a 20-metre-long dugout hull with stunning decoration and carving at the bow and stern. The next day at the local Massim museum we saw two more war canoes on display – small versions of the full-size craft – and their dimensions and shape were soon in my notebook. We were off to a good start and, as it turned out, we never looked back. The carvings were a key part of the documentation. The principal area decorated was at the two identical ends of these double-ended hulls. The washboards and prows carried intricately carved symbols and shapes on their flat panels. Each boat is different and each carver has his own symbols. John and Harry focused their attention on these, capturing the meanings and local terms used, including the words for the parts of the canoes. For my part, I documented 14 craft – seven in enough detail to do proper scale lines and construction drawings that will cover craft not yet recorded in this detail, along with a lengthy report. Importantly, we managed to cover all the major types on our list. The big nagega, an ocean-going craft with excellent windward sailing abilities, was probably the prime target for me to record, which I did in two stages. As we came to the end of the first 10-day section through the Louisiades, we stopped at Ole Island, where research indicated that years before they had a small fleet of nagega. But now only one was left, not sailable and in poor condition, but worth recording, as at that point there was no guarantee we might find another. We did, however, find one on Gawa Island two weeks later, on the second passage, a route closely following the kula ring cycle. Luck was with us here. Just hours earlier, after we had arrived on nearby Kwaiawatta Island, we had learnt to our frustration that their island’s nagega had left that morning on a kula exchange passage to Woodlark Island, some days’ sail away for them, and that we were unlikely to meet up with them. This disappointment was short-lived, as when we went ashore on neighbouring Gawa that evening, there in its own shed was a complete nagega, not going anywhere, and both the owner and builder were happy for me to come ashore the next day to measure it up. I was there before dawn, as were the owner and builder, and three hours later the job was done. During the afternoon they came out with elders to Curringa to talk about what they knew

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of the older craft, discuss more old canoe carvings and artefacts they had brought out, and answer more questions about the construction as I showed them the first drawing I had done on the boat’s saloon table. We learnt some key things, but none more important than the purpose of one particular piece of structure that had been described before, but not as clearly. We were looking at a long spar-like member that spanned the length of the craft and was attached to the arm extending off the mast step. This piece, called a nedin, was in fact a strain gauge. By watching it bend and move as the nagega sailed at sea, the skipper could see if it was moving too much, indicating that the craft was overstressed and could damage the mast step, the main point of loading. They could then ease the sail or change the direction they were sailing to reduce the loads. This piece of information was quite a breakthrough and later it was reinforced by a similar discussion with another builder at Nasikwabau Island. I went back over the nedin with him, and in different words he came up with the same answer – if the mast step broke it would be ‘like an outboard motor with a broken piston’, unable to function. The nedin was the gauge to indicate if the nagega had reached a limit and the skipper should reduce sail. In contrast to the big craft were the numerous small canoes used by everyone for fishing and paddling around their area. Less than four metres long and able to take one or two people, they sometimes seemed almost like throw-away items. Onshore there were always a few abandoned hulls whose outriggers had been recycled with a new hull. At anchor we were often surrounded by village people who had come out to see us; at other times just one would come by, often keen to trade some produce for something they might need.

07 One end of an epoi canoe, Fergusson Island.

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At Brooker Island, 21-year-old Patricia paddled out to us one evening in the darkness with some eggs and a yam as a gift, hoping we could spare a hook and line, a brave thing for a shy young woman to ask. We were able to give her a reel, hooks and line, and she came back the next morning with another gift, a handmade basket, to show her appreciation of receiving more than she had hoped for. We also clarified that the kaibwag was no longer around, although the name had been applied by different communities to earlier fishing canoes. Without realising it, our encounters with the smaller four-metre-long simple canoes, such as the one that came to us in Fergusson Island, had led us to document another type to add to the research. The background to this trip was a tropical paradise; there is no other description. The colours of the tropics are bright and enticing. The vivid turquoise of the shallows and reef is set against a deep blue sea, there is vibrant green foliage, yellow and orange coconuts forming on the palms, red leaves on coral trees, and in many places the idyllic white sands that the tropics are renowned for. There are tiny atolls, tall volcanic mountains disappearing into the clouds, narrow passages and the wide expanse of the sea with nothing on the horizon. We were lucky to be in such an amazing environment, mixing with a local population who were friendly, helpful and appreciative that we were keenly interested in their culture and recording it to share with them in the future. They were always ready to impart information and do their best to give us accurate answers. At Nasikwabau, the builder and his brother came back to the boat again later in the evening, because the builder had thought of a better way to describe things he had been explaining earlier. We got on well with every community we visited, but one of the key reasons was that we went about it in the correct and respectful way. Our crew were locals; they knew the widely spoken Misima language and often knew people on the various islands where we had stopped. We always followed a practice of letting our skipper, Obedi, first seek out the head of the village, explain the purpose of our visit and request permission to come ashore, meet people and record their canoes. There was never a problem. They were just as keen to come out to Curringa to meet us there, and always went around the village to see who of the older members would be able to help answer our questions. When I was measuring the canoes, on just about every occasion one or two villagers very quickly understood what I was doing and lent a hand with the string lines and tape measures. On one occasion I was in the canoe, staring at the top of the craftâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mast and wondering how to

Other Pacific craft have been well documented over the centuries, but there is still little to show for the Massim canoes in PNG

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measure it, when the boys helping me sensed what I was thinking. They called over a friend, and he shimmied up the mast with my tape measure in one hand. Job done. On Fergusson Island the communities share a simple lifestyle, making do with what their resources yield and by bartering with others nearby. It was the same at Waluma East – which had a rocky surf landing, no medical help, no contact by cell phone or radio, and whose inhabitatants lived off the land, sea and local trade, all the time getting by in a tropical setting fit for a remake of South Pacific. This contrasted with Dobu Island, only 30 minutes away by launch. Here they had calm seas and coral reefs, phone and radio contact, a school and sports field, trade stores, a church, and, opposite at Esa’ala on Normanby Island, a medical centre with a paramedic and transport by local launches back and forth to Alotau via Goshen Strait. Wherever we went we found a warm welcome, with people happy to listen to why we were there and then help us with our enquiries. Our thanks were best expressed in the form of practical items. Kina, the local currency, came into it, but in many cases money is of less use than food, clothing or fishing tackle, or books and pencils for the local school. Within these islands lies an old culture, but one that is blending more and more with the modern world. I was lucky enough to visit at a time when I could capture a vital part of that traditional culture – the sophisticated and decorated canoes that had enabled the kula exchange for countless generations.

08 Fishing canoe, Panapompom Island, Duboyne

Lagoon, with boatbuilder Willem.

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This form of bond among the different communities created pride and craftsmanship in the artefacts and canoes, and then delivered harmony and respect with the exchange. Recording the canoes was a significant piece of research, but the story became complete as we experienced the social setting. Perhaps our best experience was with the epoi on Fergusson Island. This particular canoe was a personal target for John. He had met the owner of a new epoi a couple of years earlier in Alotau, and knew roughly where it might be. By searching one afternoon in the Curringa’s power skiff he tracked it down, at Waluma East village – not far away, but with its difficult rocky surf landing to deal with. It was another dawn visit. We made it ashore okay, and soon John and I were on track recording the boat and the carvings. It was a beautiful craft, in its own shed, and the pride of the owner, the carver and the village. As we finished and prepared to leave, we were farewelled by the village. Speaking for all, their representative said that because we had made such a big journey and effort to come and see the epoi, and had asked their permission to record it for them, we had now become part of the canoe’s story and were welcome back to the village at any time. That’s something to look forward to, but first I have a number of plans to draw to fulfil our objectives and the promises we made to the communities to record their craft and their culture.

Artist Oswald Brierly was probably the first person to put these boats on paper, in 1849

09 Fishing canoes and children welcoming

us at Nasikwabau Island.

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Australian Sailing Hall of Fame HONOURING SAILING’S ACHIEVERS AND INNOVATORS

In November the museum launched a major initiative – the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame – in partnership with Australian Sailing. At the awards evening on 3 November, seven individuals or teams were announced as the inaugural inductees to the Hall of Fame. By Daina Fletcher and Megan McKay.

THE AUSTRALIAN SAILING HALL OF FAME (ASHoF) program looks at exceptional performance through the long lens of history. It acknowledges achievement, impact and contribution by an individual or a team and covers all disciplines of the sport, including those in supporting roles such as coaches and designers. The program recognises the greats of the sport – those who have contributed much to make sailing what it is today.

01 Australia II’s victory press conference.

Image Sally Samins ANMM Collection

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This sport, born out of races between rival working sailcraft and ship’s boats in the 1820s and the first colonial sailing clubs of the 1830s, has produced some of Australia’s greatest sporting moments – in the America’s Cup, the Olympics and the Sydney–Hobart yacht race. The ASHoF program consists of a website, a touring panel exhibition and a learning program about sailing, personal development and community history. All nominations are assessed by a national panel of experts and the inductees will be honoured at a special awards evening late in each calendar year. So who are the inaugural inductees and how have they shaped our maritime history and experience?

The most high-profile sailing achievement in the imaginations of many Australians is when the Australia II syndicate ‘stole’ the America’s Cup from the New York Yacht Club in 1983. It was a moment that galvanised even the non-sporting world and crystallised the optimism and excess of the 1980s. The America’s Cup was the world’s oldest sporting trophy. It had proved elusive for six Australian challenges before a syndicate of Western Australians, headed by businessman Alan Bond, formed Australia’s best-prepared syndicate ever, Australia II. Designer Ben Lexcen’s unique winged keel proved highly controversial, and a secret weapon in Australia’s challenge for the cup.

Australia II’s successful challenge for the America’s Cup in 1983 galvanised even the non-sporting world

Skippered by John Bertrand, the crew of the 12-Metre class Australia II displayed a ‘never-say-die’ attitude when they came back from being one to three down in the last race of the best-of-seven series, with the Australian crew crossing the finish line ahead of the American boat Liberty at 5.21 pm on 26 September 1983. In acknowledgement of the mammoth effort behind the incredible win, the team of Australia II is honoured in the ASHoF: the sailors, reserves, coach, syndicate chairman, manager and designer. The Olympic realm is the field of dreams, with several inductees making their mark at these games. Australia’s first Olympic gold medal in sailing was won at the 1964 games in Tokyo by skipper Sir William ‘Bill’ Northam CBE (1905–1988), and his two crew, both accomplished sailors 30 years his junior: Peter (Pod) O’Donnell (1939–2008) and James (Dick) Sargeant (born 1936) in the 5.5-Metre class yacht Barranjoey. Northam, the skipper, was 59 at the time and remains the oldest Australian ever to have won an Olympic gold medal.

02 The winged keel, Australia II’s secret weapon,

was kept hidden from view for the duration of the America’s Cup campaign. Image Sally Samins ANMM Collection

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Having taken up sailing at the late age of 46, Northam set himself the challenge of competing at the Olympics and invited O’Donnell and Sargeant to join him. They won the Olympic selection trials against highly regarded yachtsmen. Given his age and lack of Olympic experience, Northam had many detractors, but he ran an impressive Olympic campaign. Northam was renowned as a colourful character, and his tactics on the race course raised an eyebrow or two, but the Australians secured the country’s first sailing gold medal.

Over the course of his career and 2,000 races, Rolly Tasker sailed a distance greater than to the moon and back

Australia’s first Olympic medal in sailing was actually won eight years earlier in front of a home crowd at the 1956 Melbourne Games, when Western Australian sailor Rolly Tasker AM and Malcolm ‘Huck’ Scott won silver in their 12-metre Sharpie. A pioneer in Australian sailing, Rolly Tasker AM (1926–2012) went on to win Australia’s first sailing world championship in the Flying Dutchman class in 1958 and is honoured in the ASHoF for staying at the top of his game for more than 60 years from the 1940s. Numerous world titles followed, but in 1967 Tasker turned his hand and his heart to ocean racing, building his first ocean-racing yacht, Siska. Over the course of his career and 2,000 races he sailed a distance greater than to the moon and back, and became renowned for his impeccable record. This incredible dedication led Rolly to build one of the world’s most successful yachting businesses, employing hundreds of workers across the globe. Rolly Tasker is revered for introducing Australia to the international sailing stage. Jenny Armstrong OAM (born 1970) and Belinda Stowell OAM (born 1971) created history when they became the first Australian women to win an Olympic gold medal in sailing, at the Sydney 2000 Games. Armstrong, who was born in New Zealand and competed for the Kiwis at the 1992 Olympic Games, teamed up with Zimbabwe-born Stowell in 1998. Working with coach Victor

03 Bill Northam, Dick Sargeant and Peter

O’Donnell on Lake Macquarie during the Olympic trials, 1964. Photograph courtesy Dick Sargeant 04 Rolly Tasker (back left) and Huck Scott

(back centre) celebrate winning an Olympic silver medal. Image courtesy the Tasker family

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‘the medal maker’ Kovalenko, the Australian pair worked hard to earn their Olympic selection and entered the Olympic regatta as the team to watch. In winning the gold medal, they became the first Australian women to win a sailing medal, and also broke Australia’s sailing gold-medal drought of 28 years. Coach Victor Kovalenko OAM (born 1950) is honoured as the most successful Olympic sailing coach in the world – achieving astounding results with the Australian sailing team since the Sydney 2000 Games. Growing up in the former Soviet Union, Victor began sailing when young, but it was coaching where he quickly made his mark. His charges in the former Soviet Union and then the Ukraine won Olympic gold and bronze medals in the 470 class at the 1988 and 1996 Olympics. The unstable political landscape in the Ukraine caused Victor to move to Australia in the lead-up to the Sydney 2000 Games. With the pressure of a home Games, Victor’s charges in the 470 class finished with the dream result – gold in both the men’s and women’s events. The rest, as they say, is history, with the medal maker coaching Australia’s 470-class sailors to five golds

05 Kay Cottee steering with her foot while

crossing the Pacific Ocean. Image Kay Cottee, courtesy Kay Cottee and ANMM 06 Belinda Stowell and Jenny Armstrong win

gold in the women’s 470 class final at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Image Nick Wilson/Allsport 07 Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch after

winning gold at the London Paralympics in 2012. Image onEdition 08 Coach Victor Kovalenko (centre) and his

gold medallists at the Beijing 2008 Olympics: Malcolm Page, Tessa Parkinson, Elise Rechichi, Nathan Wilmot. Clive Mason/Getty Images

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > AUSTRALIAN SAILING HALL OF FAME

and one silver medal over successive Olympic Games during his 20 years in Australia. His involvement with Australian sailing has changed the course of Australia’s Olympic history. From the Olympics to the superhumans, as the London 2012 Paralympics advertisement put it. The ASHoF honours Daniel Fitzgibbon OAM (born 1976) and Liesl Tesch AM (born 1969), who paired up in 2009. After a boating accident left sailor Fitzgibbon a quadriplegic at the age of 21, he set his sights on the Paralympics, winning a silver medal in the SKUD 18 class at the Beijing 2008 Games. In an effort to go one better he paired up with Tesch, a silver and bronze medal Paralympic basketball champion. The pairing blossomed quickly, with Fitzgibbon and Tesch winning their first World Cup event after less than a month of sailing together. They were an inspirational combination, with Dan’s extensive sailing knowledge and Liesl providing the fire power. Sheer hard work and determination resulted in the gold medal at the 2012 London Paralympic Games, but it was on the challenging waters of Rio in 2016 that the pair made history when they became the first team to win back-to-back Paralympic gold medals. Their achievements also make them the first Australian sailing team or crew to defend an Olympic or Paralympic gold medal. Kay Cottee AO (born 1954) represents the field of solo sailing as the first woman to perform a single-handed, non-stop and unassisted circumnavigation of the world by way of both hemispheres in 1987/88. On 29 November 1987, 33-year-old Cottee set off from Sydney towards New Zealand on the yacht Blackmores First Lady, a Cavalier 37 that she had largely built herself. Over the next six months she was alone at sea, navigating some of the most dangerous oceans on earth and facing more setbacks and challenges than many of us face in a lifetime. Off the coast of southern Africa, her yacht overturned in 100-knot (185 kph) winds and 20-metre seas. Then, after months of solitude, she rounded the southern tip of Tasmania and headed up the east coast of Australia, where she was met in Sydney Harbour by an adoring crowd of thousands, all keen to welcome the lone sailor home. Cottee’s voyage raised more than $1 million for charity, and she spoke to more than 40,000 school children, inspiring them to achieve their dreams. Cottee is a pioneer for female sailors and an inspiration to all. Nominations are assessed annually. To find out more, go to sailinghalloffame.org.au

2017 inaugural inductees to the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame Sir William (Bill) Northam CBE, Peter ‘Pod’ O’Donnell and James ‘Dick’ Sargeant Rolly Tasker AM Kay Cottee AO Jenny Armstrong OAM and Belinda Stowell OAM Daniel Fitzgibbon OAM and Liesl Tesch AM Victor Kovalenko OAM The team of Australia II Sailors John Bertrand AO (skipper) Colin Beashel OAM Will Baillieu OAM Peter Costello OAM Damian Fewster OAM Ken Judge OAM Skip Lissiman OAM John Longley AM Brian Richardson OAM Phil Smidmore OAM Grant Simmer OAM Hugh Treharne OAM Rob Brown OAM Sir James Hardy OBE Scott McAllister OAM Syndicate Chairman Alan Bond Syndicate Executive Director Warren Jones AM Designer Ben Lexcen AM Coach Mike Fletcher AM

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > FAIR TRADE OR FAKE?

Fair trade or fake? SOURCING AUTHENTIC AND ETHICAL INDIGENOUS ART

Indigenous artworks and souvenirs are a major source of income for the artists and their communities, and are also popular purchases for tourists. But much of what is labelled as Indigenous is imported and fake, and does not benefit our Indigenous peoples. The museum has joined a nationwide campaign to ensure the authenticity of the Indigenous artworks that it sells. By Matt Lee, Acting Assistant Director, Commercial & Visitor Services.

IN THE PAST YEAR there has been a growing campaign to stop the sale of fake Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and crafts in Australian retail outlets. It is estimated that 85 per cent of what is sold in souvenir shops as ‘Indigenous art’ is fake and imported. Under current Australian consumer law, it is not illegal for imported items to be sold, as long as they do not claim to be authentic. A new amendment to this law, titled ‘Exploitation of Indigenous Culture’, will prevent foreigners and non-First Australians from profiting from the sale of Indigenous art and souvenirs.

01 The 11th annual Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair.

Image Murray Hilton/DAAF

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > FAIR TRADE OR FAKE?

In 2016, the Arts Law Centre of Australia, the Indigenous Art Code and the copyright agency Viscopy launched their ‘Fake Art Harms Culture’ campaign. In August this year, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs announced an inquiry into the growing presence of inauthentic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-style art and craft products and merchandise for sale across Australia. Many tourists do not know whether they are buying authentic Indigenous souvenirs or fake ones. It’s also been difficult for retailers to know whether the items they are stocking are authentic, and from which the revenue goes back to the artists and their communities, as many suppliers claim that products are authentic when they are not. In many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, art sales are the main source of income. Making sure you always buy ethically and authentically respects the world’s oldest living culture, ensuring the artists and those around them are paid fairly, and securing a sustainable future for Australia’s Indigenous art industry. The best way to ensure you are buying authentic Indigenous art and products is to buy them from a store that deals directly with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community art centres around the country. These centres are legally constituted, nonprofit cooperatives, owned and run by the artists and their communities. To get to know more about these art centres, earlier this year I attended the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF). This annual fair showcases the work of emerging and established artists and provides a space for visitors to meet them and learn from the variety of different cultural groups across Australia. It brings together more than 60 Indigenous-owned and operated art centres, showcases more than 2,000 artists and ensures that 100 per cent of sales go back to the art centre communities.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community art centres around the country are legally constituted, nonprofit cooperatives, owned and run by the artists and their communities

As well as selling artworks, DAAF also features artists’ workshops, traditional dance performances, children’s activities, and film and fashion. It was amazing to see so many different styles of art from different communities around Australia. There were beautiful paintings on canvas, bark paintings from Sea Country, and stunning sculptures meticulously carved from pieces of wood or even boab nuts. I was impressed by the wide range of fabrics and clothing, too, including scarves made of the finest silks and dyed every shade of every colour. Jewellery was also popular, ranging from traditional styles made from hand-painted seeds, nuts and shells to modern pieces made from acrylic and aluminium.

02 Hand-woven baskets from artisans

of Injalak Arts, Gunbalanya, Northern Territory. Image Matt Lee/ANMM

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > FAIR TRADE OR FAKE?

