Stories from the ship and the shore
Prehistoric marine reptiles come to life
Rhode Island revisited
The search for Cook’s Endeavour continues
THE YEAR 2020 MARKS 250 YEARS SINCE JAMES COOK – sailing on HMB Endeavour – first charted the east coast of Australia. With orders from London to explore the distant land, Cook also unwittingly set the scene for British colonisation, and the subsequent waves of immigration that have shaped modern Australia.
For the First Peoples of Australia – custodians of the continent for over 60,000 years – Cook’s arrival was their most significant encounter yet with Western explorers, and it heralded the unfolding of fundamental changes to their way of life.
This anniversary offers a unique opportunity for all Australians to reflect on, discuss and re-evaluate the lasting impact of this pivotal event, with particular emphasis on its repercussions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. For them, the subsequent loss of their country marked the start of a long struggle to retain their unique culture, and was the catalyst for the beginning of a movement for the rights and recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional owners of the lands and waters.
The Australian National Maritime Museum’s Encounters 2020 program will utilise this historic event to examine its significance in Australian history and its enduring legacy – showing dual perspectives from the ‘ship’ and the ‘shore’.
As museum Councillor and Indigenous artist and filmmaker Alison Page explains: … at its heart, this is a program about truth telling. Over many years the museum, as our National Museum of the Sea, has investigated the rich cultural history of our coastal First Nations and brought their stories to contemporary Australians. Encounters 2020 is a continuation of this. By opening up discussion and bringing together the stories from the ship and the shore we are building a richer cultural legacy for a shared future.
It is the nature of historical study to always investigate with new eyes and seek out all points of view. As a cultural institution, we believe it is our role to continually analyse our history and broaden our country’s knowledge. We want to separate myth from fact. We will acknowledge Cook’s achievements and impacts, and clarify the role he played in Australian history.
Encounters 2020 will feature a range of exhibitions at the museum and a variety of film and digital projects. There will be a land and sea travelling exhibition, and educational resources for primary and secondary teachers so they can offer new insights to Australian students.
The element of the program with the largest outreach, however, will be ‘Encounters around Australia’, when the Endeavour replica will circumnavigate the country, visiting 38 locations. Combined with this will be a travelling exhibition of First Nations’ art that will form a focus for discussion, and together they will help bring the dual themes of both ‘ship’ and ‘shore’ to as many Australians as possible.
As the custodians of Endeavour, we understand that the ship is a symbol that elicits strong feelings – but it is important that we hear the voices and stories. We know they are difficult conversations but they are conversations we need to have.
Kevin Sumption psm Director and CEO Encounters 2020 will show dual perspectives from the ‘ship’ and the ‘shore’. Unsplash, photograph Shifaaz Shamoon 2017The 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
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are advised that Signals may contain names, images, objects and works by and of people who are deceased. It may also contain links to sites that use video, voices and other content of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples now deceased.
The museum advises there may be historical language and images that are considered inappropriate today and confronting to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Number
The
and sails
2 Encounters around Australia
Investigating our history
8 Encounters 2020
Exhibition program
12 Cook in the curriculum
An opportunity to re-evaluate Cook’s place in history
16 Mythbusting Cook
Fact, fiction and total fallacy
20 Rhode Island revisited
The search for Cook’s Endeavour continues
26 Announcing the winners
The 2017 Frank Broeze Memorial Maritime History Prizes
28 Historic ships’ plans are surfacing
A century of our naval heritage in drawings
32 MOOCs, makers and monsters
Bringing prehistoric marine reptiles to life
38 A change of chairman
We farewell Peter Dexter and welcome John Mullen
42 Australian Sailing Hall of Fame
Announcing the 2019 inductees
44 Challenging, Thrilling, Racing
75 years of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
48 Message to Members and museum events for summer
Your calendar of activities, talks, tours and excursions afloat
53 Member profile
Louise Taggart, devoted to our maritime heritage
54 Summer exhibitions
Sea Monsters: Prehistoric ocean predators, Capturing the home front and more
60 Collections
Digitised documents related to the tragedy of SS Federal
62 Foundation
Looking back on an incredible year
64 Tales from the Welcome Wall
70
Sydney via the Suez
Readings
The Tasman Map: The Biography of a Map by Ian Burnet
72 Currents
Promoting a multicultural Australia
Travelling to 38 different locations around Australia by sea and open road, Encounters 2020 will bring to life perspectives from the sea and from the shore. Steve Riethoff outlines the Endeavour voyages that you can be a part of and the accompanying travelling exhibition.
‘Encounters around Australia’ is where we simultaneously set sail and hit the road. From February next year we will have the replica Endeavour undertaking a series of voyages to 38 destinations around Australia. Combined with this there will be a travelling exhibition of First Nations’ art that will form a focus for discussion, and together they will help bring the ‘dual perspectives’ theme to as many Australians as possible.
Kevin Sumption PSM, Director & CEO‘ENCOUNTERS AROUND AUSTRALIA’ will bring Cook’s 1770 voyage into focus from the dual perspectives of Australia’s Indigenous population and that of the English visitors, with the aim of balancing the story and presenting it to Australians across the nation. From February 2020 until May 2021 the Endeavour replica will sail around our coast, stopping regularly to allow visitors touring the ship to imagine what life had been like for Cook and his crew. At the same time, a land-based travelling exhibition of Indigenous art will meet up with Endeavour at various ports and will represent Cook’s arrival from the perspective of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
Around Australia by Sea Endeavour Voyages
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Voyage crew at the ship’s wheel, dressed in wet-weather gear. Photograph David Knight, 2019 02
Two crew members climbing the rigging on the replica HMB Endeavour. Photograph David Knight, 2019
The 2020–2021 Encounters voyages on the Endeavour replica will provide a rare opportunity to not only have a unique sailing experience, but also to learn sailing skills from a bygone era. It will be the perfect opportunity for experienced sailors and history enthusiasts alike, as well as for those seeking an adventure holiday unlike any other. Crew and supernumeraries will see the Australian coastline from a rare vantage point and experience the challenges of 18th-century sailing.
The first of Endeavour ’s voyages departs Sydney for Geelong on 24 February 2020 and the full program runs for 14 months. Guests can join the crew for legs ranging from one to 25 days and, all up, the ship will berth at 26 different locations and anchor at 12. Adventurers will experience life on the seas, learn from the professional crew, and discover the excitement and demands of life on a tall-ship. They will have the opportunity to learn about Cook’s 1770 voyage and about the various local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities around the country.
Voyages are open to anyone 18 years and older, and are suitable for both first-time and experienced sailors. On each voyage there are 36 spots available for voyaging crew and four for supernumeraries. Voyaging crew will assist the 16 professionals in running all aspects of the ship (except as captain, of course!), while sleeping in hammocks, learning rope skills, standing watch and working as a team with their new shipmates. The voyages are not a re-enactment, nor historical re-creation, but are an opportunity to show Australians all around our coast just how life was for early European travellers.
For those seeking more comfort, supernumeraries sleep in cabins and do not take part in the daily working of the ship, although they can if they wish.
Crew are split into three groups – known as ‘watches’ – with each based on one of the three masts. Watch members are then allocated the times when they are on duty. Led by a member of the professional crew, each watch operates as a team to enable the smooth working of the ship. Crew will undertake the tasks necessary to operate the ship, day and night. But it won’t be all work – there will be time for rest and recreation.
In port, the replica Endeavour operates in ‘museum mode’, when mod-cons are hidden out of sight and the ship is set up to look as its name-sake did in 1770, and visitors will be able to gain a better understanding of life aboard in the 18th century. Also on display in port while the ship is in ‘museum mode’ will be objects that tell of Indigenous life at the time of Cook’s voyage.
Being on the crew of Endeavour for ‘Encounters around Australia’ will be exciting and exhilarating and, by participating, you will also contribute to an important national conversation around the significance of Cook’s visit.
Adventurers will experience life on the seas, learn from the professional crew, and discover the excitement and demands of life on a tall-ship
‘Encounters around Australia’ will bring Cook’s 1770 voyage into focus from the dual perspectives of Australia’s Indigenous population and that of the English visitors, with the aim of balancing the story and presenting it to Australians across the nation
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with
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This exhibition is specifically designed to showcase some of the museum’s collection of contemporary works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, who have responded to the symbolism of Cook’s arrival, and of Indigenous encounters with strangers over many years.
Looking Back Looking Forward will also collect responses and stories from local communities, and feed local commentary back into the exhibition, as well as adding these responses to the museum’s collection.
The exhibition will address the concepts of Culture, Stories, History, Survival, Protest, Present and Future, and will include pieces reflecting Creation stories and over 60,000 years of culture, science and knowledge. There will be works depicting other moments of contact (Macassan, Papua New Guinean, and European) and the voyages before Endeavour, as well as the history of trade with neighbouring peoples.
Looking Back Looking Forward will refer to contemporary issues, including those raised in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and will include a selection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contemporary views on encounters, colonisation and protest. These will introduce visitors to the impact of Endeavour ’s arrival from a First People’s perspective, and the varied and pervasive issues and feelings that have been raised by it.
Housed in a purpose-built, expandable semi-trailer, the Looking Back Looking Forward exhibition will include digital artworks, interactive informative screens and reproductions of pieces from the National Maritime Collection, including protest posters, photographic works and contemporary artworks by Jason Wing, Gail Mabo, Fiona Foley, Gordon Syron and Michael Cook.
The exhibition will encourage input from those who visit it – in written form, drawings, audio or video recordings. There will be prompted questions relating to the anniversary and the exhibition, and other general comments will be welcomed. Selected responses will form part of the exhibition itself, allowing for new local commentary to be incorporated into the displays. These responses will also be retained by the museum, providing a valuable resource for showcasing Australia in 2020 and forming part of the legacy of the project.
Michel Tuffery, Tupaia and Solander Pōtaka Tā at Opoutama, 27 October 1769, 2019, woodcut. Courtesy of the artist and Solander Gallery
As part of the Encounters 2020 program, the museum will host various exhibitions that bring to life the dual perspectives of those onboard the ship and those on the shore. From the 18th century through to contemporary Indigenous work, we explore our upcoming exhibitions.
Cook and the Pacific
Drawn from the National Library of Australia’s major 2018–19 international exhibition, this travelling, multimedia display gives visitors to Cook and the Pacific insights into James Cook’s three remarkable Pacific voyages, and explores this spectacular region through the eyes of the British voyagers and the First Nations peoples they met.
The exhibition takes visitors on a journey to the Pacific 250 years ago, with destinations including Tahiti, New Zealand, the east coast of Australia and Hawaii. Visitors will view images of maps, manuscripts, and rare books, as well as oil paintings and watercolours by voyage artists.
Originally produced by the National Library of Australia.
Paradise Lost – Daniel Solander’s Legacy
This exhibition commemorates the legacy of the Endeavour ’s Swedish naturalist, Daniel Solander, and the first encounter between Sweden and the Pacific region. It features fine-art prints by 10 leading contemporary New Zealand artists, selected to bring a unique vision to this historical event and to Solander’s legacy. It will also feature Australian Indigenous scientific knowledge as a framework for exploring engravings of botanical specimens collected in Australia by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander. The engravings are part of the National Maritime Collection.
Produced by the Solander Gallery and the Australian National Maritime Museum in association with the Embassy of Sweden, Canberra.