Some of the items are collaborations between Indigenous and other communities. For example, rugs featuring Aboriginal designs are handmade in remote Kashmiri villages using a traditional chain-stitch technique. Such craft provides an important supplementary income between harvests and other rural work in Kashmir. The revenue from these rugs thus benefits communities in two countries.

Many tourists do not know whether they are buying authentic Indigenous souvenirs or fake ones

I was able to meet many of the artists and talk to the staff and managers from numerous art centres. These included BukuLarrnggay Mulka in Yirrkala, Northern Territory, where the museum’s Saltwater Bark collection is from, and also Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre in Cardwell, far north Queensland, where the museum’s bagus (mystical fire spirits; see Signals 119) originate. I also managed to source a new range of products for the museum’s Store to accompany our Gapu-Mon _ uk exhibition, including many original artworks and hand-painted barks and carvings. The next time you, or someone you are with, is about to buy an Indigenous artwork or souvenir, make sure it comes from a reputable source. There are three key questions that every buyer should consider: Who is the artist? Where is the artist from? How does he or she get paid? When you next visit the museum, be sure to check our authentic Indigenous products in the Store or visit our online store at store.anmm.gov.au. To find out more about buying authentically, visit indigenousartcode.org

03 Stalls at Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair display

and sell authentic Indigenous works. Image Murray Hilton/DAAF

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > THE MAD CAPTAIN

The Mad Captain

‘AND HE THRIVES AMONG THE WAVES’

A rare book in the ANMM collection is the illustrated account of a remarkable 18th-century voyage through the Spice Islands on a native perahu, by an unconventional English seafarer known to his native crew as ‘The Mad Captain’. By Honorary Research Associate Jeffrey Mellefont.

01 01 Portrait of ‘The Mad Captain’ Thomas Forrest showing his New

Guinea expedition fleet, two kora-kora and flagship Tartar Galley

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > THE MAD CAPTAIN

A RARE BOOK in the National Maritime Collection, written by an extraordinary but almost forgotten English mariner, Captain Thomas Forrest (1729–1802), tells yet another of those great seafaring tales drawn from the centuries of European maritime exploration and expansion, commerce and competition. Forrest’s tale is less epic than the circumnavigations of legends such as Magellan, Drake and Dampier, whose earlier voyage tracks he crossed during his own expedition. It’s certainly more peaceful than theirs, with no lives lost in violent cross-cultural conflicts. His skilled seamanship, navigation and charting invite comparison with masters like his contemporary James Cook – who lost his life in a deadly clash of cultures based on profound misunderstandings, in the same year that Forrest’s account was first published. Indeed, what distinguishes Captain Thomas Forrest from these far more illustrious explorers is his uncommon knowledge of, and respect for, the native societies he encounters, and his whole-hearted embrace of their seafaring skills and technologies. In the years 1774–1776, Forrest sailed through remote and uncharted reaches of the East Indies in a small, locally built perahu manned by a native crew, right under the noses of his nation’s arch-rivals, the Dutch. He was searching for undiscovered sources of nutmeg and cloves that might allow his employer, England’s Honourable East India Company, to challenge the spice-trade monopoly that had been ruthlessly enforced for well over a century by the Dutch United East India Company (VOC). Forrest then published his book, which is a pioneering account of these unknown islands and their inhabitants, as well as a guide and an aid to navigation for fellow mariners.

The Mad Captain’s portrait shows Forrest looking plump, prosperous and pleased with himself at the height of his success and fame

You can get a pretty fair preview of the scope of the museum’s rare volume, with its many engravings and fold-out charts, just by reading the title: A Voyage to New Guinea & The Moluccas from Balambangan including an Account of Magindano, Sooloo and other Islands, and Illustrated with Thirty Copperplates, performed in the Tartar Galley, belonging to the Honourable East India Company, during the years 1774, 1775, 1776, by Captain Thomas Forrest, to which is added a Vocabulary of the Magindano Tongue, Second Edition with an Index. Balambangan is an island on the north-east tip of Borneo, and ‘Magindano’ is Mindanao in the southern Philippines – a wild place back then, and still wild today. Much of Forrest’s life has slipped through history’s cracks, so we know little of his origins. He was a midshipman in the Royal Navy in his mid-teens, and sailed to India, aged 22,

02 Forrest’s vignettes of his Sulu perahu Tartar

Galley under sail and oars show clearly the rig, combining the traditional Austronesian tripod mast and rectangular sail with Mediterranean lateens. Note side rudders (kemudi) and swivel guns near the stern.

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > THE MAD CAPTAIN

Forrest had the versatility to draw on different cultures’ solutions to the universal technical challenges of seafaring

as fifth mate of an East India Company ship. He was posted to Fort Marlborough at Bengkulu on the remote south-west coast of Sumatra, where the company had pepper-trading interests. This was England’s isolated toe-hold in the tropical archipelago we now know as Indonesia, which the Dutch had dominated since the early 1600s by force of superior ships and gunnery. By his mid-40s, when the New Guinea adventure began, Forrest had commanded both Company and private ships in Asia. He had traded in pepper and opium, made several exploratory voyages and become well-versed in the region’s seasonal monsoon winds, tides and currents. He had survived shipwreck, got into strife with both English and Dutch authorities, was briefly a captive of the French, and found time to marry an Englishwoman, Esther, and have children. His writing shows him to be well educated, and he was a musician who carried and played a flute at sea. Forrest learned to speak Malay, the lingua-franca that had long been used by local merchants and sailors throughout the islands and coasts of South-East Asia, where hundreds of different languages were spoken. It’s clear from his writing that he was comfortable with the manners and customs of these various seafaring races. It is also clear that he understood the exotic and unfamiliar forms of the ‘native’ seacraft, and how well suited to their environment they were. This was in an age when the default European attitude was to regard anything indigenous as primitive and inferior. In this, Captain Thomas Forrest emerges as a throughly unconventional figure. It’s reported that his native crews called him Nakhoda Gila – ‘the Mad Captain’ – if not a term of affection, then certainly a tribute to his outlook, which was well outside the mainstream.

03 This view shows Tartar Galley sailing

downwind in the Moluccas, with the mizzen mast and its lateen sail lowered. Forrest is boldly sailing past the Dutchoccupied, clove-producing volcanic island of Makian, safely disguised as ‘native’ shipping.

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > THE MAD CAPTAIN

In 1773 Forrest was sent to help establish a strategic presence for the East India Company on the small island of Balambangan off north-eastern Borneo. Its native ruler, a Sulu sultan, had been persuaded to cede to the British some land not yet controlled by the Dutch, who were busy policing their monopoly in the clove- and nutmeg-producing islands of the nearby Moluccas. At Balambangan, Forrest met Ishmael Tuan Haji, a prominent and respected Muslim trader who was well connected with the sultans and rajahs ruling the small principalities or kingdoms scattered among these outer islands. He said that he knew where unclaimed spices could still be found, further east in the region of New Guinea, so the East India Company commissioned Forrest to go looking for them, with Tuan Haji as a guide.

The Tartar Galley For the expedition that would occupy the next 15 months of his life, Forrest purchased a native perahu that wouldn’t attract Dutch attention. ‘Sensible of the jealousy and watchfulness of the Dutch in the Molucca islands, near which it was neccessary for me to pass on my way to New Guinea,’ he wrote, ‘no less than of the danger of navigating in narrow seas in a vessel that drew much water, I preferred a small one of ten tons burthen.’

04 Harvesting edible giant clam (kima) on Bacan

Island, with Ubi Island in the background. These islands were a semi-independent sultanate in the Dutch-occupied Moluccas.

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > THE MAD CAPTAIN

His perahu came from the nearby Sulu archipelago that stretches between the tip of Borneo and the southern Philippines. The Sulu were famous pirates and slave raiders known for their swift, slender galleys that could be sailed or rowed, able to hide up rivers or seek shelter among shallow reefs. Forrest called his little Sulu ship the Tartar Galley, although he doesn’t tell us why he named it after Genghis Khan’s hordes of horse-riding steppe nomads. Perhaps he sensed what modern ethnologists, linguists and geneticists now believe, that the related maritime peoples of today’s Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Polynesia – people we collectively call Austronesians – had their origins on the Chinese mainland 5,000–10,000 years ago. Tartar Galley, whose only other hull dimension is given as 25 feet (7.62 metres) length of keel, is illustrated by Forrest in several vignettes decorating his topographical drawings of islands and anchorages published in the voyage account. It was a narrow, undecked perahu with a stylish sheer and long overhangs fore and aft, possibly as much as 50 feet (15 metres) overall length. He describes long galleries for up to 20 oarsmen that project outboard beyond the gunwales on each side. A thatched gable of nipa palm leaf (Nypa fruticans) shelters the open hull. Overhanging the stern is a small planked cabin that the local sailors call koran because, Forrest tells us, it’s the only truly weatherproof place on board where the precious Muslim holy book can be stowed. Presumably it’s also where Forrest bunked and kept his valuables.

05 Throughout the voyage Forrest charted

coasts and recorded soundings of anchorages and passages, as well as making detailed depictions of identifying landmarks and approaches. He also recorded passing native vessels; these outrigger boats armed with swivel guns are identified as ‘Malay Jellores’.

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > THE MAD CAPTAIN

Hanging over each stern quarter were the traditional Austronesian twin side rudders called kemudi. Anchors, easily lost when mooring in unfamiliar waters, were the Austronesian pattern made of a timber hook and stone weight lashed together with rattan, so that replacements could easily be built on any beach. Cables and lines were hand-laid of rattan, palm fibres or sea-hibiscus bark. The ship was repaired or improved as they went along, using hand-adzes and the native crew’s shipwrighting skills. One early modification was to raise the topsides by adding extra planks, so less seawater slopped on board.

His skilled seamanship, navigation and charting invite comparison with masters like his contemporary James Cook

Tartar Galley had the large, angled, rectangular Austronesian rig called layar tanja. The sail was laced between parallel bamboo spars and hung on a broad-based tripod mast requiring no stays to keep it up. Forrest admired the way the sail was ingeniously roller-furled by winding it up around the lower boom. This was a true fore-and-aft sail capable of being trimmed to windward, but it had to be tacked by ‘wearing ship’ – turning downwind – while gybing the sail and spars around ahead of the tripod. The tripod mast could easily be lowered, for example when rowing, to reduce windage and weight aloft and hence lessen rolling. Forrest modified Tartar Galley’s sail plan by adding a bowsprit, a fore mast and mizzen mast. Both set the Mediterranean style of triangular lateen sail. Light and easily demountable,

06 This unusual topographical view depicts an

anchorage on the island ceded to the English East India Company by Forrest’s host, the Sultan of Mindanao. A long coastline has been fitted onto the page by the expedient of coiling it around the viewer in the canoe.

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > THE MAD CAPTAIN

these would have given better steering trim, and more versatile sail combinations to suit varying wind conditions. They also carried a smaller lateen storm sail to hoist on the main tripod in heavy airs. This eclectic rig tells us that Forrest had the versatility to draw on different cultures’ solutions to the universal technical challenges of seafaring. He was combining the inventions of several sailing traditions, selecting the ones most appropriate to his sailing environment.

Encounters and adventures

For crew, Forrest enlisted only two other Englishmen: David Baxter as mate, and gunner Laurance Lound. Of the 20 other crew squeezed into that little perahu, most were ‘Malays’ – what we would call Austronesians – of mixed origins: Christians from the Spanish-Catholic Philippines, and ‘Mahometans’ (Muslims) from Mindanao, the Moluccas and Sumatra. Three were ‘lascars from Hindoostan’, that is, southern Asians from the Indian Ocean, most likely Bengalis or Gujaratis. Several had crewed for him on previous Asian voyages. Forrest tells us that ‘... all communicated in the Malay tongue, soft and easily learned, being understood and spoken all along the coast of the islands …’. This was the language called Bahasa Melayu that is native to both shores of the Malacca Strait, the funnel through which all maritime commerce between eastern and southern Asia must pass. Forrest sprinkles his account with Malay expressions, but uses his own spellings that are sometimes hard to recognise: ‘commoodie’ for kemudi (rudder); ‘lyre’ for layar (sail). Alongside the many crewmen sheltering under that leaky palm-leaf thatch, Forrest stowed large quantities of Indian trade textiles used as gifts, payments or bribes wherever the expedition called in. Enormous ceramic jars called guci held drinking water. Forrest regularly purchased large quantities of nutritious sago, the carbohydrate-rich food staple of these eastern islands, produced by washing starch from the fibrous trunks of the riverine sago palm Metroxylon sagu. Baked into slabs in simple terracotta moulds, sago preserved as well as English ship’s biscuit but, he says, was much better to eat. Forrest laments that some earlier English voyagers through these waters suffered hunger because of their ignorance of two cheap, universally available tropical food sources. One was this sago, which could be had from any village in exchange for a bit of Indian cloth. The other was the delicious meat of kima, the giant clams found on every coral reef.

07 Tartar Galley was easily manoeuvred in light

winds and shallow water. Rowers are seated on narrow outboard galleries. The palm-thatch gable covers on open, undecked hull.

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > THE MAD CAPTAIN

Of course the Tartar Galley, now officially an East India Company ship, was armed. It was that enterprising era when the great British and Dutch corporations – the first multinationals – were authorised to wage war, negotiate treaties and mete out justice as they saw fit. ‘[W]e had four swivel guns, two blunderbusses, ten muskets, and six pistols, besides lances, bows and arrows,’ writes Forrest. But the firearms were only discharged for ceremonial salutes or hunting deer and wild boar ashore. Forrest’s countless landfalls as he island-hopped through the Moluccas towards New Guinea – among people who had every reason to be suspicious of unknown, armed Europeans – were accomplished without violence. His account reveals a man who respected the cultures he was encountering, who understood how to interact with them – a man who fundamentally liked these places and their peoples. Instances are as varied as not bringing freshly shot boar on board out of respect for the dietary restrictions of the Muslims in his crew, to his perceptive, diplomatic navigation of intrigues and politics in the palaces of local sultans.

His native crews called him Nakhoda Gila – ‘the Mad Captain’ – if not a term of affection, then certainly a tribute to his outlook, which was well outside the mainstream

Nonetheless, Tartar Galley’s voyage under sail and oar through these reef-strewn, tide-ripped islands had its share of nautical dangers, close calls and near-disasters. His guide Tuan Haji proved to be fearful of returning to the savage wilderness of New Guinea. At Tuan Haji’s behest, Forrest engaged two additional, smaller outrigger perahus, called kora-kora, to make up a more formidable-looking flotilla as they approached New Guinea via Raja Ampat, or ‘The Four Kings’ – the islands of Misool, Salwati, Batanta and Wagiou.

08 Two vignettes on a page of landmark views

show a passing trading vessel, a Buginese padawakang from the Celebes, in the stages of gybing its rectangular tanja sail in light winds.

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > THE MAD CAPTAIN

This added even more native sailors to his ‘payroll’: literally, rolls of trade textiles and rolls of Chinese bronze coins strung together through the square hole in their centre. One of the new boats was lost in a severe storm, although the crew were all rescued. The expedition’s final destination was the port of Dori on the large bay today called Teluk Cenderawasih, ‘Bird of Paradise Bay’, inside Papua’s ‘Bird’s Head’ peninsula. Some nutmeg trees were located but they were not the commercially valuable species, so that aspect of the voyage must be counted a failure. But once again the soundings, coastal plans and landmarks Forrest recorded and published, and his accounts of the inhabitants and their commerce, would become invaluable to future visitors.

On his return voyage, Forrest was initially blown off course by adverse wind and currents. He sailed around the large Moluccan island of Gilolo (today called Halmahera) and reached the Muslim sultanate of Mindanao, where he paid off Tuan Haji and the surviving kora-kora. This began a seven-month lay-over enjoying the hospitality and friendship of the sultan and his heir apparent, while waiting out the wet monsoon and its adverse south-westerly winds. Here, the breadth and depth of Forrest’s lively, enquiring mind emerge in the pages of his journal. Never condescending or judgemental like so many other explorers or colonisers, Forrest recorded local customs and culture, law, agriculture, technology, trade and economy as being interesting in their own right. A linguist as well as ethnographer, he compiled a detailed lexicon of the language of the southern Philippines. Forrest was even an ethno-musicologist, translating a Mindanao sea-shanty, skilfully preserving its rhyme pattern in English and comparing it to a shanty he had recorded years ago in India. He gave violins and a flute to his royal host in Mindanao, transcribed some minuets for him, and taught a princess some Malay songs. Such ‘soft diplomacy’ paid off, because the same sultan ceded Forrest a nearby island as an outpost for the East India Company. Here Forrest also made major changes to Tartar Galley, installing a deck and rerigging it as a schooner since he no longer needed the disguise of a native perahu. This made his little ship more weatherly than it was under the Austronesian layar tanja rig. He demonstrated this by tacking it up the river to the sultan’s capital. At last, when the dry north-east monsoon returned, Forrest sailed Tartar Galley back to Borneo – where the fledgling island outpost of Balambangan had been sacked by Sulu raiders and

09 Approaching New Guinea, Forrest added

two more little ships to his flotilla, Moluccan outrigger galleys called kora-kora. He named them Borneo and Banguey, after territories the English East India Company owned.

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > THE MAD CAPTAIN

10 Forrest recorded a royal marriage ceremony in the court

of the Sultan of Mindanao. The bride is escorted by handmaids to the canopied wedding bed, followed by her princely groom. 11

This view of the expedition’s final destination, Dori in New Guinea, is dedicated to England’s leading explorer–scientist Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society and clearly Forrest’s role model. His ethnographic account of New Guinea includes amazement at Papuan ‘hair brushed out so much that its circumference measured about three foot’

abandoned. Undeterred, Forrest carried on and sailed up the Straits of Malacca, all the way to Aceh in northern Sumatra. Tartar Galley was ultimately auctioned for £9 back at Fort Marlborough, Bengkulu, where Forrest’s East Indies adventures had begun.

England, publication and fame Forrest then returned to England, where it took him three years to extract payment for his services on the New Guinea voyage from the less-than-entirely Honourable East India Company. The money funded the first edition of his book in 1779. It was a success, and that led to the publication of an enlarged second edition, adding all the fold-out illustrations, in 1780. Publication brought Forrest a moment of fame when he met the luminaries of England’s prestigious Royal Society, including its president, Joseph Banks, Cook’s naturalist Daniel Solander, Astronomer-Royal Nevil Maskelyne and eminent hydrographer Alexander Dalrymple. But he had neither the wealth nor influence to enter these elite scientific ranks. He remained a working seaman, returning to the East and the command of Company ships, resuming his involvement in England’s commerce, exploration and many wars till the end of his days.

Publication brought Forrest a moment of fame when he met luminaries of the Royal Society

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > THE MAD CAPTAIN

Original copies of A Voyage to New Guinea and the Moluccas are scarce and change hands for thousands of US dollars. Almost 50 years ago Oxford University Press produced a handsome, limited-edition facsimile of the 1780 version (Oxford In Asia Historical Reprints, Kuala Lumpur 1969), including all the fold-out illustrations and maps. It contains a scholarly essay by D K Bassett of the University of Hull (to whom I am indebted for all the biographical details of Forrest’s life that don’t appear in his own account). The OUP facsimile has also become a collectible that only rarely turns up in book dealers. Perhaps one reason Forrest’s book has not yet appeared in paperback is that it’s not a straightforward narrative. The fascinating travelogue is interrupted over and over by passages that are simply aids to mariners navigating the same waters, in the style of later Admiralty Pilot directions. Readers can also be challenged by the 18th-century syntax and typography that has two forms of the letter ‘s’: The paffage into the harbour… is bold, and a mufket shot acrofs. In the middle of the harbour is a round coral rock, dry at low water, and bold all round. A firft rate might lay her fide to it, lying in fix fathom water, muddy ground. Throughout his book, erudite Captain Thomas Forrest references other explorers in footnotes and even sprinkles in Latin quotations from the classics… perhaps trying a little too hard to convince us that he’s not just an unlettered salt? However, there’s no disputing the very first Latin passage, which appears on the title page. It is chosen from Ovid’s Metamorphoses to introduce the author, which it achieves both modestly and well: Ignotis errare locis, igonotis videreLittora gaudeabat, studio minuente laborem ‘He delighted to wander over unknown regions To visit unknown rivers, the interest lessening the fatigue’ The Mad Captain’s portrait shows Forrest looking plump, prosperous and pleased with himself at the height of his success and fame. Indeed, the only hint of eccentricity is in the little fleet of native perahus glimpsed through a window behind him: Tartar Galley and the two kora-kora. With it is a purported Forrest family crest with its Latin motto Et Viret in Undis: ‘And he thrives among the waves’ He most certainly did. Author Jeffrey Mellefont was the founding editor of Signals 1989–2013. In retirement he continues to research, write and lecture on the history and seafaring traditions of Australia’s archipelagic neighbour, Indonesia.