In May we host Defying Empire, from the National Gallery of Australia, featuring the works of 30 contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from across the country. The exhibit explores the ongoing resilience of Australia’s Indigenous people since first contact, through to the historical fight for recognition, and ongoing activism to the present day.
Produced by the National Gallery of Australia with assistance from the Australian Government’s Visions of Australia program and by the National Collecting Institutions Touring and Outreach Program.
As part of Encounters 2020, there will be an exhibition about navigators and voyagers in Australia and the Pacific.
From the observation of the transit of Venus to the importance of the night sky in Torres Strait Islander navigation and voyaging, planets and stars unite the long history of all navigators around Australia.
In 2020 the museum’s Navigators gallery will be redeveloped to include new acquisitions and collection objects from Indigenous Australian and Pacific navigation, as well as a selection of important new material associated with James Cook and other European navigators. A highlight will be the temporary display of the so - called ‘secret orders’ issued to Cook, which outlined the mission for HMB Endeavour after observing the transit of Venus in 1769.
In 2020 the museum’s Navigators gallery will be redeveloped to include new acquisitions and collection objects from Indigenous Australian and Pacific navigation
01 Michel Tuffery, Cookie in Te Wai Pounamu Meets Cook Strait, 2011. Courtesy of the artist and Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane
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Greg Semu, The Arrival, 2014–15 (detail). C type photograph. Courtesy of the artist
HERE: Kupe to Cook
Over one thousand years ago the celebrated Oceanic navigator Kupe sailed to Aotearoa (New Zealand) and acquired an anchor stone from Porirua Harbour in Wellington. The stone, which now resides in the collection of the Pātaka Art Gallery and Museum, near Wellington, provides a conceptual anchor-point for conversations around Oceanic exploration and ideas of discovery.
HERE: Kupe to Cook features artworks by 20 leading Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Australian contemporary artists who investigate the long and varied histories of South Pacific voyaging – from Kupe to the arrival of James Cook in 1769. In the exhibition, Māori sculptors Wi Taepa and Tawhai Rickard have created sculptural interpretations of Kupe’s anchor stone and an imagined version of the Resolution, the vessel sailed by Cook on his final voyage to the Pacific. Inspired by Tongan Ngatu barkcloth, the paintings by Glen Wolfgramm and Robyn White celebrate connections between Oceanic communities, while photographs by Samoan artists Yuki Kihara and Greg Semu question the strength of those connections. The exhibition title can also be read in the Māori language, referring to ‘a place to bind your waka’ (vessel).
Produced by Pataka Art + Museum in association with the National Library of New Zealand.
Seascapes
French artist Paul Rousteau’s abstracted landscapes of optical illusions, chromatic aberrations and meteorological mirages evoke the infinite array of shapes and colours, created by the meeting of air, water and light.
Invited by the Australian National Maritime Museum and the Embassy of France, Rousteau undertook a residency aboard the replica HMB Endeavour on a voyage from Sydney to Noumea in 2019. The photographs he took during this voyage will be displayed in this stunning exhibition.
This exhibition will travel by land, meeting the Endeavour replica as it visits ports around Australia. Looking Back Looking Forward showcases contemporary works from the museum’s collection, by Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous artists. The works focus on early encounters between the inhabitants and the visitors. The artists have responded to the symbolic nature of Cook and the various encounters between strangers that have occurred around the shorelines of our country over many years.
An opportunity to re-evaluate Cook’s place in
The 250th anniversary of James Cook charting the east coast of Australia presents a unique opportunity to re-evaluate his place in history. The museum’s Head of Learning, Peter Tattersall, discusses what this means for Australian classrooms.
TRANSLATING THE LEGACY OF JAMES COOK’S first voyage in the Pacific to a 21st-century understanding is challenging. As we approach the milestone of 250 years since HMB Endeavour arrived on our east coast, it’s time for us to again reflect on the lasting impact this crucial event has had on all Australians, and in particular the First Australians.
Significant national anniversaries always kick-start conversation, and much has changed in the Australian cultural landscape since the 1988 bicentenary of the First Fleet’s arrival. We should see the year 2020 and its planned events as a great opportunity to celebrate the culture of our Indigenous Australians, and we should grasp the chance to contemplate and re-evaluate our complex history, and to reflect on what is taught about this subject in our schools.
Cook in the curriculum
It may be surprising to many readers, but Captain Cook rates only a minor mention in the Australian curriculum. In the Year 4 History and Social Sciences content outline, Cook is listed as only one of five explorers of the Australian coastline (the others being the Makassans, Dirk Hartog, Abel Tasman and Comte de La Pérouse). But Cook’s reported planting of the British flag on what he named ‘Possession Island’, in the Torres Strait, set in motion a process that ultimately resulted in the establishment of a British colony on Australia’s east coast –a decision that dramatically changed the history of this land and its First Peoples. In considering the importance of this event it could be argued that a juicier slice of students’ classroom time should be given over to the topic, especially as Cook’s story, when told in primary school classrooms, often forms the basis of further conversations about Australia’s European history.
To engage students with this complicated – and at times divisive – event, the museum is developing a series of high-quality digital resources for use in the classroom
Game screens from Cook’s Voyages: Views from the Shore. Images courtesy of Roar Film, 2019
In a crowded curriculum it’s difficult to find space for all the important events, concepts and themes that relate to Australia’s history, and it’s interesting to consider the place that Cook and his voyage currently inhabit within the official curriculum document. Despite the equal billing given to Cook, Tasman, La Pérouse and the Makassans, it’s reasonable to suggest that students usually leave the classroom with a more realised image of Cook’s voyage than those of the others, and it is also worth considering the role that popular culture plays in colouring this image. Cook’s location within the Australian curriculum is also interesting for another reason: placed in the middle years of primary school, it is included at a formative time in a child’s conception of time and place.
In the past, Cook’s arrival was used as a starting point for ‘Australian History’.
While education has moved well past this and sees Cook in the context of the age of European exploration, the passing reference to him in the curriculum and its location in Year 4 does not allow the examination of Cook as a historical figure to be as critical as it could be if undertaken in more senior years.
One of the most important developments emerging from the implementation of the Australian curriculum is the introduction of the cross-curricular Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures, which gives a greater acknowledgement of and respect for pre-contact Australian history. Given this, the story of Cook and Endeavour can partially be read from a scientific perspective, creating an important cross-curricular opportunity to investigate Indigenous sciences, including astronomy, agriculture, aquaculture and the use of fire.
A complicated legacy
It’s clear that James Cook has a complex legacy in Australia. Recent debates surrounding the appropriateness of Eurocentric monuments, and the 2017 graffiti left on Cook’s statue in Sydney’s Hyde Park – ‘change the date’ and ‘no pride in genocide’ – clearly illustrate just how close Cook is to the front line of Australia’s history wars. Cultural heritage and geographical location (Cook is of lesser interest to those on Australia’s west coast) have helped shape prevailing views of the explorer.
In a recent lecture, City of Sydney historian Dr Lisa Murray reflected: 1
James Cook was more than just a navigator … In Australian history, the character of Captain Cook has come to symbolise colonisation and dispossession; more so than Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet.
As such, any examination of Cook and his actions must take into account not only the ‘view from the ship’, but also the ‘view from the shore’ – a ‘dual perspectives’ approach that has very deliberately been taken in the development of the museum’s Encounters 2020 program.
To engage students with this complicated – and at times divisive – event, the museum is developing a series of high-quality digital resources for use in the classroom. These include a gamified learning experience that places students in the shoes of an 18th-century ship master, and presents them with a number of the logistical and ethical challenges that Cook himself faced. Further, the development of a satirical, animated piece by Indigenous artist Jake Duczynski will provide older learners with a First Nations perspective on Cook and his legacy.
The marking of 250 years since Cook’s visit to Australian shores is an excellent opportunity to revisit the legacy of Cook the explorer, navigator and adventurer, and brings with it the opportunity to foster critical thinking among students about the ‘discovery’ doctrine that has surrounded him for so long. Through the Encounters 2020 education program the museum will play a leading role in facilitating this re-evaluation.
April 2018.
Cook saw only the east coast of the continent, and was several thousand kilometres short of a circumnavigation
For someone who looms so large in the Australian consciousness, there’s a lot about James Cook that Australians get wrong. Dr Stephen Gapps and Steve Riethoff straighten out some of the misconceptions.
Myth 1 – Cook was the first European to discover Australia
ACCORDING TO A RECENT SURVEY 31 per cent of Australians think that James Cook was the first European to find Australia.1
The fact is that Cook’s 1770 voyage followed more than a dozen previous encounters by Europeans in the north-west, west and south of the continent throughout the 17th century – all of them more than a hundred years before Cook’s visit. There may even have been earlier Portuguese visits in the 16th century, and some historians have suggested that the Chinese Grand Fleet, under Admiral Zheng He, may have arrived here in the 15th century. Visiting long before Cook, men such as Willem Janszoon, Luis Vaz de Torres, Dirk Hartog, Frederick de Houtman and Abel Tasman are certainly not household names, as are Cook and Endeavour Cook can claim a couple of other ‘firsts’, though: in 1770, he was the first European to chart the east coast and the Endeavour crew were the first Europeans known to have landed on the east coast.
In fact, the oldest known foreign visitors to Australia were from modern-day Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Makassan traders had been visiting and trading with people in northern Australia for hundreds of years and dugout canoes were traded from the Sepik River to the Torres Strait Islands for generations before Cook arrived there.
No European ‘discovered’ Australia. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inhabitants of this continent managed that all by themselves – some 60,000 years before any European turned up.
Captain Cook, John Chapman, 1800, National Library of Australia, nla.obj-240952710
Myth 2 – Cook and Endeavour were in the First Fleet and brought convicts to Australia
According to the same survey, 47 per cent of Australians think that Endeavour arrived in Australia with the First Fleet in 1788 – and they are 100 per cent wrong! 2
The First Fleet, under Captain Arthur Phillip, arrived in Botany Bay between 18 and 20 January 1788. By that time, Cook had been dead for nine years, Endeavour had been renamed Lord Sandwich, and in 1778, during the American War of Independence, the ship had been scuttled in Newport Harbor, Rhode Island, as an underwater defence against French attack.
The way many non-Indigenous Australians mix up Cook and Phillip is understandable – for many years Cook’s arrival was seen as a better foundational moment than a fleet full of convicts, and so 29 April (the date when Endeavour arrived at Botany Bay in 1770) was officially celebrated as the origin of white settlement. From the 1930s, the focus of national commemorations turned towards the First Fleet – but often didn’t mention the convicts. It wasn’t until the ‘convict stain’ began to be erased in the 1970s that the First Fleet became widely associated with the beginning of modern Australia.
In fact, Cook was the representative of the British Crown and claimed possession of the east coast of Australia on behalf of the Crown, naming it New South Wales. Cook’s arrival has therefore become the symbol of the European invasion and occupation of the continent, particularly for First Nations people.