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > BEHIND THE CONTAINER EXHIBITION

Behind the Container exhibition INTERVIEW WITH MARIKA CALFAS, CEO, NSW PORTS

NSW Ports is the major sponsor of our new outdoor exhibition Container â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the box that changed the world. CEO Marika Calfas explains why the company chose to partner with the museum in developing the exhibition.

ANMM Tell us about working in ports. MC Efficient ports and port supply chains are essential for both the New South Wales and national economies. My colleagues and I enjoy working in and contributing to the industry, and have a passion to drive efficiency, make improvements and find new opportunities. We are particularly interested in the supply chain â&#x20AC;&#x201C; getting more containers moving on rail and off the roads to intermodals and then the goods to their final destination, whether that is a business, retail outlet or other location. Does NSW Ports only deal with containers? NSW Ports is a consortium of leading institutional investors: IFM Investors, Australian Super, Tawreed Investments Limited and Q Super. The owners have a 99-year lease on the assets: Port Botany, Port Kembla and the intermodal sites at Enfield and Cooks

01 At the launch of Container: ANMM Director, Kevin Sumption PSM, and Chairman, Peter Dexter AM; New South Wales Minister

for Roads, Maritime and Freight, The Hon Melinda Pavey MP; ANMM Curator Dr MaryElizabeth Andrews; CEO, NSW Ports, Marika Calfas. Image Andrew Frolows/ANMM 02 Marika Calfas, CEO, NSW Ports, at the Port

Botany Container Terminal. Image courtesy NSW Ports

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > BEHIND THE CONTAINER EXHIBITION

River, which are connected to Port Botany via a dedicated freight rail link. Port Botany is Sydney’s container port – although we also have a bulk liquids facility here, too. While Port Kembla isn’t a container port, we view it as being a future second container terminal for the city. As our population grows and demand for goods increases, it will be essential for us to get goods through the port and to their destination as quickly and seamlessly as possible.

Port Botany contributes largely to this state’s economy – bringing in $3.2 billion annual GSP while supporting 21,000 jobs

Why did you choose to support the development of the Container exhibition? We’ve been involved with the Australian National Maritime Museum for many years, and have wanted to partner with it for some time because of the obvious synergies between our sectors. After considering various options, we decided that collaborating on developing an exhibition focused on the container was the right opportunity. We’re excited to become a part of the exhibition, not just financially as a sponsor, but also working closely with curator Dr Mary-Elizabeth Andrews on its development: providing data and helping her to research information, as well as providing logistical support. Members of our management team coordinated the relocation of six containers from interstate to the museum for fit-out by their curatorial and design teams, and their placement on site for the exhibition. This exhibition is an opportunity for everyone to understand the importance of ports and containers as a vehicle for exporting and importing goods around the world. We are an island nation, so much of what we own – especially furniture and electrical and other household goods – comes from elsewhere in containers. 03

03 Diagram of how containers move from ports

to their destination, either directly or via intermodal terminals. Courtesy NSW Ports

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How do containers move through a port?

The free outdoor exhibition Container is currently showing at the museum.

All of us rely on containers to supply everyday items, like appliances, furniture, clothes, whitegoods and food. Australian products such as wine, farm produce, manufactured goods, wool, cotton and other items are loaded into containers and exported to overseas markets. Container shipping connects New South Wales with the rest of the world and keeps the state’s economy functioning.

Marika Calfas is also a board member of Ports Australia and PIANC, Deputy Chair of the Australian Logistics Council, Member of Infrastructure Partnerships Australia National Advisory Board and Chief Executive Women, as well as Australia’s representative to PIANC International Environmental Commission.

Containers being imported arrive by ship at the port. Ships berth at one of the container terminals, and containers are then transported by either truck to the importer, or directly to the retailer. Alternatively, they may be transported by train to an intermodal terminal, and then moved by truck to their final destination. For export, agricultural exports such as cotton or wine might travel by truck either directly to the container terminal or to the intermodal terminal. From there they travel by freight train to the container terminal, where the cargo is loaded onto ships to be sent overseas. As our population increases, so too does the purchasing of products. Sydney’s population is estimated to continue growing at a rate of 1.2% in the foreseeable future, leading to an increase in the demand for imported, as well as local, goods. Port Botany is a critical trade gateway for the New South Wales economy. It is the state’s only container port and the largest bulk liquid and gas port, and contributes largely to this state’s economy – bringing in $3.2 billion annual Gross State Product (GSP) while supporting 21,000 jobs.

04 Tug and container ship at Port Botany.

Courtesy NSW Ports

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > TERROR IN THE ICE

Terror in the ice

FRANKLIN’S SHIPS BEGIN TO GIVE UP THEIR SECRETS

A 170-year-old mystery is another step closer to being solved with the discovery of Sir John Franklin’s ship HMS Terror last year by the underwater archaeology team of Parks Canada. It follows their finding of Franklin’s other ship, HMS Erebus, in 2014. The museum recently partnered with the High Commission of Canada to host a talk about the discoveries by the team’s manager, Marc-André Bernier. By Project Officer Inger Sheil.

01 The camp near the wreck of HMS Erebus

at night. Thierry Boyer © Parks Canada

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SINCE THEY SAILED FROM ENGLAND in 1845, the fate of Sir John Franklin and the men of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, who disappeared while seeking the final link of the Northwest Passage, has held an enduring fascination with audiences trying to imagine their survival struggle in the harsh environment of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. In the decades that followed, search expeditions returned with scant written records, scattered objects and Inuit accounts from which historians tried to piece together the story of what happened to the 129 men who had set out. It was determined that both ships were frozen in the ice of Victoria Strait in 1846 and, when no thaw came to set them free the following summer, they endured a second ice-bound winter before abandoning the ships in 1848. It was believed that the crews perished in an attempt to walk to safety.

Following the disappearance of Franklin’s ships, search expeditions returned with scant written records, scattered objects and Inuit accounts

The discovery of Franklin’s ship Erebus in 2014 by an expedition led by Parks Canada was one of the most significant maritime archaeological finds in decades. As reported in Signals 112 ‘Legacy of a Lost Explorer’, historians and enthusiasts eagerly awaited the news from the wreck, as state-of-the-art technology broadcast images of the site, and techniques such as 3D scanning were used to record and print replicas of the objects recovered for conservation work. As significant as the find was, it was only part of the story: where was the Franklin expedition’s other ship, Terror? Efforts to document Erebus continued as the search widened for Terror. As the 2016 expedition season was under way, Sammy Kogvik – an Inuit hunter and Canadian Ranger working with the Arctic Research Foundation – recalled that he had seen what looked like a mast emerging from the ice seven years earlier in Terror Bay. Franklin historian Louie Kamookak noted that other locals had reported sightings indicating that the lost

02 Parks Canada underwater archaeologists

prepare to dive on the wreck of HMS Erebus. 03 A Parks Canada underwater archaeologist

diving on the wreck of HMS Erebus.

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The condition of Erebus makes documenting it a priority, before turning attention to the betterpreserved Terror

ship might be in the bay, which is on the south-western side of King William Island. The name itself was a coincidence – one of many locations in the area named for the Franklin expedition – but proved to be prescient. Kogvik’s report was enough to refocus efforts to this locale, considerably further south than previous search areas. On 12 September 2016, news was released that the wreck had been located 21–24 metres down. The greater depth and more sheltered location meant that the ship was in better condition than Erebus. On 10 October 2017, the Australian National Maritime Museum, in partnership with the High Commission of Canada and Parks Canada, hosted a visit and talk by Marc-André Bernier, the Head of Parks Canada’s underwater archaeology team. Bernier has spent more than 250 hours diving on Erebus and Terror, and gave museum Members and the public an insight into the current status of the excavation and plans for the next decade’s worth of research to be undertaken. The ANMM team spoke with Bernier about what it was like to first set eyes on the wreck, and what his reactions were as he figuratively ‘walked the deck’ of Erebus on that momentous first dive: It was mixed. It was kind of a very particular moment, because we were in a rush against time. It was mid-September in the Arctic and we had one day to get on the ship and that was

04 A Parks Canada underwater archaeologist

examines timbers in the debris field of the wreck of HMS Erebus. All images Thierry Boyer © Parks Canada

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it. That was our one opportunity so you had to be extremely focused, and the weather was picking up – we were in between storms so we had to really go out there. Once you got on the wreck the visibility wasn’t particularly good but it was overwhelmingly emotional in a sense because we had been looking for these ships for eight years. The archaeological team worked to control their breathing so as to conserve their air and maximise their time on the wreck, all the time conscious of the story of the human tragedy that surrounded them. Meanwhile scientists and researchers above tried to interpret what the divers saw. They ran through a whole gamut of emotions, Bernier noted:

The discovery of Franklin’s ship Erebus in 2014 was one of the most significant maritime archaeological finds in decades

... but in the end you have to be extremely focused and understand what you have, and plan the next steps for the dive team. It’s discovery at its purest. We were the first divers to go in and see. How cool is that? Every time you turn around you make a discovery of something and then you find an object that can be linked to someone and you’re brought back to the human story. Bernier described how the archaeological team approached a search area that started where the Franklin expedition spent their first winter in the Arctic, on Beechey Island – hundreds of kilometres to the north of the eventual wreck site – and how they integrated an approach that spanned working with traditional Inuit oral history to using modern technology: You re-look at all the relevant artefacts and relics that were found and brought back to England in the 19th century, trying to find some clues. You look at terrestrial sites as well – we had a really good partnership with the archaeologists of the government of Nunavut – and followed the trail of remains and artefacts as they spanned the area from Beechey Island to the southern shores of King William Island. So you go from very traditional oral history and Inuit accounts right to satellite images of ice movements to see where the ice would take the ships.

05 An underwater archaeologist shines a light

on some of the Terror wreck’s belaying pins. 06 Underwater image of Terror’s wheel.

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The search team had to adapt to prevailing conditions depending on the search area: Some places it was really shallow. You were in this minefield of reefs and sometimes you saw the island and sometimes they were in just two feet of water so you basically had to navigate in these very shallow areas. For these potentially hazardous areas, the team used towed sidescan sonar and small boats:

The team integrated an approach that spanned working with traditional Inuit oral history to using modern technology

At other times you would have 30, 40, 50 metres of water – a totally different thing, so then we used larger ships that could go on day and night. Two of the most important environmental elements affecting the search were the prevailing weather and ice movements: Depending on where you were it opened up earlier and then in other areas you only had one week during the year. So we were basically following the ice as it receded from the northern area. It was a big chess game we were playing with the ice and the Canadian Arctic. We asked Bernier if he had handled objects that resonated strongly with him. ‘Often the stories come out in the lab. That’s where you find out “Oh, this was used before”.’ But some objects told their own stories in situ on the wreck site: I remember in 2015 one of the first things we did – there was so much kelp you almost couldn’t see the wood on the upper deck. It was basically a forest of kelp. It had become an artificial reef.

07 An underwater archaeologist tries to

illuminate the interior of Terror through a window. Above images courtesy Thierry Boyer/Parks Canada

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To get clear sonar images and properly map the site, the team spent five days with pruning shears hand cutting every stem of kelp, careful not to tear at it and damage the underlying wood: ‘And then the ship started to appear. It was like unravelling a big present.’ As the team worked, they came across a section where the damage to the upper deck allowed divers to see down into the main deck: All of a sudden this boot appears. There was another diver with me, Aaron Griffin, and I just said ‘Aaron, come here’. And when he saw that, I didn’t have to explain anything – he just looked at me, and I could see his eyes saying ‘wow’. That one there is probably the moment that I felt that this is a burial site, and we probably have remains on it. Parks Canada spent the 2017 dive season surveying and documenting the hulls and preparing for future excavation. For now, although excited by the possibilities raised by Terror’s excellent state of preservation, their efforts have focused on the less stable, more exposed Erebus, and determining the safest way to excavate the interior. The condition of Erebus makes documenting it a priority, before turning attention to the better-preserved Terror. A ten-year plan to work on both sites has been developed, and the team is optimistic about the discoveries concerning Franklin’s men and their lives and deaths in the Arctic.

On 12 September 2016, news was released that the wreck of HMS Terror had been located 21–24 metres down

08 Sonar imagery of the wreck of HMS Terror.

Image courtesy Parks Canada

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Already there have been intriguing glimpses of objects such as sailors’ chests that appear to have their contents intact, and many more objects are likely to still be inside the hulls. Scientists are already excited by the prospect, for example, that some of Assistant Surgeon Harry Goodsir’s specimens may have survived. Goodsir, who also served as a naturalist, was known to be collecting specimens on the expedition – these could potentially tell us more about the Canadian Arctic environment 170 years ago, and provide a comparison for conditions today. We may yet find the answer to such tantalising questions as whether, as Inuit testimony suggests, the ships were re-manned after being abandoned in 1848, and possibly sailed further south, even as far as Terror Bay – arguably completing the last link in the Northwest Passage. The ANMM interview with Marc-André Bernier is being formatted as a podcast and will be made available for download in the future.

09 The ‘Victory Point Note’, found in a cairn

on King William Island in 1859, is the most significant written record of the expedition yet found. The pre-printed record had handwritten annotations by Franklin’s officers. The first, dated 28 May 1847, recorded that the ships were frozen in ice, that Franklin was still in command, and said ‘All well’. The next, dated 25 April 1848, noted that the ice had failed to thaw for a second season, and Franklin had died on 11 June 1847 – just two weeks after the previous note. ANMM Collection 00054074

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > VEGETABLE SHEEP

Vegetable Sheep AND 18TH-CENTURY TELESCOPES

Thanks to a strange reference to ‘vegetable sheep’ in Joseph Banks’ journal, Don Heussler managed to calculate and confirm the extraordinary power of the telescopes on board HM Bark Endeavour during James Cook’s visit to Australia.

01 Mt Egmont sighted by Captain Cook 1770,

a Shaw, Savill & Albion shipping line poster from 1931 advertising their route to New Zealand. It shows a view of Mt Taranaki (formerly Mt Egmont) with a portrait of Cook holding a telescope. ANMM Collection 00018966

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LIEUTENANT JAMES COOK’S Endeavour journey of 1768–1771, to Australia and New Zealand, commenced with a scientific expedition to Tahiti. This was to provide a suite of scientific data about a celestial event called the Transit of Venus. Such data, collected accurately from several points on the earth’s surface, would provide the key measurement of the distance between the sun and the earth.

Cook’s place in history was cast almost 40 years before he was born in 1728

It was the time of the Enlightenment, and scientific advances were accelerating. Improving the knowledge of our universe was a key focus of activity. The brilliant mathematical mind of Edmund Halley (of comet fame) had predicted in 1691 that the optimum time for these scientific measurements was 1769. So, really, Cook’s place in history was cast almost 40 years before he was born in 1728.

02 Map from Cook’s expedition showing

Mt Egmont (now Mt Taranaki, highlighted) and the track of Endeavour. ANMM Collection 00004423_038

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Celestial and maritime telescopes Endeavour carried two types of telescope. Both were the finest instruments of their day, because Cook’s voyage was sponsored and organised by two of the major power centres in 18th-century Britain – the Royal Society and the Admiralty. Celestial scopes were larger and designed to be used on land, to reduce or eliminate any movement of the instrument. On Cook’s journey, Venus was viewed using a fine instrument from the workshop of James Short, a mathematician, optician and instrument maker from Edinburgh. His workshop is claimed to have produced 1,360 telescopes during his lifetime. Such a sales volume alone is testament to the quality of his work. Maritime scopes were for use from the ever-moving deck of a ship. Again, Britain excelled in this technology, the major manufacturers being Nairne & Blunt and Dollond. It was these instruments that I needed more information about for my research – what was the magnification available and what was the visual sharpness (acuity) of the best marine telescopes 250 years ago? This data is not easy to obtain. The resolution (don’t excuse the pun) was achieved by referring to instruments still extant today and by consulting an expert. But the real proof came from coincidences found within the great journals of James Cook and Joseph Banks.

The search Within one week, I was able to view two actual examples of maritime telescopes of the 18th century. On view at the time at the ANMM was the exhibition Ships, Clocks & Stars, produced by Royal Museums Greenwich. It displayed an original, beautifully preserved instrument, made in 1774 by Nairne & Blunt, of about one metre in length (unextended). Its label noted that, ‘James Cook had a Nairne & Blunt telescope during his Pacific voyages’. I was not able to get closer to this example than the glass of the display case. The second instrument is a treasure of the State Library of New South Wales and is available for research under controlled conditions. This telescope has a claim to have been actually owned by Captain Cook and has an excellent provenance, from Mrs Elizabeth Cook’s lawyer down to Sir William Dixon, who gave it to the library in 1952. Under the joint care of a librarian, a curator and a security guard, this telescope and I were taken to a secure section of the upper floors of the library so that I could examine its acuity.

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The curator handled the telescope at all times while I tried to view the spires of St Mary’s Cathedral. All I saw was opaque light – there was an internal malfunction in the instrument. Despite their historical interest and value, neither of these instruments was able to give me any information on its power or acuity. It was time to search elsewhere.

The expert The power of the internet put me in contact with Mr Richard Dunn, the Senior Curator in the History of Science at Royal Museums Greenwich in the UK. He said that he had come across advertisements by Nairne & Blunt and Dollond from the period immediately after Cook. These advertised products giving a magnification (×) of 35×, 40× and 45× for daytime use and 75× with attachments for night use. Defining magnification is a vexed issue even today, as any review of such a Google search will disclose. I assume that optical scientists of 250 years ago adopted a simple convention. The convention I am using is: ‘An object one metre in diameter, when viewed at a distance through a 40× (magnification) telescope, will appear as an object 40 metres in diameter.’ If truth in advertising was adhered to in the mid-1700s, the topquality British telescopes seem amazingly powerful for the day. Given that these telescopes were freely and commercially available in the 1780s, I contend that limited-production, handmade, state-of-the-art scopes were available aboard HM Bark Endeavour in 1768. It is reasonable that Cook had at least one 40× telescope, and probably several. However, science demands repetition of data to test the truth, or a conclusion drawn from separate and discrete data or via an independent pathway.

03 Raoulia eximia, one species of vegetable

sheep. Image courtesy Landcare Research, New Zealand

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The literary clue Rob Mundle is a well-known Australian author who has written several books on Australian exploration, including Cook – from sailor to legend, an enjoyable and highly atmospheric description and commentary on Cook’s voyages. While reading this book, I noticed an unusual (and probably unique) quote from the journal of Joseph Banks: This morn we were abreast of a great hill … with our glasses we could distinguish many white lumps in companies of 50 or 60 together which probably were either stones or tufts of grass, but bore much resemblance of flocks of sheep … How intriguing! A distant view of sheep – not native to New Zealand – could have been a show-stopping moment for James Cook, who was in the process of circumnavigating New Zealand, claiming to be the first Europeans to explore it and interact with the Maori population. He was also about to claim these lands for King George III. I wondered if Cook’s journal for that same day of the voyage would show more information of use to me. I used a digitised version of Banks’ journal on the Gutenberg Australia website. A search on ‘flocks of sheep’ immediately gave me a date of 12 January 1770. That took about 40 seconds. Then, in less than a minute, I was able to use the same method to reference that date in Cook’s own journal, which notes: Friday 12th [January 1770] Gentle breezes … at noon had the winds very variable … at this time we were about 3 leagues from the shore which was under the Peaked mountain. Saturday, 13th at 5 am saw for a few minutes the top of the Peaked mountain … it is of prodigious height … I have named it Mt. Egmont. Here was my data! On that date, Cook was sailing by the west coast opposite the peak that he named Mt Egmont, but which is now known as Mt Taranaki. This is a significant volcano 2,518 metres in height, near the vibrant city of New Plymouth. Cook tells us that the ship was three leagues (16 kilometres) from the coast. Modern maps show that the mountain is approximately 20 kilometres from the coast. So Banks’ team was making observations of strange white objects from 36 kilometres away. How does this help us to determine the visual acuity of the telescopes they were using? That’s the really neat part! Rob Mundle starts the explanation in his book, noting of the objects:

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‘In fact they were unusual white plants that are now referred to as vegetable sheep’. Again, the internet provides concise scientific information to confirm the data. ‘Vegetable sheep’ is the plant genus Raoulia, endemic to New Zealand. A common species is Raoulia australis, known to occur on the North Island of New Zealand. The plants are a form of pincushion daisy that has evolved to withstand the rigours of alpine environments. They typically grow in distinct colonies, about one metre in size, on the exposed rocks above both the tree-line and grassland areas of New Zealand peaks. The strange name was given to these plants by early European shepherds. The white forms in their distant view (without telescopes) often fooled the shepherds and their dogs, hence the name. From Banks we know that he could not resolve these objects with enough precision to identify them – but he could count them. Therefore we know almost exactly the full capability of the telescopes used. My assessment is that Endeavour’s maritime telescopes were of sufficient power and acuity to distinguish objects (in high-contrast situations) about one metre in size at a distance of 36 kilometres. That is a powerful visual tool.