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Not Cook, he only had one ship! Botany Bay, Sirius & Convoy going in: Supply & Agents Division in the Bay, 21 January 1788 , by William Bradley, drawings from his journal A Voyage to New South Wales , c 1802. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, FL1113927
02 Captain Cook by Nathaniel Dance (1735-1811), published 1969. State Library of Victoria, H32508
Myth 3 – January 26 marks Cook’s arrival
Another fallacy. On 29 April 1770, Cook arrived in Stingray Bay (which he later changed to Botanist Bay, then Botany Bay – the area is now the Kamay Botany Bay National Park). January 26 was when the First Fleet arrived in Sydney Cove – 18 years later, in 1788. Governor Phillip moved the planned settlement from Botany Bay to Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour). Strangely, perhaps, the usually meticulous cartographer Cook didn’t even enter what Phillip called ‘the finest harbour in the world’, but merely sailed past.
Myth 4 – Cook circumnavigated Australia
That’s a ‘no’. Cook saw only the east coast of the continent, and was several thousand kilometres short of a circumnavigation.
Cook sighted the mainland near what is now called Point Hicks, in Victoria, and sailed north up the east coast before continuing to Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia). He didn’t ever see the north and west coasts of the continent, and the only southern region he encountered was on a later trip, when he sailed Tasmania’s east coast.
The first European to circumnavigate Australia was Matthew Flinders, from 1801 to 1803. Flinders was accompanied by Bungaree, the first Indigenous Australian known to have circumnavigated the continent.
Myth 5 – Cook lived in Captain Cook’s Cottage in Melbourne
This is a chronological impossibility. Cook died in 1779 –nine years before Europeans settled in Australia, and decades before Melbourne was founded in 1835.
The cottage in question was originally located in Yorkshire, England, where Cook’s parents lived from 1755. James Cook never lived in the cottage – he’d been away from home for almost 10 years by the time it was built. But this connection to the Cook family was enough to prompt philanthropist and Cook enthusiast, Sir Wilfred Russell Grimwade, to transport the cottage to the other side of the world, where it was rebuilt in Fitzroy Gardens in 1934.
Myth 6 – Cook was instrumental in deciding to establish the colony in New South Wales
Another fallacy. After returning to London following their first Pacific voyage, both Cook and Banks wrote of their experiences in reports and in published journals, but Cook had very little to do with the political workings in London.
James Matra – who had been a midshipman on Endeavour (under the name of ‘Magra’) and who later became a diplomat – proposed the idea of a colony in New South Wales in August 1783, with the support of Joseph Banks. The American War of Independence had been under way since 1775, and Matra’s suggestion (which was rejected) was that the colony could become a place for Americans who were loyal to Britain. Matra didn’t mention convicts, but later amended the proposal to include them alongside free settlers.
No European ‘discovered’ Australia. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inhabitants of this continent managed that all by themselves – some 60,000 years before any European turned up
Myth 7 – ‘Captain Cook’ charted the east coast of Australia
Actually, he was ‘Lieutenant Cook’ at the time. While the officer in command of a ship is often assumed to be a captain, this is not always the case, particularly in smaller naval vessels. When Cook set sail in 1768 on his first voyage aboard Endeavour he held the rank of lieutenant. Soon after his return to England in 1771 he was promoted to the rank of commander. In fact, he never actually held the rank of captain, but in 1775 was promoted to the higher rank of post-captain.
Myth 8 – Captain Cook was eaten by cannibals
The Hawaiian Islanders who killed Captain Cook (on Valentines’ day in 1779) were not cannibals. They believed the power of a great man lived in his bones, so they cooked parts of Cook’s body to easily remove them.
1 Research conducted by the Department of Communications and the Arts, 2019.
2 Ibid
Cook’s Pacific voyages
Voyage 1 (1768–1771): ship Endeavour
Route: London – Madiera – Rio de Janeiro
– Cape Horn – Tuamotu Island – Tahiti –Society Islands – New Zealand – New Holland (Australia) – East Timor – Java – Batavia –Cape of Good Hope – St Helena – Ascension – London
Voyage 2 (1772–1775): ships Resolution and Adventure
Route: London – Madeira – Cape of Good Hope – New Zealand – Tuamotu Island – Tahiti –Society Islands – Friendly Islands (Tonga) – New Zealand – Easter Island – Marquesas Island – Tahiti – Society Islands – New Hebrides – New Caledonia – New Zealand – Cape Horn –South Georgia – Cape of Good Hope –St Helena – Ascension – Azores – London Voyage 3 (1776–1780): ships Resolution and Discovery
Route: London – Tenerife – Cape of Good Hope – Prince Edward Island – Kerguelen Island –Van Diemen’s Land – New Zealand – Tonga – Tahiti – Christmas Island – Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian Islands) – Nootka Sound – Cook Inlet – Unalaska – Bering Strait – Arctic Sea –Unalaska – Hawaii (where Cook was murdered).
Investigations continue into the 18th-century shipwreck that lies on the muddy sea-floor of Newport Harbor, Rhode Island. Is it HMB Endeavour ? Dr James Hunter, Kieran Hosty and Irini Malliaros provide key insights from the latest fieldwork.
IN AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER, maritime archaeologists from the museum and its long-term research partner Silentworld Foundation, joined members of the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) to continue investigations of an 18th-century shipwreck in Newport Harbor, Rhode Island. This wreck site is a strong contender for Lord Sandwich, a merchant vessel contracted by the government of Great Britain to transport British troops and Hessians (German mercenaries) to North America during the American War of Independence (1775–83).
Lord Sandwich was one of 13 vessels intentionally scuttled by the British in Newport Harbor ahead of a combined land and naval assault on Rhode Island by Continental American and French forces in August 1778, but its significance to Australia is related to its prior identity as HMB Endeavour. Originally called Earl of Pembroke, the former Whitby collier was commanded by Lieutenant James Cook during his first voyage of exploration to the South Pacific between 1768 and 1771.