A final comment This confirmation of the power and acuity of Cook’s telescopes was only possible because of a series of coincidences. Two hundred and fifty years ago, these were: the observation of a singular mountain, quite close to the coast of exploration; and the sight of the unusual white plants seen by Banks, which only grow at alpine elevations and provide a rare high-contrast subject (white on dark grey rocks) at a huge distance (36 kilometres). As well, Banks’s observations meshed perfectly with Cook’s ship location record and they both mentioned the distinctive landform of Mt Taranaki. In the 21st century, the coincidences concluded with this author, seeking to know the power of Cook’s telescopes, casually reading Rob Mundle’s book and being introduced to the world of vegetable sheep. So here was the answer to my original question, from two different sources: one an expert in England, the other from the very professional scientific and naval expertise of Banks and Cook, who recorded key details of their voyage around New Zealand 250 years ago.

This confirmation of the power and acuity of Cook’s telescopes was only possible because of a series of coincidences

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But what about the original scientific objectives of the Endeavour voyage, conceived way back in 1691 when Edmund Halley designed the Transit of Venus experiment? The overall scientific results were substantial. When the Tahiti observations were combined with those from other remote locations, they allowed the astronomers and mathematicians of the 1770s to calculate the distance between the earth and sun to be 153 million kilometres. Compare this with the latest modern measurement of 149.6 million kilometres, and you find an error of only 2.3 per cent. Fine work indeed. Don Heussler is a member of the Australian National Maritime Museum. He has a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Sydney and a lifetime interest in James Cook. He was born and raised just a few kilometres from Botany Bay. This extract is from a new manuscript on the Cook/Endeavour voyage using 21st-century science, technology and scholarship. The full work allows a surprising new assessment of James Cook. Readers are welcome to contact the author at donheussler@hotmail.com.

04 Mt Taranaki from the sea.

Credit Jiri Foltyn/Shutterstock

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > ‘AT THE WALLABY TROT’

‘At the Wallaby Trot’ AUSTRALIAN DESTROYERS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN 1917–19

In 1917, thousands of Australians soldiers were serving in Europe and the Middle East. Royal Australian Navy warships were scattered across the globe keeping the sea lines of communication open to ensure the safe movement of men and materiel. In the Mediterranean six Australian destroyer crews did their bit to bring about the defeat of the Central Powers, writes Greg Swinden.

01 RAN River class destroyer flotilla at anchor in Brindisi,

Italy, 1917. From left: HMA Ships Parramatta, Yarra, Huon, Swan, Warrego and a British Royal Navy destroyer. HMAS Torrens (not shown) was also based with the other five destroyers at Brindisi in 1917 and 1918. Australian War Memorial P01557.001

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;AT THE WALLABY TROTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

AS WORLD WAR I RAGED on the Western Front, another campaign was being fought in the Mediterranean theatre against the Ottoman Empire in the Levant, Bulgarian forces in Salonika and Austro-Hungarian forces in northern Italy. The key to the eventual Allied success, in supporting this disparate fighting, was their effective use of sea power to move vast quantities of men and materiel throughout the theatre. But it was not an easy mission, as the German, Turkish and Austro-Hungarian naval forces disrupted Allied efforts wherever they could. Off the Dardanelles a strong Royal Navy presence was maintained to prevent Turkish and German vessels from entering the Mediterranean. To stop the Austro-Hungarian Navy from deploying its warships, from the Adriatic Sea into the Mediterranean, an Allied naval blockade of the Strait of Otranto was implemented. Known as the Otranto Barrage, it stretched from Brindisi in southern Italy to Corfu in Greece. The blockade initially consisted of Italian, British and French warships and it prevented enemy surface units from breaking out into the Mediterranean to attack Allied convoys. However, it was not effective in stopping the enemy submarines based at Pola (Pula, Croatia), Cattaro (Kotor, Montenegro) and Durazzo (Durres, Albania) and by August 1917, Allied intelligence estimated there were 15 Austro-Hungarian and 33 German U-boats active in the Mediterranean. Between February and July 1917 they had sunk, on average, 30 Allied vessels per month. More escort vessels, especially destroyers, were needed to combat this growing and seemingly unstoppable menace. In April 1917 the Japanese Navy stationed 14 destroyers and two cruisers at Malta to assist the Allies in combating the submarine menace, and on 9 May the Royal Navy urgently requested that the six Royal Australian Navy (RAN) destroyers then operating in South-East Asia (1st Destroyer Division of HMA Ships Huon,

02 HMAS Parramatta towing the torpedoed

Italian troopship Orione into the port of Castro. HMAS Yarra and two French destroyers are acting as escorts. The 400 troops and wounded aboard Orione were picked up by the Australian destroyers HMA Ships Warrego, Huon and Parramatta. Australian War Memorial EN0404

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > ‘AT THE WALLABY TROT’

The European winter came as a shock and extra warm clothing had to be issued to the men

Swan and Torrens) and patrolling the Australian east coast (2nd Destroyer Division of HMA Ships Parramatta, Warrego and Yarra) be sent to the Mediterranean. The Australian Government agreed and the six destroyers arrived in the Mediterranean in early August 1917 under the command of Commander William Warren, RAN, who sailed on Parramatta to take up his position as flotilla leader. Within days of their arrival they were escorting a convoy to Malta, and on 16 August 1917 had their first brush with the enemy when Parramatta’s lookouts sighted the wake of a submerged submarine and commenced a depth charge attack. Meanwhile, the men in Torrens sighted a second periscope and opened fire with the ship’s 4-inch gun. While the action was inconclusive, Parramatta claimed a probable ‘kill’ as oil and air bubbles came to the surface in the vicinity of its depth charge attack. In Torrens one of the gun crew, Able Seaman James Brown (2491), was knocked unconscious when he stood too close to the recoiling breech of the 4-inch gun. After being briefly located in Malta and Taranto (Italy), the Australian destroyers’ home port, from early October, was Brindisi, and this became their base for the next 12 months. The destroyers were berthed with their sterns towards their shoreline and their bows pointing towards the sea and connected to a buoy. This style of mooring, known as a Mediterranean moor, was common throughout the region due to the many small harbours and the Australian mooring became known as the ‘Wallaby Trot’. Brindisi was hardly a seaside resort, though, and had limited recreational facilities for the destroyer crews: one music hall, a cinema and only a few hotels (although the local beer was assessed as good). Food was limited and the Australians were allocated an acre (0.4 hectare) of land to grow vegetables to

03 Unidentified crew members aboard

HMAS Parramatta, warmly dressed in thick coats, gloves, scarves and caps. Note the ship’s mascot, a puppy. Australian War Memorial EN0366

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supplement their diet. The European winter also came as a shock and extra warm clothing, including woollen duffel coats (known as ‘lammy suits’), had to be issued to the men. The Australians started continuous patrols and were soon in action again. On 16 November Huon, Parramatta, Warrego and Yarra went to the aid of the torpedoed Italian transport vessel Orione. Its stern had been blow off and it had lost all means of propulsion. Huon and Warrego recovered survivors from the water and from the stricken vessel and Parramatta put a small team on board to help the Italian crew. Yarra circled the vessel, keeping an eye out for enemy submarines. Suddenly a torpedo was spotted and it passed directly under Parramatta. Warrego and Huon commenced an attack on the U-boat but without success. An Italian tug arrived later that day and towed Orione to Castro in southern Italy. Signalman John Varcoe, from Bakers Swamp, New South Wales, stayed on board Orione to help with communications. Varcoe was later awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his excellent efforts and coolness in a difficult and dangerous situation.

Suddenly a torpedo was spotted and it passed directly under HMAS Parramatta

04 Group portrait of nine unidentified crew

members aboard the destroyer HMAS Torrens. This is probably taken at Brindisi. Australian War Memorial EN0275

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Between February and July 1917, enemy U-boats had sunk on average 30 Allied vessels per month

Despite the patrols, enemy submarines still managed to get through the Otranto Barrage, but it was not just the submarines that the Australians had to contend with. The enemy also frequently laid mines, and the weather could often prove as dangerous as the enemy. On the night of 9/10 April 1918 two Italian destroyers, escorting three battleships, collided during bad weather and sank. HMAS Torrens was nearby and was ordered to proceed with all dispatch to rescue survivors. As the destroyer increased speed towards the collision site the weather deteriorated and a large wave struck the ship, washing Ordinary Seaman Leslie Moore, from Brighton, Victoria, over the side. He was gone in a few seconds and never seen again. Torrens later found only three survivors from the two sunken destroyers, although British and French warships rescued 43 others. The Australians suffered further tragedy when Commander Warren, who had been hospitalised for illness and exhaustion in March, collapsed and drowned in Brindisi Harbour on 13 April. Commander Arthur Bond took over command of the flotilla. In May, Warrego helped tow the British destroyer HMS Phoenix, which had been torpedoed by the Austrian U-27, but, when almost in sight of land, bad weather caused Phoenix to capsize and sink. Warrego brought the survivors to Brindisi. In May 1918, Parramatta was fitted with an observation balloon to help the effort to locate submarines. A specialist RAF crew of observers and technicians was embarked to operate the balloon and winch. By June, Huon and Yarra had also been fitted with balloons. This increased the number of attacks on submarines, but not necessarily the number of sinkings.

05 Inscription reads ‘Submarine and Italian

naval base’. Part of a collection of images belonging to a crew member on HMAS Huon during World War 1. Australian War Memorial P08160.001

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While the patrols often returned empty-handed, the attacks on convoys and sinkings of merchant ships were reducing due to the convoy system and effective use of convoy escorts, which counter-attacked the submarines. From February to July 1918, 21 ships on average were lost per month. The figure dropped to only 11 per month, on average, from August to October. During 1918 the Germans and Austrians lost 15 submarines, and these and their crews could not easily be replaced. By October the Austrians were in retreat both on land and at sea. The port of Durazzo was bombarded on 2 October by a combined Italian–British task force and Swan and Warrego were part of the escort of the larger vessels. On 15 October Italian troops occupied Durazzo, and Austria–Hungary capitulated on 3 November 1918. There was, however, one more enemy for the Australians to face. 06

06 Informal portrait of Lieutenant Cyril John

Percy Hill (left), smoking a pipe, and Engineer Lieutenant Clarence Bridge on board HMAS Parramatta. These two officers boarded and rendered assistance to the Italian troopship Orione when it was torpedoed in the Otranto Straits on 19 November 1917. Australian War Memorial EN0418

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > ‘AT THE WALLABY TROT’

The Spanish influenza outbreak of 1918 was by now surging through Europe, and Italy was not spared. In October Huon was undergoing a refit in Genoa and five of its crew succumbed to the disease in the space of a few weeks. Two of the men, Stoker Ernest Browne and Stoker Reginald Browne from Port Kembla, New South Wales, were brothers. They now rest at Stagliano Cemetery in Southern Italy. Torrens lost one man to the disease – Lieutenant Reginald Farmer – while the ship was in refit at Messina. Following the Armistice, the Australian destroyers were sent east to the Dardanelles and joined an Allied task force which, on 12 November, steamed through the Dardanelles to Constantinople (Istanbul). Parramatta, Torrens and Yarra were part of the escort for the larger warships, and even though minesweepers had swept the channel, Parramatta sank a mine by gunfire during the passage north. Commander Bond requested that the Australian ships fly the Australian national flag in tribute to the men of the AIF who had lost their lives at Gallipoli. The response from Vice Admiral Somerset Gough-Calthorpe RN, commanding the Allied fleet, was ‘The Commonwealth blue ensign may be flown at the port yard in honour of Australia’s glorious dead’. The other three Australian destroyers arrived at Constantinople later that month and on 25 November the Allied fleet moved through the Bosphorus into the Black Sea to support White Russian forces against the Bolsheviks.

The Australian destroyers did not operate together during this period, and carried out a variety of tasks. Perhaps the most interesting was the dispatch of HMAS Swan, under the command of Bond, and the French destroyer Bisson to the Sea of Azov. Bond then led a small Australian/French delegation overland to Novocherkassk to meet local White Russian leaders and report back on the ability of the White Russian forces to withstand the Bolsheviks. The Allied delegation had to beat a hasty retreat when Bolshevik forces broke through the White Russian front line. In late December 1918 and early January 1919 the six destroyers departed the Black Sea and proceeded westwards across the Mediterranean to England. On arrival they were refitted prior to their long journey home to Australia. The six destroyers and the cruiser HMAS Melbourne departed for home in March and arrived in Sydney on 21 May 1919. Commander Greg Swinden is a naval historian specialising in the RAN’s history during World War I.

07 Portrait of Commander William Henry

Farrington Warren, Commander of the Australian Navy Destroyer Flotilla, who drowned at Brindisi, Italy, on 13 April 1918. Australian War Memorial H18842

MEMBERS SUMMER 2017–18

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > SUMMER EVENTS

Welcoming summer MESSAGE TO MEMBERS

The holiday season is a time to take a break and relax with family and friends. We hope you also take the opportunity to visit the museum for our special summer exhibitions and events.

AS WE NEAR THE END of another successful year, on behalf of Renae, Alana and Matt I would like to thank you for your loyal support of our program and your contribution to the museum in 2017. Our team has again had a wonderful time planning activities and events this year, and we hope you’ve enjoyed what has been on offer. Please let us know what you think – we are always happy to receive feedback through surveys at events and by email. We’re currently working on a very exciting program for 2018 and hope you will have the opportunity to attend some of these events.

01 Gapu-Mon _ uk Saltwater exhibition.

Image Janine Flew/ANMM

02 Visitors over the summer holidays can chat

to the museum’s dog, Bailey, during his afternoon walks. ANMM image 03 Check out the free outdoor exhibition

Container in the Wharf 7 forecourt. Image Andrew Frolows/ANMM

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > SUMMER EVENTS

MEMBERS SUMMER 2017–18

This year we celebrated our 26th Members anniversary lunch with a very special presentation by Valerie Taylor. Those who attended enjoyed her fascinating stories of her wreck-diving adventures and of course her wealth of knowledge about sharks. This summer our exhibitions include Container, Arctic Voices and Gapu-Mon _ uk Saltwater – Journey to Sea Country. Arctic Voices is a family-friendly exhibition that explores this fascinating and ever-changing region. The ‘voices’ in the title are those of the region’s inhabitants as they share their knowledge and unique culture. You can add your own voice by participating in throat singing, a traditional art with modern applications.

If you haven’t yet seen Container, we encourage you to ‘step inside the box’ and enjoy our first-ever outdoor exhibition. Six colourful shipping containers, scattered around the museum like giant Lego pieces, tell the story of this metal box that changed the world and profoundly influenced the global economy. Gapu-Mon _ uk Saltwater – Journey to Sea Country acknowledges the significant story of the Yolŋu people of northeast Arnhem Land and their successful fight for recognition of Indigenous sea rights in the Blue Mud Bay legal case. The works in this exhibition were created by 47 Yolŋu artists who petitioned for sea rights by painting their Sea Countries on bark and revealing sacred patterns or designs known as miny’tji, which were created by Ancestral Beings.

I would like to ensure that you are all receiving our monthly emails. If not, please contact Renae or me directly on (02) 9298 3646. The Membership team would like to wish you a happy and safe festive season, and we hope to see you at the museum soon.

Oliver Isaacs Manager, Members

04 Valerie Taylor AM, special guest speaker

at the Members anniversary lunch, with (from left) ANMM Manager, Members, Oliver Isaacs; Chairman Peter Dexter AM; and Director Kevin Sumption PSM. Image MacDougall Photography 05 The family-friendly exhibition Arctic Voices

runs over summer. Image courtesy Science North 06 Historian Warren Fahey presented sea

shanties in the Members Lounge as part of our Members Maritime Series in September. Image Andrew Frolows/ANMM

MEMBERS SUMMER 2017–18

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > SUMMER EVENTS

Members events SUMMER 2017–18

DECEMBER

Tours and play for carers and babies

FEBRUARY

On the water

Seaside strollers tours

Members Maritime Series

Boxing Day Cruise

10.30 am–12 pm or 12.30 pm–2 pm Mondays 15 and 22 January, Monday 19 February

The mighty HMS Hood

10.30 am–2.30 pm Tuesday 26 December

Enjoy the action of the Sydney– Hobart Yacht Race start Summer holiday programs

Kids’ and family activities 28 December 2017– 28 January 2018

Exhibitions, tours, vessels, performances and themed creative activities Family event

New Year’s Eve at the museum 6–10 pm Sunday 31 December 2017

Get a front-row seat for the 9 pm fireworks at Darling Harbour

JANUARY Theatre performances

Arctic Adventures 11.30 am and 2 pm daily 3–28 January (except Saturdays and public holiday 26 January)

A new performance in our series of popular summer theatre programs

Educator-led tours through our exhibitions, plus baby play time in a sensory space Two-day youth workshop

TV presenting – From the Arctic 10 am–4 pm Wednesday 17 and Thursday 18 January

Children 8–14 can learn techniques in green-screen, scripting, directing, acting and film-making Family torchlight tour

2–4 pm Thursday 8 February 2018

James Warrand talks about the WWII loss of this great battleship

MARCH Members Maritime Series

Book launch and presentation The Flag’s Up 2–4 pm Thursday 8 March

Peter Poland’s new book records arrivals and departures in early colonial Sydney

HMAS Vampire

Symposium

6.15–7.45 pm Thursday 19 January

HMAS Sydney – 10th anniversary of its discovery

A dramatic after-dark tour through HMAS Vampire, plus creative activities Youth workshop

Claymation Creations 10 am–3.30 pm Wednesday 24 January

Children 8–14 can produce stop-motion and clay animations inspired by our exhibitions On the water

Australia Day cruise 10.30 am–2.30 pm Thursday 26 January

Relax with a catered cruise and enjoy the harbour festivities

6–8 pm Friday 16 March

Sydney’s war service and its fateful battle with HSK Kormoran

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > SUMMER EVENTS

Members events SUMMER 2017–18

For your diaries March 2018 – Behind the Scenes excursion: Port Botany container shipyards 13–15 April 2018 – Classic & Wooden Boat Festival 28 April 2018 – Mystery harbour discovery cruise Available free

ANMM Speakers The complete list of talks can be found on anmm.gov.au/Speakers. If you would like to invite a speaker to your club, please contact Noel Phelan or Ron Ray: noelphelan@bigpond.com / 0402 158 590 / (02) 9437 3185ron. ray@aapt.net.au / 0416 123 034 / (02) 9624 1917

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/ whats-on/calendar or phone (02) 8241 8378 (unless otherwise indicated) or email members@anmm.gov.au before sending form with payment. Minimum numbers may be required for an event to go ahead. All details are correct at time of publication but subject to change. Members are requested to check our website for updated and new event information.

MEMBERS SUMMER 2017–18

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > SUMMER EVENTS

MEMBERS SUMMER 2017–18

Members events SUMMER 2017–18

On the water

Boxing Day Cruise 10.30 am–2.30 pm Tuesday 26 December

Sydney Harbour is a wonderful spectacle on Boxing Day. Board Aussie Magic and soak up the festive atmosphere as we cheer on the starters in the Sydney–Hobart Yacht Race. Our exclusive charter vessel will ensure you have a prime position at the start of the race. A gourmet buffet lunch and refreshments are included to help make your day stress-free and enjoyable. Be sure to book early, as this popular event sells out quickly. Members adult $110, child under 12 $95, family $370, non-Members adult $130, child under 12 $95, family $405

Family event

New Year’s Eve at the museum 6–10 pm Sunday 31 December

‘This is one of the best value events for children and adults alike in the city’ Tripadvisor Celebrate New Year’s Eve in style! Your family is invited to a very special New Year’s Eve on the Darling Harbour foreshore. This year, be wowed by roving magicians and fire-knife cultural dancers; enjoy exclusive after-hours access to our newest interactive exhibition, Arctic Voices; have fun with our roving character performers; play with a bubble artist and hula hoops; have your face painted; and dance the night away with our DJ. Choose the experience that fits you best: a premium Yachts Package, including a gourmet fresh seafood basket, or the familyfriendly Tinnies Package, which includes a barbecue, salad and soft drinks. Alcohol can be purchased on site only. Tickets are limited – book now to secure your spot away from the crowds for an unforgettable and hassle-free New Year’s Eve.

Yachts Package Adult $195, child (4–12 years) $105, family $540 Tinnies Package Adult $130, child (4–12 years) $80, family $378 Members receive 10% discount. Children under 4 free

07 The start of the 2016 Sydney–Hobart race.

Image Anna King 08 New Year’s Eve at Darling Harbour.

Image Image © Raewoo/Shutterstock

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > SUMMER EVENTS

MEMBERS SUMMER 2017–18

Members events SUMMER 2017–18

On the water

Australia Day cruise 10.30 am–2.30 pm Thursday 26 January

It doesn’t get much better than spending Australia Day on fabulous Sydney Harbour! Join us aboard Eclipse for the best-value catered four-hour Australia Day cruise on Sydney Harbour. Absorb the colour and spectacle of the annual Australia Day Parade, including the famous Ferrython and Tall Ships race. Includes gourmet Aussie barbecue of sausages, prawns, chicken, lamb kebabs, salads and rolls followed by traditional favourite desserts, lamingtons and pavlova. This cruise is booking up fast, so book now to ensure your place.

Members adult $95, child under 12 $90, family $335. Non-Members adult $110, child under 12 $100, family $380. Bookings essential

Members Maritime Series

The mighty HMS Hood 2–4 pm Thursday 8 February

Join guest speaker James Warrand as he brings to life some very personal memories of the impact of the loss of HMS Hood, sunk in battle against the German battleship Bismark in the Denmark Strait on 24 May 1941. HMS Hood lost 1,415 crew, including Commander SJP Warrand RN – James’ father. James will outline why HMS Hood was so important to the RAN and recount some of the ship’s significant cruises and operations.

Members $20, non-Members $35. Includes afternoon tea

Members Maritime Series

Book launch and presentation The Flag’s Up 2–4 pm Thursday 8 March

The Flag’s Up records the movement of many important ships and people into and from Sydney between 1790 and 1809: governors and explorers, free settlers and convicts, Aboriginal and Maori people and a multitude of colourful characters. Join Peter Poland as he unfolds fascinating and unusual stories discovered during his research. Peter was born into a naval family and served in both the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy. His last command was HMS Zest, which he brought into Sydney Harbour in 1968. Since retiring he has been researching local and Australian history and heritage. Members $20, non-Members $35. Includes afternoon tea

09 Australia Day harbour festivities.

ANMM image 10 Image courtesy Woodslane Press

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > SUMMER EVENTS

MEMBERS SUMMER 2017–18

Members events SUMMER 2017–18

Symposium

HMAS Sydney – 10th anniversary of its discovery 6–8 pm Friday 16 March

The fate of HMAS Sydney (II) was for decades one of Australia’s greatest wartime mysteries. Its wreck was only discovered in 2008, along with that of its rival, the German raider HSK Kormoran. Sydney’s impressive war service record ended on 19 November 1941 following a battle with Kormoran in the Indian Ocean off the Western Australian Coast. Sydney’s crew of 645 all perished. To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the discovery of the wreck of HMAS Sydney, the ANMM will present a symposium telling the story of Sydney – from its short, honourable service to the historic day that its wreck was discovered, to more recent years, when an expedition to the wreck captured a stunning array of images and scientific data.

Topics and presenters will include: the discovery of the wrecks, by UK-based shipwreck hunter David Mearns; the history of HMAS Sydney, by eminent military historian Wes Olsen; the significance of Sydney’s loss to Australia, by Senior Naval Historical Officer John Perryman and Finding Sydney Foundation President Cmdr (rtrd) Bob Trotter; and 3D footage of the wrecks from the 2015 expedition and visualisations, by Dr Andrew Woods and Tim Eastwood from the Western Australian Museum. Symposium presented in conjunction with Curtin University and the Western Australian Museum. Members $75, non-Members $90. Light refreshments and wines will be served

Summer holidays

Arctic adventure 28 December 2017–28 January 2018

Take an Arctic adventure at the museum these school holidays with un-bear-ably cool exhibitions, vessels, hands-on workshops, themed creative activities, performances and more. It’s fun for the whole family! See anmm.gov.au/schoolholidays for full program

The wreck of HMAS Sydney. Image courtesy David Mearns

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > SUMMER EVENTS

MEMBERS SUMMER 2017–18

Members events SUMMER 2017–18

Kids on Deck

Polar Palooza 10 am–4 pm daily 28 December–28 January

Play, create and discover in Kids on Deck – a fun-filled activity space with art-making, interactive games and dress-ups for primary school-aged children and their carers. These holidays, be inspired by the spectacular environments of the North and South Poles. Create your own snow globes, paint with ice, craft polar animal puppets or help make a giant milk-bottle igloo! Included in any paid admission. Members free 12

Cabinet of Curiosities

Polar opposites 11 am–12 pm and 2–3 pm daily 28 December–28 January

Discover curious creature specimens and artefacts related to the Arctic and Antarctic in this hands-on discovery device in the galleries. Theatre performances

Arctic Adventures 11.30 am and 2 pm daily 3–28 January (except Saturdays and public holiday 26 January)

Step into an immersive story world with our summer theatre show! Full details coming soon. See anmm.gov.au/schoolholidays Included in Big Ticket. Members free

Under 5s activities

Under the Sea 10 am and 11 am Tuesdays and Saturdays 9–27 January

Explore amazing undersea creatures through movement, songs and storytime in a fun and interactive learning program especially designed for ages 18 months to 5 years. Afterwards head to Kids on Deck for crafts and messy play. Included in Activities Ticket. Members and other paid admissions free. Bookings essential at anmm.gov.au/under5s

12 Animal and arctic themed activities over

summer in Kids on Deck. Image Andrew Frolows/ANMM

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > SUMMER EVENTS

MEMBERS SUMMER 2017–18

Members events SUMMER 2017–18

Tours and play for carers and babies

Seaside strollers tours 10.30 am–12 pm or 12.30 pm–2 pm Mondays 15 and 22 January, Monday 19 February

For carers with children under 18 months. Take an educator-led tour through new exhibitions and enjoy catered treats from Yots Café, adult-friendly conversations in the galleries and baby play time in a specially designed sensory space. Please check our website for details. Babies free. Members $15, non-Members $20. Includes morning/ afternoon tea and exhibition admission. Bookings essential at anmm.gov. au/schoolholidays

Two-day youth workshop

TV presenting – From the Arctic 10 am–4 pm Wednesday 17 and Thursday 18 January

Create and star in your own imaginative TV segments inspired by our Arctic Voices exhibition. Learn techniques in green-screen, scripting, directing, acting and film-making as you produce your own creative digital stories. Have your finished work displayed for family and friends in a special-event cinema screening. For ages 8–14. Members and earlybird special (to 10 January) $140, non-Members $160. Bookings essential at anmm.gov.au/youth

Family torchlight tour

HMAS Vampire 6.15–7.45 pm Thursday 19 January

Join your character guide for a dramatic after-dark tour through HMAS Vampire. Enjoy creative capers, light refreshments and exclusive after-hours access to behind-the-scenes areas of the vessel and Action Stations experience. For ages 4–12. Members: child $18, adult $10; non-Members child $22, adult $18. Bookings essential at anmm.gov.au/schoolholidays

13 Baby play time during our Seaside Strollers

tours. ANMM image 14 After-dark tours of the galleries are included

in the torchlight tour of HMAS Vampire. ANMM image

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > SUMMER EVENTS

MEMBERS SUMMER 2017–18

Members events SUMMER 2017–18

Youth workshop

Claymation Creations 10 am–3.30 pm Wednesday 24 January

Discover how to produce your own stop-motion and clay animations inspired by our exhibitions on show in this fun-filled workshop. Create your own animation to share and have your work featured on the museum’s YouTube channel. Members $60, non-Members $70. Bookings essential at anmm.gov.au/youth

Term-time activities 15

Kids on Deck 11 am–3 pm every Sunday during school term

Play, discover and create in Kids on Deck – a fun-filled activity and art-making space for primary school-aged children and their families. Term 4 2017 – Marvellous Menagerie: enjoy creative activities inspired by Australian wildlife and our Art of Science exhibition Term 1 2018 – Polar Palooza: be inspired by the spectacular environments of the North and South Poles Included in Big Ticket. Members free

Under 5s program

Mini mariners 10–10.45 am or 11–11.45 am 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, dress-ups and story time in our themed activity area. Ages 2–5 and carers. See anmm.gov.au/under5s for ticketing information. Bookings essential at anmm.gov.au/whats-on

15 Play for pre-schoolers in Kids on Deck.

Annalice Creighton/ANMM

MEMBERS SUMMER 2017–18

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > SUMMER EVENTS

A life-changing choice

MEMBER PROFILE JUDITH ROACH

When did you become a Member? The year 2000 was a life-changer for me. I had retired from the workforce after 50-plus years of service and on the advice of my doctor to ‘do something’, I joined the ANMM as a Volunteer Guide and after 50 hours of service was offered discounted family membership. Do you have a nautical background? When I joined the museum, my son-in-law reminded me of my views about water and boats – land had to be visible and close enough for me to swim to if need be! No problem, the Volunteers Manager told me – my forte was Australian history, and I didn’t have to do the boats. I was in for a shock when I first visited Vampire and caught sight of a familiar metal box containing lifesaving equipment. I served in the Women’s Royal Australian Air Force (WRAAF) in the 1950s as a Safety Equipment Worker (SEW) and the navy trained alongside us at RAAF Richmond. As coincidence would have it, the SEW on Vampire was on the same course as me. We also did additional training at RAAF Williamtown and Point Cook, Victoria, where we were unceremoniously thrown into Port Phillip Bay fully clothed to see if we could save one another and to see if we were listening in class. This is where my love affair with Vampire began.

Nautical background? I think that answer deserves a YES. What’s your favourite aspect of museum membership? I like being able to attend openings of new exhibits, book launches and curatorial talks.

01 Judith Roach beside HMAS Vampire,

a vessel that has special associations for her. Image Kim Turski/ANMM

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > SUMMER EVENTS

What sort of museum events or programs do you tend to participate in? I serve as a hostess in the Members Lounge and also work at front-of-house greeting people when they arrive. People often tell me what they think the museum should include, such as stories on the merchant navy during our wars, more recognition of our various conflicts, and what our early settlers did. Also I encourage visitors to take out membership. What have been some of your favourite exhibitions or events here at the museum? To mention a few over my 17 years here: the first Shackleton exhibition, when we had the original James Caird; Vikings – Beyond the Legend; Smugglers: Customs & Contraband; Ships, Clocks & Stars – The Quest for Longitude, with John Harrison’s amazing chronometers; also Escape from Pompeii – a huge hit with young and old. Anzacs in Crete, though small, had a huge impact on me as my father was among the hundreds captured and was a prisoner-of-war in World War II on Crete. Blackmores First Lady was one of my favourite tours. I was so much in awe of Kay Cottee’s achievement, and it was so moving to see the emotional impact the boat had on visitors of all ages. Tu Do is also very special. I was fortunate to be involved with the curator, Lindl Lawton, and the Lu family when the boat was being restored. If you had to sum up the museum in three words, what would they be? Family, educational, inspiring. What else would you like to see the museum doing in the future? I’d like a repeat of the Australia Day evening picnic. This was a really good end to a day of celebration. Members brought family and friends and a picnic hamper, the museum forecourt was set up with chairs, a band and food and drink stalls, then we all enjoyed the 9 pm Darling Harbour fireworks.

MEMBERS SUMMER 2017–18

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > EXHIBITIONS > ARCTIC VOICES

EXHIBITIONS SUMMER 2017–18

Arctic Voices

14 December 2017 – 30 April 2018

Despite its seemingly remote location, the Arctic is connected to all of us. The family exhibition Arctic Voices will take you on a journey to this fascinating and changing region. The Arctic is more than just snow: it is land, water and ice. It is home to people and wildlife. It is a place of rapid change. Find out what affects the Arctic and, in turn, how the Arctic has an impact on the whole planet. Take a closer look at the connections between life on land and life in the sea. Pounce, hop, push and crawl your way through animal life in the Arctic. Come face to face with a polar bear. Travel with scientists as they catch and tag Arctic whales. Go on a garden tour to see how plants have adapted to survive and thrive in this harsh environment.

01 Visitors can explore the impact of the

changing climate in the Arctic through many ‘voices’, including those of the animals and plants that live there, the human inhabitants, and the scientists and others who are helping to reveal what makes this place so special. Image courtesy Science North

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > EXHIBITIONS > ARCTIC VOICES

Hear from the people who inhabit this region as they share their knowledge and unique culture. Participate in throat singing, a traditional art with modern applications. Meet some of the scientists documenting and studying the implications of a changing north. Challenge your perceptions of the Arctic and discover this colourful and varied land. Arctic Voices is a co-production by the Canadian Museum of Nature and Science North

Wonders of the Arctic 3D film This film, shown in our theatre, focuses on humansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; exploration of, and interactions with, the Arctic. Compelling stories from this region are interwoven to create a unified message about the state of the Arctic today. Central to all these tales is the vital role of ice in the northern environment, and the rapid changes that are threatening its human and animal inhabitants. A Science North and Giant Screens production. Running time: 40 minutes. Please see our website for session times.

EXHIBITIONS SUMMER 2017â&#x20AC;&#x201C;18

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > EXHIBITIONS

EXHIBITIONS SUMMER 2017–18

Gapu-Mon _uk Saltwater – Journey to Sea Country Currently showing

Gapu-Mon _ uk Saltwater Journey to Sea Country acknowledges the Yolŋu people of north-east Arnhem Land and their fight for recognition of Indigenous sea rights in the landmark Blue Mud Bay legal case. The Yirrkala Bark Paintings of Sea Country – also known as the Saltwater Collection – were created by 47 Yolŋu artists who petitioned for sea rights by painting their Sea Countries onto bark. Through them they revealed sacred patterns or designs known as miny’tji, which were created by Ancestral Beings. 02

This exhibition also includes mokuy (spirit) carvings, larrakitj (mortuary pole paintings on hollowed trees), a lipalipa (dugout canoe) and other traditional and contemporary works. The museum would like to advise visitors that this exhibition may contain the names of, and artwork by, deceased Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people.

Waves and Water – Australian beach photography Opens 21 December

The beach is dominant in Australia’s national lexicon. It is a physical and cultural landscape, a place for a shared, universal experience. The work of nine important Australian photographers from the past 100 years reveals differing perspectives of the Australian beach and the swimmers and surfers who populate it.

The photographic lens has been a tool for constructing ideas about the beach, stretching back to late-19th-century postcard images of an increasingly active pleasure-ground. In these works the beach is shown in various guises, made up of moments, theatrical tableaux and sweeping coastal landscapes.

Treasures of the American Collection Until 28 January 2018

We celebrate the 25th year of the museum’s USA Gallery in an exhibition featuring more than 100 objects acquired with the USA Bicentennial Gift Fund. The exhibition features masterful ship paintings and seascapes, portraits of dour ships’ captains, intricate ship and engine models and other treasures of a collection that documents the American– Australian maritime relationship in trade, science, migration, defence, exploration, politics, popular culture, love and war.

02 Mokuy spirit carvings from Arnhem Land.

Image Janine Flew/ANMM. 03 The Sunbather #2, 1989, Anne Zahalka.

ANMM Collection 00030672 Reproduced courtesy Anne Zahalka

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > EXHIBITIONS

EXHIBITIONS SUMMER 2017–18

Maritime moustaches Currently showing

The museum’s collection of photographs holds hundreds of maritime moustaches, from nice thick chevrons to the simple English style, the classic handlebar and even a few walruses and toothbrushes. Curator Dr Stephen Gapps, wielder of a reasonably large moustache himself, pulls out some of our more hirsute portraits from the collections.

Clash of the Carriers: Battle of the Coral Sea, 4–8 December 1942

Currently showing

Three navies, four aircraft carriers, 255 aircraft and 76 ships in a four-day battle that changed naval warfare forever. Eight ships sunk, 161 aircraft destroyed and 1,622 men killed in a battle that should never be forgotten. As part of our ‘War and Peace in the Pacific 75’ program, the museum has launched a new documentary short film in the Action Stations cinema to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea, fought by the US Navy and Royal Australian Navy against the Imperial Japanese Navy. Funded by the USA Bicentennial Gift Fund 05

Container – the box that changed the world Currently showing

The museum’s first-ever outdoor exhibition is dedicated entirely to the history and impact of the humble shipping container. The exhibition goes beyond the corrugated steel to reveal the fascinating story of this revolutionary maritime invention. Housed entirely within specially modified 20-foot containers, the exhibition quite literally takes our visitors ‘inside the box’ to explore the economic, geographic, technical, environmental, social and cultural history and impact of containerisation. Container – the box that changed the world is open daily and is free

ANMM travelling exhibitions

War at Sea Queensland Maritime MuseumUntil 16 April 2018

The histories and stories of the Royal Australian Navy and its sailors – less widely known than those of the soldiers at Gallipoli and the Western Front – are told through diaries and journals, objects, film and interactives from the National Maritime Collection, the National Film and Sound Archives and the Australian War Memorial. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body

04 Able Seaman Thomas Fleming Walker in the

New South Wales Naval Brigade uniform, c 1900. ANMM Collection 00054875 Gift from John Walker 05 One of the display containers from the

Container exhibition. Image Andrew Frolows/ ANMM

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > EXHIBITIONS

EXHIBITIONS SUMMER 2017–18

Undiscovered: Photographic works by Michael Cook Godyinmayin Yijard Rivers Art and Culture Centre, Katherine, NT4 February–31 March 2018

A striking series of large-scale photographic works by celebrated Aboriginal artist Michael Cook, from the Bidjara people of southwest Queensland. Undiscovered provides a contemporary Indigenous perspective of European settlement in Australia, a land already populated by its original people. Cook’s artworks shift roles and perspectives around the notion of European ‘discovery’ of Australia, reflecting upon our habitual ways of thinking and seeing our history. 06

Guardians of Sunda Strait Western Australian Maritime MuseumLate February to April 2018

Late on Saturday 28 February and into the early hours of Sunday 1 March 1942, the men of HMAS Perth and USS Houston fought for their lives in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra. Against overwhelming odds – outnumbered and outgunned by a powerful advancing Japanese force – they fought bravely and defiantly, but lost. Both ships sank and many men died on that dreadful night in the Battle of Sunda Strait. For the survivors, this was only the beginning of their story. ANMM travelling exhibition part of ‘War and Peace in the Pacific 75’ supported by the USA Bicentennial Gift Fund

Escape from Pompeii – the untold Roman rescue Western Australian Maritime Museum, Fremantle, WA22 September 2017–4 February 2018

This exhibition casts light on one of the ancient world’s most famous natural disasters – the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, which destroyed the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Pliny the Elder, commander of the Roman fleet at nearby Misenum, ordered the fleet’s ships out to rescue as many people as possible, in one of the first recorded rescue attempts of civilians by a military force. Exhibition curated by Australian National Maritime Museum in consultation with Expona and Contemporanea Progetti

Shackleton: Escape from Antarctica banner display Various venues in WA, QLD and NSW

Through dramatic photographs taken by Australian photographers Frank Hurley and Keith Jack, Shackleton: Escape from Antarctica walks in the footsteps of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1915–17. Discover what happened to these brave men and their ships. This display is supported by the Australian Antarctic Division and sponsored by Antarctica Flights and APT Luxury Touring & Cruising

06 Undiscovered 4 (detail), 2010 by Michael

Cook. ANMM Collection 07 Three fountain heads, marble, Pompeii,

1st century AD. Image Muzeo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > REMEMBERING THE ‘TWERP’ SEVEN DECADES ON

MARITIME HERITAGE AROUND AUSTRALIA TASMANIA

Remembering the‘Twerp’ seven decades on

HMAS WYATT EARP AND ANARE’S INAUGURAL VOYAGE

A little wooden ship with a very unlikely name pioneered Australia’s expeditions into the Antarctic as part of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE). Dr James Hunter, Emily Jateff and Andy Viduka profile the brief but brutal career of HMAS Wyatt Earp.