Promising results … with caveats
In September 2018, the same team conducted archaeological investigations of the visible portions of the shipwreck, collecting scantling measurements from a variety of surviving hull components, sampling selected timbers for species identification, and carrying out a preliminary Photogrammetric 3D Reconstruction (P3DR) survey of the exposed site (see Signals 125). Officially known as RI 2394, the wreck site is largely buried beneath the seabed, but its visible features include stone ballast, four small 18th-century cannons, a lead scupper, and a variety of partially-exposed wooden hull components. Among the hull remains are a line of frames (the floor and first futtock timbers that formed the ‘ribs’ of the ship), as well as sections of hull (external) and ceiling (internal) planking.
Findings from the 2018 investigations suggested RI 2394 could be the remnants of Lord Sandwich/Endeavour. The scantling measurements of most frames matched (or at the very least closely approximated) those listed for Earl of Pembroke, in a survey conducted by the Royal Navy in 1768 before the vessel was accepted into naval service and renamed Endeavour Timber samples collected from a variety of architectural components throughout the hull were all generally identified as oak (Quercus sp.).
A well-preserved wooden sheave (pulley) uncovered during the 2019 excavation. Image John Cassese/ RIMAP, © RIMAP 2019, used with permission
Findings from the 2018 investigations suggested RI 2394 could be the remnants of Lord Sandwich/ Endeavour
The 1768 Royal Navy survey notes that Earl of Pembroke was constructed with frames and planking hewn from ‘English’ or ‘European’ oak (Quercus robur), a common attribute among British-built ships during the 18th century. Several different species of oak exist however, including some native to North America – such as Southern live oak (Quercus virginiana) –that were also commonly used in shipbuilding during the same period. At least one (and possibly two) of the four vessels scuttled in Newport Harbor alongside Lord Sandwich were American-built, and almost certainly constructed from North American timber species.
Positive identification of the exact oak species used to construct RI 2394 is absolutely critical to determine whether it was constructed in Great Britain or North America. The prevalence of English oak in the surviving architecture, combined with the right scantlings, would make the wreck a strong contender for Lord Sandwich/Endeavour
Unfortunately the wood samples collected during last year’s fieldwork were in relatively poor condition, originating from portions of hull timbers that were exposed above the seabed and had suffered damage from marine organisms and other natural processes (such as sediment scouring). Degradation of the cellular structure in each timber sample meant that only very general conclusions could be made regarding their collective identities (for example, each sample was classified as ‘oak’ instead of ‘English oak’). Natural processes also damaged the original surfaces of the exposed timber sections, calling into question the accuracy of their respective scantling measurements.
2019 archaeological investigations of RI 2394
Faced with these issues, the team decided to excavate a small portion of the shipwreck site, aiming to expose deeply-buried and better-preserved sections of hull structure for detailed documentation and timber sampling. We also wanted to determine whether it was outfitted with a ‘rider’ or ‘deadwood’ keelson, which formed part of the vessel’s backbone. The keel is the primary structural component of a wooden sailing ship and extends longitudinally along the bottom-centreline of the hull, while the keelson is a corresponding architectural component that lies atop the floor timbers and locks them against the keel – reinforcing the overall lower-hull structure. Whitby shipbuilder Thomas Fishburn (who built Earl of Pembroke) was known for constructing sturdy, solid-floored colliers designed to ‘take the ground’ (be run ashore) in shallow tidal estuaries and harbours. To prevent the vessel from breaking its back when taking the ground, Fishburn incorporated a second rider or deadwood keelson into the hull design. This was installed atop the vessel’s regular keelson, substantially increasing its overall height. Unusual and very rare in 18th-century ships, it is known to have been fitted to Earl of Pembroke. As there is no evidence Earl of Pembroke ’s additional keelson was altered or removed during its subsequent service as Endeavour and Lord Sandwich, it was one of the hull features we sought during our investigations.
An area encompassing three consecutive frames was chosen for excavation, as these timbers were the most exposed elements of hull structure observed and documented during the 2018 fieldwork. They were relocated at the beginning of 2019, and a steel excavation grid measuring 3 feet (0.91 metres) wide by 9 feet (2.74 metres) long was installed over them and oriented athwartships (across the breadth of the hull). The grid was subdivided into three separate 3-foot-square sections (nicknamed ‘cells’) that were excavated individually. Alternating 1-foot long yellow and black intervals were marked along the grid’s periphery and provided a visual reference during site mapping and other documentation tasks. Permission to excavate the site was granted by the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, the state agency responsible for the preservation and protection of Rhode Island’s archaeological sites.
James Hunter illuminates part of RI 2394’s excavated hull structure during the 2019 P3DR survey. Image Irini Malliaros/Silentworld Foundation, © RIMAP 2019, used with permission
Using a water-induction dredge, we essentially vacuumed sediment away from the wreck site to expose its hull remains, artefacts and other archaeological features. A mesh bag was attached to the discharge end of the dredge to catch small artefacts (such as miniscule ceramic or glass fragments) that may have been missed by those carrying out the excavation – a very real risk considering Newport Harbor’s poor water clarity during the summer months. A variety of artefacts were recovered during the 2019 field season, including glass bottle fragments, undecorated copper-alloy buttons, animal bones, wooden sheaves (pulleys for running rigging), and part of an articulated wooden barrel. The artefacts are currently undergoing detailed analysis and stabilisation at RIMAP’s conservation facility in Bristol, Rhode Island – work which is partially funded by a museum grant.
A variety of techniques were used to document the site, including P3DR, hand-mapping, and digital still photography and videography. P3DR was used during the 2018 fieldwork, but had its limitations. While it worked well for clearly-defined hull remains and other site components with unique visual attributes, it was insufficient for portions of the wreck that were buried beneath sediment or relatively featureless.