01 01 Wyatt Earp moored on the edge of Antarctic pack ice,

February 1948. ANMM Collection ANMS1445[076].

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > REMEMBERING THE ‘TWERP’ SEVEN DECADES ON

ON 26 DECEMBER 1947, a small, nondescript wooden-hulled motor vessel set off from Hobart, bound for Antarctica. Its silhouette resembled that of an ageing offshore fishing craft, but its weather deck was packed from stem to stern with supplies and equipment – including a single-engine VoughtSikorsky Kingfisher floatplane. At the helm was Commander Karl E Oom, an officer in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). He was supported by five naval officers, 22 ratings, a Royal Australian Air Force pilot and air fitter mechanic, and an Australian Department of Information photographer. The complement was rounded out by four civilian scientists who were responsible for conducting a series of experiments, and observing meteorological and other natural phenomena in the Antarctic. Their voyage would be the first to operate under the banner of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE), a series of post-war initiatives to establish Australian scientific research stations in Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic territories of Heard Island and Macquarie Island. ANARE laid the foundation for the establishment of the Australian Antarctic Division, and in later years Australia’s polar research ships could trace their lineage back to the little timber craft then making its way towards the world’s southernmost continent: HMAS Wyatt Earp.

One of the biggest proponents for the ship’s use in Antarctic research was none other than Sir Douglas Mawson

02 Wyatt Earp’s second-in-command,

LCDR William Cook (right), confers with visiting dignitaries on the vessel’s stern at Williamstown, December 1947. Sir Douglas Mawson stands to Cook’s immediate left. ANMM Collection ANMS1445[075]

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From fishing boat to ‘aircraft carrier’ Australia’s most improbably named naval (and polar research) vessel began life as Fanefjord, a specially designed herring fishing craft named for a 20-kilometre-long fjord east of the Norwegian shipbuilding town of Molde. Its single-decked timber hull was constructed of pine and oak and launched from the ways at Molde’s Bolsønes shipyard in 1919. It was 135 feet 7 inches (41.3 metres) in overall length, had a beam of 29 feet 2 inches (8.9 metres), a 14-foot 4-inch (4.4-metre) draught and a displacement of 402 tons. In 1933, Fanefjord was acquired by American explorer Lincoln Ellsworth for his inaugural 1933–34 Antarctic expedition. Ellsworth refitted and sheathed the vessel with oak and steel armour plate and renamed it Wyatt Earp after one of his childhood heroes, the legendary marshal of the towns of Dodge City and Tombstone in the American Old West. Ellsworth was a wealthy adventurer who trained as an aviator during World War I and later funded and accompanied two polar air expeditions (in 1925 and 1926) led by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. The second journey, which embarked aboard the airship Norge, sighted the geographic North Pole. In 1930, Ellsworth met Australian polar explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins. The two men became fast friends and began planning an expedition to Antarctica. Wilkins was assigned the task of finding a suitable vessel, and purchased Fanefjord during a visit to Norway in 1933. He then transferred the ship to Ellsworth and would go on to act as the American’s trusted technical advisor and expedition organiser. Inspired by Amundsen’s expeditions, Ellsworth led four of his own to Antarctica between 1933 and 1939, aiming to explore the continent by air and conduct the first trans-Antarctic flight. Wyatt Earp’s main role was to serve as a base ship for Ellsworth’s aircraft; the first of these, a Northrop monoplane named Polar Star, was successfully used during the 1933–34 expedition, but only after Wyatt Earp was safely navigated through heavy pack ice and survived being icebound for 13 days. Polar Star was again used during Ellsworth’s second and third expeditions, and it was during the latter (in late 1935) that he and his English pilot, Herbert Hollick-Kenyon, attempted to fly across the continent from the Antarctic Peninsula to Little America, one of Richard E Byrd’s abandoned bases on the Ross Ice Shelf. The trip was often beset by bad weather, and after two weeks Polar Star ran out of fuel before reaching the base. Ellsworth and Hollick-Kenyon completed the trip only after a harrowing 11-day journey on foot. Eventually they were retrieved by a search party in mid-January 1936.

The vessel had demonstrated that it could take the worst that Antarctica could throw at it

03 Expedition photograph by Laurence Le Guay

showing William Cook (background) and another Wyatt Earp crewman fothering the vessel’s damaged hull, 30 December 1947. ANMM Collection ANMS1445[077]

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > REMEMBERING THE ‘TWERP’ SEVEN DECADES ON

Other than Byrd’s 1929 Antarctic flight and the overland journeys of Scott and Amundsen to the South Pole, Ellsworth’s 1935 flight penetrated further into Antarctica’s interior than any other expedition before it and is considered the first successful transit of the continent by air. Ellsworth’s fourth and final expedition in 1938–39 again used Wyatt Earp as a base ship – this time for a Northrop Delta monoplane and a small Aeronca two-seater aircraft to act as a scout. Both planes were outfitted with wheels, pontoons, skis and two-way radios. From the outset, the weather was abysmal, and it took 45 days just to work the vessel through some 800 miles (1,287 kilometres) of pack ice to reach the Antarctic coast. Despite the conditions, the Northrop monoplane undertook two flights, the second of which penetrated 210 miles (338 kilometres) inland and resulted in Ellsworth making territorial claims for the United States. Following the serious injury of a Wyatt Earp crewman, Ellsworth abandoned the expedition and the vessel survived heavy pack ice and seas to arrive safely in Tasmania in February 1939. Wyatt Earp was put up for sale and purchased by the Australian government shortly thereafter.

Australian naval service and the ANARE The ship was then transferred to the RAN and renamed HMAS Wongala. After serving one voyage as a Fleet Auxiliary, it was reassigned as an examination vessel in Port Adelaide, and subsequently as a guard ship at the South Australian port of Whyalla during World War II. Wongala paid off at Port Adelaide in July 1944 and was slated for disposal when the South

04 Wyatt Earp officers and ANARE scientists

celebrate during an ‘Across the Circle’ party, February 1948. Left to right: LCDR Harold Irwin (engineer officer), Dr A Bond (medical officer), LCDR William Cook, RAAF Squadron Leader R H Gray (Kingfisher pilot), ASCB John Homewood (boatswain), LT John Yule (watch keeper), and Phillip Law (chief scientific officer). ANMM Collection ANMS1445[127]

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Australian Branch of the Boy Scouts Association petitioned the RAN to make it available for sea cadet training, which was granted. Three years later, the Department of the Navy notified the Boy Scouts that the Commonwealth government wished to assess Wongala and determine its suitability to participate in Antarctic research. It returned to Port Adelaide, where it was slipped, surveyed and approved for refit and conversion. On 17 November 1947, the vessel was recommissioned into the RAN, renamed Wyatt Earp, and assigned to the ANARE. One of the biggest proponents for the ship’s use in Antarctic research was none other than Sir Douglas Mawson, who recalled its involvement in Ellsworth’s expeditions and thought it well suited to the task. Wyatt Earp subsequently underwent additional modification and refitting, including replacement of rotted hull timbers, enlargement of the forward superstructure, and installation of a semi-diesel engine to replace its original steam propulsion. For various reasons, Wyatt Earp’s refit fell behind schedule, and by the time the vessel slipped down the ways into the Port River, not enough time remained for it to undergo a proper shakedown cruise. As a consequence, its ANARE voyages were beset with problems – most of which would be traced to the engine and the hull’s tendency to ship water. Indeed, while transiting from Port Adelaide to the naval base at Williamstown in Victoria in early December 1947, Wyatt Earp encountered heavy seas that flooded the aft wardroom and accommodation, put its gyro-compass out of action and disabled the helm. These and other defects were addressed at Williamstown while the ship’s officers entertained visiting military and civilian dignitaries. On 19 December, the vessel finally embarked on its first expedition … and encountered engine trouble within hours of departure. The crew made repairs on the fly and Wyatt Earp continued on to Hobart, where additional defects were attended to by ‘an army of shipwrights’1. Despite efforts to get the expedition under way before Christmas, additional engine trouble kept Wyatt Earp in port until 26 December, when it finally left the River Derwent and sailed straight into a Force 9 gale. Wyatt Earp’s second-in-command for the ANARE voyages was Lieutenant Commander William Cook, a decorated World War II veteran who had served aboard HMAS Perth (I) during its (disrupted) delivery voyage to Australia in 1939, and later on the destroyers HMA Ships Voyager (I) and Vendetta (I) in the Mediterranean and Pacific theatres. He joined Wyatt Earp’s crew in June 1947, while it was still a ‘gutted hulk on the slipway’ at Port Adelaide, and as first officer was responsible for keeping an expedition journal.2 This invaluable record of the first ANARE voyages, as well as several expedition photographs

In later years Australia’s polar research ships could trace their lineage back to the little timber vessel Wyatt Earp

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > REMEMBERING THE ‘TWERP’ SEVEN DECADES ON

Cook’s journal entries offer a candid and often humorous picture of life aboard the ‘Twerp’

by Laurence Le Guay (who would later be awarded the Australian Photographic Society Commonwealth Medal), a naval cap tally, and an original satirical sketch of Wyatt Earp by political cartoonist Jack Lusby, were kept by Cook at the expedition’s conclusion. Upon Cook’s death in 2003, they were passed to his son Rhod, who kindly donated the collection to the Australian National Maritime Museum in 2015. Cook’s journal entries offer a candid and often humorous picture of life aboard the ‘Twerp’ (a phonetic abbreviation of ‘Wyatt Earp’ that became the vessel’s unofficial nickname) during its Antarctic excursions. It is clear that the ship was uncomfortable at the best of times, but its tendency to roll and ship large quantities of water in heavy seas was almost legendary. Wyatt Earp was outfitted with masts and sails as auxiliary propulsion that, under the right conditions, could increase its speed by as much as two knots. However, Cook noted the real advantage to the sailing rig was that it reduced the vessel’s rate of roll by as much as two seconds – an attribute that ‘really meant something’ given its tendency to heel as much as 60 degrees in inclement weather.3 The weight of supplies and equipment carried aboard Wyatt Earp clearly overburdened it, to the extent that some of its timber planking worked apart in heavy seas and allowed water to pour into the mess and accommodation areas. What resulted was perhaps best summed up by Cook in a terse journal entry from 27 December: ‘Further leaks, further water to be bailed, further discomfort’.4

05 William Cook’s journal of Wyatt Earp’s

ANARE voyages. Note the unofficial ship’s badge at the top of the title page. ANMM Collection 00054702

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > REMEMBERING THE ‘TWERP’ SEVEN DECADES ON

Two days later, during a rare spell of pleasant weather, Cook and two other crewmen tried to plug leaks in Wyatt Earp’s starboard hull. They caulked seams between the offending planks, and drew a section of sail canvas tightly across the damaged hull section. This technique – known as ‘fothering’ – was famously adopted by another naval officer named Cook to prevent his vessel, HMB Endeavour, from sinking after it ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef in June 1770. The repairs stopped the leaks, but wireless reports detailing Wyatt Earp’s problems alarmed naval authorities, who ordered the vessel back to Williamstown on 1 January 1948. It arrived six days later, having made good time – as Cook wryly noted later – due to a ‘remarkable change for the better in the weather’.5 For the remainder of January, the vessel underwent further extensive repairs, including stiffening of the engine bed, replacement of the propeller shaft, renewal of the stern bushings, a complete refit of the main and auxiliary engines, and re-rigging of the steering linkages. In addition, the hull’s metal sheathing was completely removed so that all timber below the waterline could be surveyed. This resulted in partial replacement of the stem post, and re-caulking of the hull and deck planking. Following brief sea trials, Wyatt Earp departed Port Phillip Bay for a second attempt at Antarctica on 8 February 1948. After a relatively calm and uneventful passage south, it arrived at pack ice on 18 February and was almost immediately struck by a storm that battered the vessel with hurricane-force winds for two days. When the tempest abated, the crew turned the ship into the pack ice and again threaded their way south, coming to within 30 miles (48.3 kilometres) of Antarctica’s Cape Gray. The Kingfisher aircraft was

06 William Cook mailed this envelope to his wife

while Wyatt Earp was stationed at Macquarie Island. ANMM Collection (ANMS1445[070]

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assembled on 22 February, but could not be flown until 13 March, when the weather moderated enough for it to be safely launched and recovered. Two reconnaissance flights revealed impenetrable pack ice between Wyatt Earp and the Antarctic mainland, and the decision was made to instead journey north to Macquarie Island. The ship arrived there seven days later and rendezvoused with LST 3501, a former Royal Navy tank landing ship used to transport ANARE personnel and equipment to Macquarie Island and Heard Island. On 24 March, Wyatt Earp embarked on the return voyage to Australia. As the ship cleared the lee of Macquarie Island, it was struck by a westerly gale and seas that were in Cook’s estimation ‘the most dangerous of the whole trip’.6 The vessel struggled across a one-mile (1.6-kilometre) wide expanse of water for two hours and was only able to make one knot of headway, despite the engine being run at revolutions that would have normally generated a speed of seven knots. Cook marvelled in his journal that ‘the old “Twerp” could live through such water without taking much on board. We rolled like a log, pitched, tossed, yawed, rose to incredible heights on crests and plunged to abyssmal [sic] depths in the troughs. She did everything but stand vertical, although once or twice she tried her damndest’ [sic].7 Incredibly, Wyatt Earp survived the ordeal and later journeyed across Bass Strait in ‘unbelievably calm’ conditions.8 After overnighting at Portarlington, it motored up Port Phillip Bay and arrived safely at Port Melbourne on the morning of 1 April. The vessel had demonstrated that it could take the worst that Antarctica could throw at it, and was instrumental in correctly charting the positions of a number of small islands in the southern latitudes, but its days as a polar research vessel were over. Oom concluded that Wyatt Earp’s aging hull, small size and insufficient speed precluded its use in future Antarctic work. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he was also scathing of the ship’s infamous tendency to roll, observing that he had ‘never known a vessel which could throw staff so violently from side to side’.9

Last years Wyatt Earp paid off at Melbourne on 30 June 1948 and was sold to Victoria’s Arga Shipping Company in 1951. It was (once again) renamed Wongala, and assigned to the tramp trade between mainland Australian and Tasmanian ports until 1956. Acquired that year by the Ulverstone Shipping Company, the vessel was renamed Natone for a potato-growing district near the Tasmanian town of Ulverstone. It operated in Tasmanian waters for the next 18 months, but was ultimately sent to Queensland, where it transited among the state’s coastal ports. Occasionally, it delivered cargoes to Victoria.

‘Further leaks, further water to be bailed, further discomfort’

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > REMEMBERING THE ‘TWERP’ SEVEN DECADES ON

On the night of 23 January 1959, while on a voyage from Maryborough, Queensland, to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, the vessel’s luck ran out 150 miles (241 km) north of Brisbane. Natone had been battered for two weeks by monsoonal conditions and was inadvertently motoring into the tail end of two cyclones when it began to founder off Queensland’s Double Island Point. In an effort to save his crew, Natone’s captain grounded the ship in shallows off the nearby community of Rainbow Beach. Because it had been strengthened for Antarctic service, Natone held together through the night. Its grounded hull heeled to starboard 30 degrees and was battered incessantly by mountainous waves. The crew of 18 reportedly huddled in the bow before eventually setting off at first light for shore some 280 metres away. As the day progressed, seas remained heavy, and littered the beach with wreckage and equipment. Contemporary newspaper articles note that large numbers of sightseers flocked to Rainbow Beach for souvenirs. Thankfully, no deaths resulted from the disaster, but the vessel was a total loss and eventually broke apart in the storm-fuelled seas. The brief, brutal and bitterly cold career of Australia’s first Antarctic research ship is forever juxtaposed by its final resting place just off a sandy beach in the warm, predominantly calm waters of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

07 HMAS Wyatt Earp under way in Port Phillip

Bay, 1947. Photographer Allan C Green, image State Library of Victoria H91.108/3017

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > REMEMBERING THE ‘TWERP’ SEVEN DECADES ON

Wyatt Earp’s/Natone’s remnants are extensively broken up and spread over a vast area. The surviving hull is mostly buried in sand; however, dispersed ship’s timbers on the beach are regularly exposed by heavy seas and/or winds. Their exposure delights locals and tourists alike, who rediscover the shipwreck and its story. The site is also located near the popular MV Natone Camping Area on Inskip Peninsula, and is an oft-visited fishing area. The shipwreck is not currently protected by the Commonwealth’s Historic Shipwrecks Act (1976), but is located within a Queensland protected area estate, and a permit is required to access and conduct research at the site. Wyatt Earp/ Natone is also listed within the Australian National Shipwrecks Database (Shipwreck ID No 2917). The vessel’s importance to different individuals, communities and shared heritage stakeholders cannot be understated, as it provides a tangible connection to Australia’s early exploration of Antarctica, as well as the shared polar heritage of Australia and the United States. In addition to its heritage values, the site presently serves as a place of discovery and recreation for visitors to Rainbow Beach. The Twerp’s legacy also lives on in the Antarctic Survey Vessel (ASV) Wyatt Earp, a modified Fantome-class survey launch used by the Australian Hydrographic Service. Launched in 1993, it operates almost exclusively in Antarctic waters, and has been deployed to Antarctica on three different occasions. During its last voyage in 2013–14, ASV Wyatt Earp conducted survey work in the waters around the Australian Antarctic Division’s Casey Station.

In an effort to save his crew, Natone’s captain grounded the ship in shallows off the nearby community of Rainbow Beach

Notes 1 W F Cook, 1978, ‘HMAS Wyatt Earp – Antarctic Research 1947–1948’, Naval Historical Review 2(2): 9. 2 Ibid, p 5. 3 Ibid. 4 W F Cook (LCDR), Journal of the Voyage of HMAS Wyatt Earp (Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition, 1947–1948), p 10. ANMM Collection 00054702 5 Cook, HMAS Wyatt Earp, p 11. 6 Ibid, p 17. 7 Cook, Journal of the Voyage of HMAS Wyatt Earp, pp 74–75. 8 Cook, ‘HMAS Wyatt Earp’, p 17. 9 K E Oom (CDR), 1948, HMAS Wyatt Earp: Report of Proceedings (1 April 1948), National Archives of Australia (P1557, 22/2). Further reading W Cook, 1990, ‘HMAS Wyatt Earp and the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition, 1947–1948’, The Great Circle 12(2): 98–102 P Law, 1995, The Antarctic Voyage of HMAS Wyatt Earp, Allen & Unwin, Sydney. L Shaw, 2003, ‘No Heroics, No Deaths: Little-Known Antarctic Heroes’, Signals 62: 9–11. The Canberra Times, ‘Violent seas wreck former Wyatt Earp’, 26 January 1959, p 1. The Canberra Times, ‘Watchman on Wrecked Ship’, 27 January 1959, p 15. P Worsley, 2011, ‘HMAS Wyatt Earp’, Maritime Heritage Association Journal 22(4): 2. Wyatt Earp/Natone, Australian National Shipwrecks Database (https:// dmzapp17p.ris.environment.gov.au/ shipwreck/public/wreck/wreck. do?key=2917).

08 Remains believed to be those of MV

Natone (ex-Wyatt Earp) on Rainbow Beach, Queensland. Image courtesy Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > SS ORONTES

FOUNDATION SUMMER 2017–18

SS Orontes

PLYING THE ENGLAND–AUSTRALIA ROUTE FOR THREE DECADES In September 2017 the museum successfully bid at auction for a remarkable model of SS Orontes. Our interest was sparked by the vessel’s long association with travel between Britain and Australia. We are now seeking the public’s support for its purchase and restoration, writes Dr Kimberley Webber.

THE ORIENT STEAM Navigation Company, or Orient Line, has been carrying passengers to and from Australia since 1866. By the early 1900s the company had an Australian government mail contract and was sailing from England to Australia every two weeks. As a result, in the early 1900s it commissioned the construction of a number of 12,000-ton ships. All were commandeered by the military during World War I. Once the war was over, and having lost some vessels, the company commissioned new ships including, in 1929, SS Orontes, one of five Orama class liners built for the England–Australia route.

01 The SS Orontes model.

Photo courtesy Leonard Joel

FOUNDATION SUMMER 2017–18

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > SS ORONTES

This model is now the only detailed record of the ship’s remarkable contribution to Australia’s history

Orontes was built at the Vickers Armstrong shipyard in Barrowin-Furness in north-west England and launched on 27 February 1929 by Lady Anderson, the wife of the company’s chairman, Sir Alan Anderson. As was customary, the same shipyard built a 1:48 scale model of the vessel for the then significant sum of £856 (approximately equal to $65,000 today) for presentation to the owner. These models were important promotional tools, designed to provide prospective passengers with a clear idea of the ship’s facilities and enhance the company’s reputation for well-built, comfortable and reliable vessels. As the photographs demonstrate, the SS Orontes model is beautifully crafted, with great attention to detail, making it just as fascinating for viewers today as it was in 1929. Following the launch, the model came to Australia and featured in the front window of the company’s office in Spring Street, Sydney. Coincidentally, the National Maritime Collection also includes the Orient Line’s glass display windows from this office. For the museum, the close links with the history of migration are what make the model particularly significant. Over its 33 years of service, Orontes brought more than 75,000 people to Australia. For many it was their only experience of sea travel and must have been something they remembered all their lives. Although initially catering for two classes of passengers – 500 first class and 1,112 third class – by 1933, 518 second-class berths had been added.

02 The exterior of the Orient Line building,

Spring Street, Sydney. In the display window is the model of SS Orontes. Samuel J Hood Studio ANMM Collection 00021244

FOUNDATION SUMMER 2017–18

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > SS ORONTES

Over its 33 years of service, Orontes brought more than 75,000 people to Australia

In 1940 Orontes, together with all Orient Line passenger ships, was requisitioned by the military and refitted as a troop carrier designed to accommodate 3,226 men. Over the next six years the vessel operated throughout the European and Pacific theatres of war, carrying a total of 124,630 troops and sailing nearly 790,000 kilometres, the greatest distance travelled by any passenger liner during the war. Released from military service in April 1947, the ship was refitted at Southampton’s Thornycroft shipyard to carry 502 first- and 618 second-class passengers in a higher standard of comfort, including hot and cold running water in all cabins. As a company representative said at the press viewing, ‘By pre-war standards Orontes is no longer a new ship, but … ships must be made to have a longer useful life than before the war’. On 17 June 1947 it sailed for Australia with more than 1,000 people on board. With post-war reconstruction in Australia, and ambitious projects such as the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, Australia’s need for workers led to the introduction of assisted migration schemes, including ‘Bring out a Briton’ and the famous ‘Ten Pound Pom’ programs. Vessels like Orontes provided the necessary transport and in 1953 the ship was converted to have only one (tourist) class, with total capacity of 1,372 passengers.

03 SS Orontes arriving in Sydney, 1961.

Photo courtesy NAA A12111, 1/1961/4/13

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > SS ORONTES

By the end of the 1950s, however, ship travel was finding it increasingly hard to compete with air travel and, following the company’s 1960 merger with the Peninsular & Oriental (P&O) Line, Orontes was withdrawn from service. Its final voyage to Sydney left Tilbury on 25 November 1961, returning on 12 January 1962. The following year it was sold for £282,000 and broken up for scrap. This model is now the only detailed record of the ship’s remarkable contribution to Australia’s history. The museum conducts two fundraising campaigns a year and the resulting donations provide vital support to our acquisitions program and special projects such as the search for AE1, the new interpretation of MV Krait and our Indigenous education programs and migration stories. If you would like to contribute to the acquisition and conservation of this important model you can donate online at anmm.gov.au/donate or phone the Foundation on 02 9298 3717. All donations are tax deductible and will make a real difference to our ability to collect, preserve and interpret Australia’s important maritime history and culture.

FOUNDATION SUMMER 2017–18

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > THE MAGNIFICENT SY ENA

COLLECTIONS SUMMER 2017–18

The magnificent SY Ena STEAMING ITS WAY THROUGH LEISURE, WAR AND TRADE

In July 2017 the museum became the custodian of one of the nation’s most important late colonial and early Federation vessels, SY Ena, launched in 1900. Through the extremely generous donation by its private owners, John and Jacqui Mullen, the museum and the country now have the privilege of maintaining and operating a craft with exceptional significance and extraordinary character. By Curator of Historic Vessels David Payne.

01 01 Ena sails out of Darling Harbour in 2014.

Image Andrew Frolows/ANMM

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > THE MAGNIFICENT SY ENA

COLLECTIONS SUMMER 2017–18

THE ELEGANT STEAM YACHT ENA captures the qualities of its Victorian and Edwardian period through its graceful lines and styling, and has a fine example of a steam engine to show off this classic piece of technology. Its story, however, has many parts, covering a century and more of operation in diverse roles. Ena is an outstanding Australian vessel, and can be a flagship for Sydney Harbour. The highly respected Thomas Dibbs – manager of the Commercial Banking Company and Commodore of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron – commissioned Sydney naval architect Walter Reeks to design Ena, and W M Ford Boatbuilders constructed the steam yacht at their Berry’s Bay yard. It was widely anticipated throughout the country. The Brisbane Courier of 10 November 1900 reported:

A new 100-ton steam yacht which Ford of Sydney is building for Mr TA Dibbs is expected to be launched early next month. It is said to be one of the finest specimens of a modern steam yacht in the Australian colonies. On the same date, the Australian Town and Country Journal reported: The new 100-ton steam yacht which Ford is building for Mr TA Dibbs will be one of the finest yachts ever launched in Australian waters. Named after Dibbs’ wife Tryphena, Ena graced the harbour and social pages for more than 15 years. It was one of Reeks’ finest designs and was featured in the American Rudder magazine. Over the years Dibbs made one or two minor changes to the layout. Kept in first-class condition, Ena was regularly seen entertaining Dibbs’ guests as they watched yacht races on weekends.

Ena had suffered an accident while fishing, striking an object in Tasmania’s d’Entrecasteaux channel and sinking

In November 1916 its life turned 180 degrees, and Ena went to war. Requisitioned, renamed HMAS Sleuth and armed with a gun on the foredeck, the vessel was sent north to patrol Torres Strait. It became apparent that it was unsuited to this task; nor was it any better at its next assignment, patrolling the eastern coastline. It eventually ended up back on Sydney Harbour, deployed as a vessel for cadets and trainees, and as support to HMAS Tingira, moored in Sydney Harbour as a floating barracks. The adaptability of Australians to ‘make do’ with what is available, especially in regions away from the main centres, was at the centre of Ena’s next period, including a big change in direction. After the war it was sold to successful Newcastle businessman William Longworth. Under his ownership Ena returned to its original name and role as an elegant steam

02 One of the few blueprint plans from designer

Walter Reeks, probably drawn in 1900. ANMM Collection

COLLECTIONS SUMMER 2017–18

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > THE MAGNIFICENT SY ENA

The steam yacht graced Sydney’s harbour and social pages for more than 15 years

yacht, even though the age of steam had passed; contemporary craft were petrol powered. Ena served as his private yacht and transport between Newcastle and Sydney until the end of the decade. Early in the 1930s it was sold to Captain W Driscoll in Tasmania, and headed south to become a trading vessel. Ena was soon caught in the owner’s financial problems. It was seized by Driscoll’s creditors, and remained idle until the issues were resolved. The outcome for Ena was a short excursion into the cadet training role, and then Hobart’s Roche Bros bought the vessel in 1940 for the fishing trade. This led to extensive alterations over many years, but was ultimately its saviour. In the early 1980s it was still fishing when Sydney shipwright Nick Masterman was engaged by Patrick Burke’s syndicate to secure a steam yacht to match the Sydney Maritime Museum’s former New South Wales VIP steamer Lady Hopetoun. This was another elegant Reeks design, built by Ford in 1902, which regularly steams on the harbour to this day. Masterman knew about Ena, but it had suffered an accident while fishing, striking an object in Tasmania’s d’Entrecasteaux channel and sinking. Despite this setback, Masterman and the syndicate were eventually able to secure the salvaged vessel and begin the long task of rebuilding it in Sydney. Relaunched in 1986, it had more seagoing adventures, heading across to be part of the America’s Cup in Fremantle, Western Australia, in 1987, then returning to Sydney, where it once again became a seized asset during the corporate collapses of the late 1980s. From there stability emerged and for over two decades a private owner kept Ena in Sydney. A brief change of ownership saw Ena go to Port Phillip, but in 2015 it was back in Sydney and the Mullens set about bringing Ena up to an exceptional standard of finish, before making their generous gift to the museum. Since its early days, the museum has held an album of early Dibbs family images showing Ena in its original configuration.

03 Ena on either Middle Harbour or Broken

Bay during its ownership by Thomas Dibbs. ANMM Collection

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > THE MAGNIFICENT SY ENA

Thomas Dibbs stands proudly on the deck in one image, with a youngster beside him. With the vessel now in the museum’s collection, it will no longer be an exclusive vessel for only a few to enjoy. Charter opportunities will become available, and the public will be allowed aboard when it is open for inspection at the museum’s wharves. Ena is a rare museum object that remains in context – back in home waters, moored within a nautical mile of where both Reeks’ Pitt Street design office and Fords’ boatbuilding yard in Berry’s Bay once stood. SY Ena is much more than a vessel – it’s an artwork, a piece of craftsmanship, a fashion statement and an experience, with its pulsating steam engine setting a steady beat by which Ena can tell its long and engaging story. Once Ena has completed a significant slipping and maintenance program, under way at the time of printing, it will be opened to museum visitors.

COLLECTIONS SUMMER 2017–18

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > THE ADMIRAL’S CUP VICTORY

ARHV SUMMER 2017–18

The Admiral’s Cup victory A MILESTONE FOR AUSTRALIAN SAILING

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

Australian yachting made history 50 years ago, in early August 1967. An Australian team won the Admiral’s Cup event, which was sailed in UK waters and was then recognised as the unofficial world championship for ocean racing. Two of the victorious yachts have recently been added to the ARHV, writes Curator of Historic Vessels David Payne.

01 Caprice of Huon sailing on the Solent,

UK, in the 1965 Admirals Cup. Reproduced courtesy Beken of Cowes

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > THE ADMIRAL’S CUP VICTORY

THE 1967 ADMIRAL’S CUP CAMPAIGN was only the second time an Australian team had entered the event. The regatta had always been dominated by teams from the UK and USA, until an Australian team appeared in 1965 and came second at its first attempt. That year, one of the Australian yachts, Caprice of Huon, won two of the four races – astonishing everyone, as this was a 13-year-old yacht built by a septuagenarian builder in Tasmania. Caprice of Huon went on to be part of the victorious 1967 team, and has just been nominated to the ARHV, along with team member Balandra. Caprice of Huon was launched in October 1951 from Port Cygnet on Tasmania’s Huon River. The builder, Vivian Innes, was once an apprentice at the famous Wilson Brothers yard and was in his late 70s when he built Caprice of Huon from plans supplied by UK designer Robert Clark, who was then one of the principal yacht designers in that country. Caprice of Huon was raced by Charles Calvert and his family, including sons Hedley, Barry and Don, all of whom became champion yachtsmen. They had a number of local wins and the yacht was one of the principal craft on the Derwent. In late 1957 it was sold to Bill Northam in Sydney. Northam had been a motor car racer before turning his sporting attention to sailing in his mid-40s. He bought Gymea (HV00314) and learnt about ocean racing, becoming an accomplished skipper, despite his late entry into the sport. In July 1962 he sold Caprice of Huon to Gordon Ingate, who had helped to teach Northam how to sail when he owned Gymea. Ingate revamped the yacht with an aluminium masthead sloop spar that he fabricated himself, and cleaned up inconsistencies around the rudder, propeller and aperture. He campaigned the yacht fiercely in all the eastern seaboard ocean-racing events. In the 1965 Admiral’s Cup challenge it had sailed with team yachts Camille of Seaforth (HV000079) and Freya (HV000624) under Ingate’s leadership. The post-race reports noted how well Australia had sailed as a team, and how well-led the crews were. It was their greatest strength, and Ingate’s contribution was singled out in reports. Caprice of Huon returned to Cowes in 1967, under charter to Ingate’s sailing master Gordon Reynolds, because Ingate was skippering Gretel (HV000471) in the trial racing for that year’s America’s Cup. Caprice of Huon had a cruising side as well, as this was the origin of the design; but it was never optimised for the RORC (Royal Ocean Racing Club) Rule. The Calverts took it cruising

ARHV SUMMER 2017–18

from Hobart, and once in Sydney it was often seen around the harbour on weekends or at Broken Bay, north of Sydney, in the holiday periods. After Ingate sold the yacht to concentrate on other sailing activities, it changed ownership a couple of times, but remained active. It was extensively restored in 1999, including a new engine and mast, and has since undertaken cruising, club racing and classic yacht events. It has cruised from Sydney to the Whitsundays, Lord Howe Island and Tasmania. In the 2006/2007 Short Haul Series run by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA), Caprice of Huon won both the IRC and PHS point scores and again won the overall IRC from 2009 to 2011. While Caprice was an older yacht, Balandra was state-ofthe-art. Robert Crichton-Brown commissioned Balandra as a sister yacht to the same English Camper & Nicholsons design as Quiver IV, which had been an outstanding performer in the victorious English team for the 1965 Admiral’s Cup. He chose Tasmanian builder Jock Muir from Battery Point in Hobart, who had a reputation for building excellent yachts to a high standard. Seacraft magazine gave two pages to Balandra in its December 1966 edition, at which time Balandra’s position in the team was assured, and the opening sentences captured the yacht’s principal attributes: Balandra is an ocean-racing man’s dream. She is big, roomy, well laid out, fast and beautiful. Built in Hobart by Jock Muir, she will always remain – at least in the minds of Tasmanians – a Tasmanian boat although owned by Sydney yachtsman Robert Crichton-Brown and registered in that city. To keep faith with her admirers, her crew will be taking her to Hobart this Christmas. Two layers of Honduras mahogany (inner skin 3/8 in., outer 5/8 in.) give Balandra a strong but light hull aided by laminated mahogany frames at 8 in. centres and Tasmanian swamp gum keel and strengthening timbers. Deck beams are laminated English spruce over which two sheets of ¼ in. Australian marine plywood have been glued. Seacraft had already published extensive coverage of the tough Montagu Island race, which opened the selection trials: Two of Australia’s biggest, best and most beautiful ocean racers, 45-foot Balandra and the 50-foot Bacchus D, fought every mile of the 360 mile ocean Montagu Island race and staged a close, exciting finish. ‘Balandra was magnificent,’ said her mate, Peter Green. During the Fastnet Race Balandra was sailing toward Fastnet Rock under a spinnaker in a gale when a steering cable turning

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block pulled from the hull fastenings. It took the crew three hours to secure the block back into position. However they had aboard an emergency tiller to keep on course while repairs were made. After 1970 Sir Robert Crichton-Brown sold the yacht to a syndicate of yachtsmen based at Victoria Barracks in Sydney, and at one stage it was reported as the Eastern Command Sailing Club’s yacht, skippered by Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Barrett. In later years Russell Piggot from Hobart purchased Balandra, returned it to where it was built and raced it locally. In 1990, Gerd Henneke bought the yacht and continued racing it before it was sold again to its current owner in Hobart. In 2017 Balandra was undergoing the final stages of an extensive overhaul and restoration project. The two yachts join Mercedes III (HV000494), the third member of the 1967 team, on the ARHV. The trio was outstanding; Australia won convincingly with 495 points, more than 100 points ahead of the second-placed UK team. The Australian yachts were the top three individual point scorers over the four races, and the yachts never finished lower than seventh in any of the races. This consistency enabled them to be only team ever to achieve this dominant feat. An emotional Peter Green phoned in a report at the end of the series to Seacraft magazine: Our team raced as a team – we were always thinking and working as a team. I feel this was a great advantage and the other countries did not seem to do this. We were amazed how well we went in the light airs because this is the type of weather the English are said to like best. We changed our sails, put up cheaters, tacked on wind changes, really worked ourselves to death. Although the weather was bad at times – especially during the Fastnet, where wind reached 55 knots, there were no big seas like we get off our coast in heavy weather. The Fastnet was one of the most exciting ocean races I have ever experienced. We had every type of weather and wind change plus bad tides. Balandra’s steering gear packed in, but we never let up. And, oh, those starts – 109 yachts crossing the line at once, usually a pretty indifferently laid one, too – and hearing all those bow waves shushing, shushing about you – trying to keep looking ahead. It was very frightening. In fact we are all exhausted … I could sleep for a week.

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

Date

Builder

Type

Number

Matoma

1935

Ivan Jones

Yacht

HV000704

Lady Luck

1931

Lars Halvorsen

Yacht

HV000729

Alexandrina

1884

Williams and Robinson

Launch

HV000731

Apanie

1945

Unknown

Tug

HV000732

Marlene

Unknown Fred Carnaby

Yacht

HV000733

Lounder shell

Unknown H Lounder

Shell

HV000735

Hugh Brodie

Unknown Sargent & Burton

Shell

HV000736

Voyager

1939

Arthur Bishop

Yacht

HV000738

Balandra

1966

Jock Muir

Yacht

HV000739

Caprice of Huon

1951

Vivian Innes

Yacht

HV000740

Emmaville metal boat

Unknown Unknown

Flood boat/mining support HV000741

Defiance

1935

Yacht

E O Digby

HV000742

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WELCOME WALL SUMMER 2017–18

SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > LA CELLA VENEZIA

La Cella Venezia A NEW ITALY IN NEW SOUTH WALES

Long before the era of mass migration in the 1950s and 60s, a pioneering group of farmers from northern Italy sought a better life in the South Pacific. Curator Kim Tao relates the story of the ill-fated Marquis de Rays expedition in 1880, which would lead to the creation of a prosperous Italian community out of misfortune and adversity. 01 Maria and Lorenzo Roder in Lismore,

New South Wales, c 1900. Reproduced courtesy Lorraine Lovitt

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 01

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De Rays regarded the colonising mission as a means of restoring the glorious past of his country

IN JULY 1880, VENETIAN COUPLE Lorenzo Roder (1843–1931) and Maria Regina Roder (née Piai) (1855–1942) were among more than 300 Italian migrants who boarded the steamer India in Barcelona, Spain, bound for an idyllic new French settlement in the southwest Pacific Ocean. But when they finally disembarked from a disastrous three-month voyage, they were confronted by a desolate, malaria-infested mangrove swamp. They had been deceived by the Marquis de Rays. Born Charles Marie Bonaventure du Breil in Brittany in 1832, de Rays aspired to establish a utopian society at Port Breton on the island of New Ireland (now part of Papua New Guinea). In the late 1870s the ambitious French nobleman launched a scheme to collect subscriptions for his imagined colony, which he called La Nouvelle France (‘New France’). De Rays was an ardent follower of the journals of European explorers, and had travelled extensively in the United States, Senegal, Madagascar and Indochina during his youth. He regarded the colonising mission as a means of restoring the glorious past of his country, as well as his own privileged social standing, which had now been eroded in post-revolutionary France. Declaring himself King Charles I of New France, de Rays promoted the fraudulent scheme through newspaper advertisements and literature that extolled the virtues of his South Pacific paradise, with its fine buildings, wide roads, fertile soils and agreeable climate. De Rays employed a Milanese emigration agent by the name of Edwige Schenini, who journeyed through the impoverished villages of northern Italy to recruit migrants for the venture.