To combat this problem in 2018, we placed photogrammetric ‘targets’ throughout areas of sterile seabed. Each target comprised a small (about 10-centimetre square) sheet of white Mylar, which was printed with a unique geometric pattern to assist the P3DR processing software with combining multiple images into a single digital model. This had mixed results – specific regions within the site were modelled effectively, but the software was unable to generate a composite, high-resolution 3D model of the entire shipwreck.
In 2019 we decided to use more powerful lights capable of cutting through the gloom of Newport Harbor, illuminating an even greater area compared to 2018. Similar to last year, team members pre-programmed their cameras to capture one 12-megapixel image every two seconds, systematically photographing visible elements of the wreck site from multiple perspectives, and ensuring no less than a 60 per cent overlap among captured images. The larger lighting array meant a greater area could be captured within a single photograph, but poor visibility still limited the area of coverage.
Positive identification of the exact oak species used to construct RI 2394 is absolutely critical to determine whether it was constructed in Great Britain or North America
The team decided to excavate a small portion of the shipwreck site, aiming to expose deeply-buried and better-preserved sections of hull structure for detailed documentation and timber sampling
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Irini Malliaros (left) uses a waterinduction dredge to excavate the site, while Kieran Hosty illuminates the work area. Image James Hunter/ANMM, © RIMAP 2019, used with permission
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Medium-resolution photogrammetric 3D model of part of RI 2394’s excavated hull as it appeared near the conclusion of the 2019 field season. Image James Hunter/ANMM, © RIMAP 2019, used with permission
Excavation findings
Excavation revealed extensive articulated hull structure, including well-preserved floors and first futtocks, ceiling planking, both of the vessel’s garboard strakes (large exterior hull planks positioned to either side of the keel), and the upper surface of the keel. A large, oval-shaped hole passes through the garboard strake that abuts one side of the keel, and appears to have been created with the intention of scuttling the vessel. It bears hallmarks of having been executed in haste with a heavy striking or cutting implement (such as a crowbar, axe or adze). These include its crude overall form and the presence of impact marks around its periphery – not only to the interior face of the garboard, but also the upper-sided surface of the adjacent keel. Heavy blows to the garboard appear to have worked the wood grain apart and opened a long fissure that is located a short distance outboard of the scuttling hole. This feature confirms RI 2394 is one of the British transports scuttled during the Battle of Rhode Island, and supports the contention that it could be Lord Sandwich/Endeavour
Unfortunately, the much sought-after keelson and rider keelson assembly was completely absent, although its outline could still be seen in the form of iron concretion staining on the upper surfaces of the exposed floors. It appears to have fallen victim to biological action and/or other natural processes. Although missing within the excavation footprint, this critical element of the hull’s architecture may be preserved elsewhere on the site.
The surfaces of the buried timbers are pristine, and provided the team with excellent scantling data that is now being compared to archival information related to the design, construction and refit/repair of Earl of Pembroke, Endeavour and Lord Sandwich Extensive articulated hull structure with significant relief also enabled the team to generate good-quality 3D models of the excavated areas. Medium-resolution models have already been produced, and high-resolution versions are currently in development.
Timber samples were collected from a variety of hull timbers, including floors and futtocks, ceiling planking, one of the garboard strakes, treenails (wooden fasteners used to affix planking to the vessel’s frames), and the keel. Given the issues encountered with the samples collected in 2018, the team made sure to acquire the new batch from timbers that were deeply buried and very well preserved. These have been sent to Australian and American specialists in wood species identification, and results are forthcoming.
In the meantime, members of the team are analysing data retrieved during the 2019 field season, and comparing the information we’ve recovered so far with our historical knowledge of Earl of Pembroke/Endeavour/Lord Sandwich We’re also scouring archival sources for additional details about the vessel, and are currently planning our next round of fieldwork in January 2020 when the near-freezing but much clearer waters of Newport Harbor are more conducive for underwater photography. Stay tuned!
Abbass, D K, 2001, ‘Newport and Captain Cook’s ships’, The Great Circle, Vol 23 No 1, pp 3-20.
Connell, Mike and Liddy, Des, 1997, ‘Cook’s Endeavour bark: Did this vessel end its days in Newport, Rhode Island?’, The Great Circle, Vol 19 No 1, pp 40-49.
Erskine, Nigel, 2017, ‘The Endeavour after James Cook: The forgotten years, 1771-1778’, The Great Circle, Vol 39 No 1, pp 55-88.
Hunter, James, Hosty, Kieran and Malliaros, Irini, 2018, ‘Piecing together a puzzle: Photogrammetric recording in the search for Cook’s Endeavour ’, Signals 125, pp 14-19.
Knight, C., 1933, ‘H.M. Bark Endeavour ’. The Mariner’s Mirror, Vol 19 No 3, pp 292-302.
Marquardt K H, 1995, Captain Cook’s Endeavour: Anatomy of the Ship, Conway Maritime Press, London.
McGowan, A P, 1979, ‘Captain Cook’s ships’, The Mariner’s Mirror, Vol 65 No 2, pp 109-118.
With 31 entries across both prizes, our panel of judges had their hands full compiling shortlists and picking the winners from the strong crop of contenders. Laura Signorelli announces the winners and provides an overview of the judge’s comments.
THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM and the Australian Association for Maritime History (AAMH) jointly sponsor the Frank Broeze Memorial Maritime History Book Prize and the Australian Community Maritime History Prize. Both prizes reflect the wish of the organisations to promote a broad view of maritime history that demonstrates how the sea and maritime influences have been central to shaping Australia, its people and its culture.
We thank our panel of judges – John Gascoigne (Emeritus Professor of History, University of New South Wales), John Jeremy (naval architect and Honorary Life Member of the museum) and Dr James Hunter (curator of RAN Maritime Archaeology at the museum) for the extensive amount of time and thought that they put into the judging process.