02 Going-away party for the wedding of Maria

and Lorenzo Roder’s daughter, Mary (front row, holding handbag), c 1921. Maria and Lorenzo are in the back row, third and fourth from right. Reproduced courtesy Pauline Lovitt

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Participants were required to either pay 1,800 francs in gold or become indentured labourers for five years, in exchange for a four-room house and 50 acres of arable land, which would be cleared and ready for cultivation. For the contadini (peasants) of the economically depressed Veneto region –including the Roder family from the village of Orsago – this was an appealing prospect. Their farming existence had long been burdened by alternating periods of drought and flood, heavy taxes, and war between the Austrian Empire and the newly formed Republic of Italy. In early 1880, 27 members of the extended Roder family, including Lorenzo (37) and Maria (25), and their son Antonio (five), were among the 50 families assembled for a fresh start in La Nouvelle France. Complications surfaced early into the endeavour, when the Royal Investigation Bureau of Milan decreed that passports would not be issued to any Italians intending to join the Marquis de Rays expedition, due to concerns about the suitability of the proposed settlement site. But official forewarnings about the sterility of the land and the risk of death from starvation were not enough to deter the group. In April 1880 they managed to reach the French port of Marseilles, from where they were transferred to Barcelona. There they experienced miserable living conditions for several months, until they were finally able to obtain passports from the Italian Consulate. On 9 July 1880, 340 migrants departed Barcelona on the third of de Rays’ four expeditions to Port Breton. Sailing on India under the command of Captain Jules Prévost, they were reassured that the passengers from the two earlier voyages of Chandernagore

03 The Roder family farmhouse in Orsago, Italy,

1995. Reproduced courtesy Nancy Lovitt

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and Génil were already settled. The expedition began badly when Lucietti Buoro (née Roder), a widowed mother of two, died just nine days into the passage. Nine infants, including Agata Roder and Cristina Roder, died before India arrived at Port Breton on 14 October 1880. The migrants were greeted by the sight of Génil at anchor – but the promised settlement was not to be seen.1

Tragedy and suffering soon ensued as food supplies ran short and the inhospitable foreign climate took its toll

The industrious expeditioners promptly set to work to clear the land and plant crops, but tragedy and suffering soon ensued as food supplies ran short and the inhospitable foreign climate took its toll. Over the next four months, around 100 people died from disease and malnutrition, including Maddalena Roder (73), Giovanni Roder (76) and Giacomo Roder (42). In December 1880, Captain Prévost sailed Génil to Sydney for provisions, but his return was delayed by engine repairs in Maryborough, Queensland. As the situation at Port Breton deteriorated, the settlers petitioned their interim leader, Captain Leroy, to transport them to Sydney. He decided to head for the closer French penal colony of New Caledonia instead. The voyage to New Caledonia in February 1881 was beset by difficulties, and it was only because of the vigilance of passenger Angelo Roder that India avoided being wrecked on a reef. On 12 March 1881 India’s distressed passengers arrived in Nouméa, where they were offered food, water and fresh milk. But they were adamant about travelling to Sydney and appealed to Edgar Layard, the honorary British Consul in New Caledonia, for assistance.

04 Nancy Lovitt (with priest) visiting the Orsago

church in which her grandparents Lorenzo and Maria Roder were married, 1995. Reproduced courtesy Nancy Lovitt

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Layard referred the group’s request to Lord Augustus Loftus, the Governor of New South Wales, and Sir Henry Parkes, the Colonial Secretary of New South Wales. Parkes responded favourably and arranged for the destitute Italians to be transported to Sydney on the steamer James Paterson. The 217 refugees arrived in Sydney on 7 April 1881 and were permitted to enter the colony as shipwrecked mariners. Parkes was later honoured by King Umberto I of Italy with the title of Commander of the Crown of Italy.

The New Italians were highly respected throughout the Richmond Valley region for their dedicated work ethic

The survivors of the de Rays expedition were initially accommodated in the Agricultural Hall of the Exhibition Building in The Domain. They were then dispersed to labouring and domestic jobs throughout the colony – from the suburbs of Liverpool, Parramatta, Campbelltown and Penrith, to as far afield as Goulburn, west of Sydney, and Singleton in the Hunter Valley – in an attempt to assimilate them into the community. However the group retained a deep-seated desire to reunite. An opportunity arose in 1882 when Italian settlers Rocco Caminotti and Antonio Pezzutti selected 3,000 acres of land south of the Richmond River, near the town of Woodburn in northern New South Wales. By the end of 1883, 26 families from the de Rays expedition had relocated to the new settlement, which they named La Cella Venezia (‘The Venice Cell’). This became New Italy in 1884, when an application was made to open a school on the site. The New Italians were highly respected throughout the Richmond Valley region for their dedicated work ethic. Using local materials such as bark, clay, and wattle and daub, they constructed their simple dwellings, followed by wells, ovens, cellars, a church, a school and a community hall. Timber-getting provided the cash to raise livestock, while the settlers’ strong agricultural skills saw orchards, vineyards and vegetable gardens quickly flourish on land that the British deemed barren. The New Italy settlement was self-sufficient and its residents were extremely resourceful, using duck feathers to make pillows, corn husks for mattresses, and spinning and knitting wool on machines built by Angelo Roder. In the early 1890s they experimented with silk farming (one of the specialties of their homeland) and won prizes at international exhibitions in Chicago and Milan. Sericulture supplemented the other main industries in the region, namely timber-getting, cane-cutting, winemaking and dairying. By the turn of the century a number of butter factories, including Norco, were operating in the area, and cream boats were a common sight on the local waterways. The New Italians supplied cream to the butter factory in the busy port town

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of Coraki, located at the junction of the Richmond River and Wilsons River. Lorenzo and Maria Roder owned a dairy farm at Wyrallah, on the east bank of the Wilsons River, which they operated until they retired north to the town of Lismore. The couple lived well into their 80s and raised nine children – Antonio, Lawrence, Theresa, Giovanna, Andrew, James, Minni, Mary and Lucy – all of whom became loyal citizens of Australia. Their youngest son, James, served in the Australian Imperial Force during World War I. Lorenzo Roder died in 1931 and Maria Roder died in 1942. Lorenzo and Maria’s granddaughter, Nancy Lovitt, registered their names on the Welcome Wall to acknowledge all the hardships her forebears endured to reach Australia. In the years after World War I, New Italy slowly lost its unique character as the ageing pioneers died and their descendants integrated into the community through schooling and intermarriage. The New Italy School was closed in 1933 and the settlement was abandoned following the death of its last resident, 87-year-old Giacomo Piccoli, in 1955. Today the New Italy Museum and Monument to the Pioneers stand as tangible reminders of the perseverance and resilience of the New Italians, along a stretch of the Pacific Highway between Grafton and Ballina. And what became of the Marquis de Rays? In 1882 de Rays was arrested in Spain and extradited to France, where he was tried and sentenced in 1884 to four years’ imprisonment. He had amassed a wealth of more than seven million francs through four failed expeditions to the South Pacific. Upon his release from prison in 1888, de Rays engaged in a few more dubious adventures before he died in 1893, having never set foot in La Nouvelle France. 1 Many of Génil’s passengers had already deserted the ship en route to Port Breton, while the survivors of the Chandernagore expedition were rescued by Wesleyan missionaries. See J H Niau, The Phantom Paradise: The Story of the Expedition of the Marquis de Rays, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1936.

The Welcome Wall It costs just $150 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 121 > TECTONIC DISCOVERIES

READINGS SUMMER 2017–18

Tectonic discoveries JOURNEYS THAT CHANGED SCIENCE

THIS IS THE FOURTH BOOK in eight years by prolific author Ian Burnet, a retired Australian geologist and geophysicist whose career took him all over Indonesia, and who is a dual resident of both nations. His previous books were popular histories of the spice trade, European maritime expansion into South-East Asia and our complex next-door neighbour, Indonesia. Each book, like the present one, created a readable narrative from complex subjects that are well staked out by specialist academics but rarely so well distilled and made so accessible. While Burnet casts his net wider via the world voyages of these three famous Englishmen, his focus returns to the Indonesian region – the place where ‘Australia collides with Asia’, as the title declares. His aim is quite simply to demonstrate the wider region’s importance to the intellectual history of our civilisation. Key to this are the three brilliant naturalists who took the empirical natural sciences from their infancy to an epiphany in a bit less than one century. The first is wealthy young Joseph Banks, who self-funds himself onto James Cook’s 18th-century circumnavigation, England’s first great voyage of deliberately scientific discovery. Banks and the talented artists in his entourage are the first to scientifically record Australia’s unique flora. Charles Darwin is even younger when good luck and good connections put him on HMS Beagle for its five-year charting voyage for the British Admiralty in the 1830s. This exposes him to South American fossils, Galapagos Islands finches and New South Wales platypuses. Back home, Darwin incubates the idea of natural selection but puts off announcing it for two decades, nervous about dethroning the stern Victorian Lord God of Creation. Alfred Russel Wallace, by contrast, was a self-educated working man who sold rare beetles and bird and animal skins for a living. He travelled to South America and the East Indies to collect them, journeying on mail boats, sailing ships,

Where Australia collides with Asia – The epic voyages of Joseph Banks, Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, and the origin of On the Origin of Species By Ian Burnet, published by Rosenfeld Publishing Pty Ltd, Sydney NSW, 2017. Paperback, 208 pages, illustrations, bibliography. ISBN 9780994562784. RRP $34.95 Members $31.45

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In a malarial fever-dream in the New Guinea region, Alfred Russel Wallace hits upon the idea of natural selection

early steamers, schooners, native perahus and dugout canoes for many years in the mid-19th century. In a malarial fever-dream in the New Guinea region, Wallace also hits upon the idea of natural selection, synthesising all that he’s observed in his many years of tropical travels and hardship. He writes to his mentor Darwin to tell him about it. This creates a crisis for the procrastinating Darwin, who sees his life’s work about to be eclipsed. His supporters in the Royal Society urge him to summarise his work in a paper to be read to the society along with Wallace’s letter. That done, Darwin finally gets his masterpiece On the Origin of Species into print. The ensuing debates that shake Victorian England lead to an immortal exchange between Bishop Wilberforce for the religious establishment, and Royal Society biologist and Darwin ally, Thomas Huxley. The Bishop asks Huxley if he’s related to apes on his grandmother’s or grandfather’s side. Huxley responds, ‘I would rather be descended from an ape than a bishop!’ God may have been thus demoted, but so too was Alfred Russel Wallace, who has been forgotten by many. But not by Ian Burnet, who reminds us that Wallace is not only the independent co-developer of the theory of evolution, but is also a founder of bio-geography. This brings us to the book’s grandest voyage of all – of discoveries made on the three Englishmen’s voyages that gradually point the way to understanding the tectonic voyage of Australia riding on its continental plate, after a single supercontinent called Pangea splits into the northern landmass of Laurasia and the southern landmass of Gondwana. Floating on convection currents of magma within the earth’s mantle, Australia collides with Asia along a zone that Alfred Russel Wallace recognised during his years of wandering through the East Indies.

01 Map showing the Wallace Line and some

of Alfred Russel Wallace’s travels around the Indonesian archipelago (page 137).

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His insights have been immortalised in the Wallace Line, which runs down the middle of today’s Indonesia. On one side are the species of Asia – including tigers, elephants and rhinoceros – while on the other are marsupials and cockatoos, eucalypts, acacias and melaleucas. This book begins at the place where Wallace first noticed this difference – the narrow strait about 20 kilometres wide that separates Bali and Lombok. Burnet takes the vast bibliographies that document all these voyages and turns them into an easy, engaging read, enlivened by some of the English naturalists’ most memorable quotes. For me, though, he’s at his best leading us through the less familiar discoveries and principles of plate tectonics – which is, after all, professional home-territory for him. Explanations of the slowmotion ballet of continents in motion verge on poetry in places. There are many wonderful human stories as well, not just of the central characters but also of some of the other figures who enter the picture. Stories like Joseph Banks practising boudoir ethnology in Tahiti, or his mystery woman, dressed as a man and waiting for him in vain on Madeira. Or the sad tale of Beagle’s depressive, religiously zealous Captain Fitzroy, who came to rue that he ever recruited Charles Darwin to sail with him. Jeffrey Mellefont Honorary Research Associate The reviewer was an ANMM staff member, publisher and editor from 1988 to 2014. He has a long-standing research interest in Indonesian maritime history.

02 Relief map showing the collision of Australia

with Asia. Land elevation based on NASA radar topography, sea bathymetry based on NASA satellite altimetry and ship soundings. University of California, San Diego (page 139).

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > ANMM COLLECTION

CURRENTS SUMMER 2017–18

ANMM collection NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE THROUGH TROVE

THE MUSEUM is pleased to announce that we are again publishing our collection records through Trove, the National Library of Australia’s data-sharing initiative. At present some 90,000 ANMM records are available on the library’s website. This is part of the museum’s ongoing mission to share its collection and knowledge of maritime heritage with the Australian public and the world. It is an important part of the museum’s role to be able to reach people who are unable physically to visit the museum or who would like access to the collection outside of opening hours. Among the ANMM records available on Trove are those relating to books, journals, articles and data sets; images, pictures, objects and maps; and diaries, letters and archives. The museum’s registration department has an ongoing digitisation strategy that involves photographing objects in the collection to the higher quality required by current web standards. The strategy also involves capturing new data about an object so that our online audience can discover more information than ever about the museum’s large and diverse collection. To browse the ANMM collection currently available on Trove, head to trove.nla.gov.au/ and start your journey by searching through ‘People and Organisations’. Myffanwy Bryant Curatorial Assistant

01 ANMM records available on Trove include

those relating to books, journals, articles and data sets; images, pictures, objects and maps; and diaries, letters and archives.

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > SUPERMAXI WILD OATS XI

CURRENTS SUMMER 2017–18

Supermaxi Wild Oats XI THE HIGH-TECH RECORD WINNER VISITS THE MUSEUM

IN OCTOBER THE MUSEUM HOSTED a five-day showcase featuring the supermaxi yacht Wild Oats XI. The Australian-built ocean-racing thoroughbred is the most successful yacht to have contested the Sydney–Hobart Yacht Race since it began in 1945. Wild Oats XI first raced in 2005 and since then has won line honours a record eight times, set a race record time twice and won on corrected time on two occasions. It will be lining up for the highly competitive bluewater classic on Boxing Day again this year.

02 Wild Oats XI team members show

schoolchildren around the boat. Some 500 visitors boarded the yacht during its five-day stay at the museum. Image Inger Sheil/ANMM

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Wild Oats XI was commissioned by the late Bob Oatley AO, a keen sailor and strong supporter of the sport in Australia. The family has continued to campaign the racing yacht since Bob’s death last year. Designed by Reichel/Pugh Yacht Design in San Diego, USA, the supermaxi features a deep canting keel. Launched in 2005 at McConaghy Boats, Sydney, the 30.5-metre carbon-fibre hull returned to its original builder in 2015 for a major overhaul and modernisation. To remain competitive the bow was extended and the stern trimmed to effectively position the mast and keel further back in the boat, to reduce the boat’s tendency to nosedive in big seas. This enabled a new sail plan – with larger, lightweight downwind sails. The current configuration is a leaner, lighter and faster racing yacht. Wild Oats XI is a very impressive racing machine, in which every detail and every gram of weight has a purpose and an impact on performance – including the unpainted interior of the carbon-fibre cabin and the composition of its 20-odd crew. Wild Oats XI’s boat and maintenance crew guided visitors on deck and down below to the bare-bones cabin, and colourfully explained the dynamics of the racing crew and their various functions, in idiom we could all understand – frontierland at the bow, adventureland on the winches amidships and fantasyland at the helm. More than 500 visitors boarded the boat, including almost 200 senior school marine studies students. The students took part in a learning seminar entitled ‘Racing and Risk’ that we held for the yacht’s visit, with a virtual excursion program in association with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. The aim of the seminar was to explore the skills and services critical to high-performance sailing today – yacht design, boatbuilding, crewing, teamwork, navigation, communication, safety and rescue operations. In this context, a keynote was the panel presentation by Wild Oats XI media representative and sailing commentator Rob Mundle and boat manager and crew members Paul Magee, Chris Links and Steve Jarvin. They described the perils and privileges of high-performance sailing, tacking downwind at speeds of about 30 knots (60 kmh) – not for the fainthearted. On the other side of the wharf was moored the splendid Edwardian steam yacht SY Ena. Visitors could admire the aesthetics and compare the technology of these two vessels, both Australian built, 100 years apart. It was a rare and exciting opportunity. The visit of Wild Oats XI to the ANMM was supported by the Oatley family.

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Gapu Mon _uk Saltwater is launched with sacred ceremony Two hundred and fifty of the museum’s stakeholders, supporters and VIPs gathered together on 8 November to celebrate the launch of Gapu Mon _ uk Saltwater – Journey to Sea Country. Guests experienced something very special as visiting artists from Yolŋu country (left) demonstrated their very close connection to the sea by sharing their culture through traditional dance.

We were honoured to have Djambawa Marawili, ceremonial leader of the Madarrpa clan of north-east Arnhem Land and a lead plaintiff in the landmark Blue Mud Bay legal case, as our special guest to formally open the exhibition. He is pictured (second image, centre) with, from left, Dr Anne Maree Payne, Academic Supervisor, University of Technology Sydney; Liyawaday Wirrpanda; and ANMM’s Director Kevin Sumption PSM, Chairman Peter Dexter AM and Councillor Alison Page.

Praise for Gapu Mon _ uk Saltwater has been strong in its opening days. Wendy Harmer of ABC 702 said ‘this exhibit blows away Dior, Bowie, Mapplethorpe – ALL of it. And it’s ours from the Yolŋu people – their Dreamtime on bark paintings. I’m in total awe!’

Gapu Mon _ uk Saltwater is showing at the museum until November 2018.

Story Jude Timms, images Andrew Frolows/ANMM

AMC Study Centre to open in Sydney The University of Tasmania’s Australian Maritime College flagship training vessel Bluefin was in Sydney recently for the announcement that we have partnered with the university to establish a study centre in Sydney. The college will deliver two postgraduate maritime degrees from its waterfront base at the museum from February 2018, with plans for a third degree in 2019.

As the national centre for the promotion and conservation of Australia’s maritime heritage and culture, it is a natural fit for us to partner with our nation’s leading institute for maritime education, training and research.

This centre will provide unique opportunities for us to use our historic fleet, collection and stories to connect with the future leaders of our maritime industry. We’re also very excited about the opportunities this partnership brings for our visitors to engage with living industry and what will be the heritage of the future.

Pictured are former AMC Principal Neil Bose, ANMM Director Kevin Sumption PSM, AMC Board Chairman Paul Gregg and University of Tasmania Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Brigid Heywood. Story Jude Timms, image Quentin Jones

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Acknowledgements The Australian National Maritime Museum acknowledges the support provided to the museum by all our volunteers, members, sponsors, donors and friends. The museum particularly acknowledges the following people who have made a significant contribution to the museum in an enduring way or who have made or facilitated significant benefaction to it. Honorary Fellow RADM Andrew Robertson AO DSC RAN (Rtd)

Honorary Life Members Robert Albert AO RFD RD

Bob Allan Vivian Balmer Vice Admiral Tim Barrett AO AM CSC

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SIGNALS > NUMBER 121 > THE STORE

SEE WHAT’S IN STORE SALTWATER II – PAINTINGS OF THE SEA COUNTRY This second edition marks the success of the Yolŋu struggle to gain recognition of their sea rights. It contains the full original text and paintings of the first edition plus commentary on the Yolŋu legal challenges.

TOTE BAG – JAWUN BASKET DESIGN Designed by Daniel Beeron. Screen-printed with waterbased inks. Natural cotton canvas with cowhide handles, measures 60 × 50 cm.

$99.95 / $89.95 Members

$39.95 / $35.95 Members

CUSHION COVER – MINA MINA DREAMING Designed by Betsy Napangardi Lewis. The country associated with this design is significant to Napangardi and Napanangka women. Wool, 40 cm square.

$69.95 / $62.95 Members

AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL PAINTINGS An overview of traditional Aboriginal religious paintings, which all originate from the Dreaming, the Tjukurrpa, the Wonggar, the Creation, and express this now, in present-day Australia.

$59.95 / $53.95 Members

MACADAMIA OIL HAND CREAM Made with nourishing goat’s milk and blended with macadamia oil to condition skin and keep it soft and healthy.

$19.95 / $17.95 Members

TIE AND POCKET SQUARE – SEAHORSE DESIGN Designed by Elverina Johnson. Boxed set of handmade, pure silk tie with complementary silk pocket square.

$110.00 / $99.00 Members

SILK SCARF – STORM CLOUD Designed by Christine Nakamarra Curtis. 100% pure silk chiffon, 67.5 × 180 cm. The pattern represents the dark and stormy sky of the outback just as rain begins to fall.

$150.00 / $135.00 Members

BOW TIE AND POCKET SQUARE – SHIELD DESIGN Designed by Justin Butler. Boxed set of handmade, pure silk twill bow tie with complementary silk pocket square.

$110.00 / $99.00 Members

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SIGNALS 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 at anmm.gov.au/signals. Issues 110 onwards available via the App Store Signals back issues Back issues $4 each or 10 for $30 Extra copies of current issue $4.95 Call The Store 02 9298 3698 Digital Signals Available on iPad from the App Store. Type 'Signals Quarterly' and follow the prompts. First edition free, subsequent editions $1.99. All editions are free to Members – contact members@anmm.gov.au for your coupon code Australian National Maritime Museum Open daily except Christmas Day 9.30 am to 5 pm (6 pm in January) 2 Murray Street Sydney NSW 2000 Australia. Phone 02 9298 3777. The Australian National Maritime Museum is a statutory authority of the Australian Government. Become a museum Member Benefits include four issues of Signals per year; free museum entry; discounts on events and purchases; and more. See anmm.gov.au or phone 02 9298 3646. Corporate memberships also available.

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