With 23 entries in the book prize, and eight in the community prize, the judges had their hands full compiling a shortlist and then choosing the top three in each category. The 2017 nominations covered a wide range of topics, including shipwrecks, submarines, explorers, boatbuilders and tales of convicts.
The Frank Broeze Memorial Maritime History Book Prize is awarded for a non-fiction book on any aspect of maritime history relating to or affecting Australia, published in 2015 or 2016 by an Australian citizen or permanent resident. The winner of the 2017 book prize of $4,000 is Klaus Neumann for Across the Seas: Australia’s response to refugees (Black Inc, 2015).
Across the Seas provides a comprehensive analysis of both government policy and public attitudes towards refugees and asylum seekers from Federation to the 1977 federal election campaign. Neumann places the Australian story in the context of global refugee movements, showing how many of the current responses to asylum-seeking ‘boat people’ have earlier parallels.
As one judge said:
A comprehensively researched and eminently readable work that addresses the treatment of refugees in modern Australia. Although the book’s scope is limited to the period between Federation and the 1977 federal election campaign (which coincided with the arrival of Vietnamese asylum seekers), it has clear relevance to current events and ongoing debates regarding the nation’s approach to refugees, and expertly links current attitudes towards refugees with earlier responses.
Another judge noted that ‘detailed analysis of politics and policy such as this can be dry, but the author has brought the subject to life by including individual stories – bringing a human side to the history’. All judges agreed that while the book presents a vast amount of evidence, it doesn’t obscure its overall themes nor its readability. As one judge summarised, Across the Seas will likely ‘remain a standard account of this important and very topical subject’.
The first runner-up was Peter Hobbins , Ursula K Frederick and Annie Clark for Stories from the Sandstone: Quarantine inscriptions from Australia’s immigrant past (Arbon Publishing, 2016), a social history of Sydney’s Quarantine Station that is based on the 1,600-plus sandstone engravings left by immigrants and other visitors who were forced to stay there.
‘Written with flair’ one judge noted, ‘this work imaginatively uses the stone carvings at the Quarantine Station to provide the kernel around which to construct a social history of that institution.’
All judges praised the personal stories that are woven skilfully with the general history of the period, with one judge commenting that the book ‘masterfully brings the stories of these people to life, and a considerable amount of research has clearly been carried out to fulfil this purpose.’ As one judge summarised, ‘the book is a valuable contribution to the historical record of sea travel to the colony’.
The second runner-up was Alan Powell for World’s End: British military outposts in the ‘ring fence’ around Australia 1824–1849 (Australian Scholarly Publishing Pty Ltd, 2016). This work explores the British effort to establish a ‘ring fence’ of fortifications in disparate and largely unsettled parts of the Australian continent as a deterrent to the encroachment by other European powers. As one judge commented, the book ‘extends its scope beyond the forts which are its immediate concerns to a social history of those who manned them including, where possible, the women who accompanied the garrison.’ Considerable attention is also given to the Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander populations on whose lands these defensive installations were founded. ‘Exhaustively researched and extensively documented’ noted one judge, ‘this work is likely to remain the standard work in the field’.
The Australian Community Maritime History Prize of $1,000 is awarded to a regional or local museum or historical society for a publication (book, booklet, educational resource kit, DVD, or other print or digital media) relating to an aspect of maritime history of that region or community, and published between 2015 and 2016. The judges awarded this prize to the Western Australian Museum for Yurlmun: Mokare Mia Boodja (Returning to Mokare’s Home Country).
This small collection of essays was created as an accompaniment to an exhibition of objects collected from Western Australia’s Menang Country by British colonists during the 19th century. These items are now in the collections of the British Museum and were brought back to Australia for inclusion in the exhibition, which was hosted by the Western Australian Museum’s Albany site. One judge remarked that the work ‘expertly provides context for the exhibition objects by addressing the manner(s) and mechanism(s) by which they were collected, highlighting the broader 19th-century European-Aboriginal interaction that facilitated trade in artefacts’. As one judge observed, ‘Artefacts can convey forms of lived experience which this excellent collection of essays shows’.
Another judge commented:
Each chapter is beautifully illustrated and thoroughly referenced, which makes the work both visually compelling and a useful jumping-off point for exploration of the themes it addresses.
The first runner-up was Port Albert Maritime Museum for Port Albert 175 years 1841–2016, a two-part production comprising a history of Port Albert and its fishing industry. The second runner-up was Carol McCurdy for Bundeena Ferries Oral History, an entertaining and informative podcast about the ferry service.
The museum and AAMH would like to congratulate the winners and thank everyone who nominated a publication. The awards will be presented next year, with details still being finalised.
Among the many records in the National Archives of Australia are several series of ship’s plans of naval and other vessels. Dr Peter Hobbins profiles a dedicated volunteer who has described many of the thousands of records and made them available to the public.
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One of the earliest plans in the collection is this October 1869 drawing from the Royal Navy’s Chatham Dockyard in England. It depicts the carriage for the 10 inch (25.4 cm) rifled muzzleloading Mark I guns installed in the monitor initially known as HMS Cerberus, prior to its commissioning into the Victorian Navy. Image courtesy National Archives of Australia, A11619, 97/24A
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This 1877 illustration demonstrates both the muzzle-loading technique and the inclined recoil track for the 10 inch guns mounted in HMVS Cerberus , as specified in the Chatham Dockyard drawings. Australasian Sketcher, 9 June 1877, p 8, ANMM Collection 00006162
IF YOU WANTED TO KNOW exactly how Australia’s first submarines submerged and surfaced, where would you begin looking? Thanks to the sterling volunteer work of Richard Blavins, it takes only a few clicks to digitally view the ballast tank systems for submarines AE1 and AE2 in 1914. These drawings – plus thousands of other ships’ plans – can now easily be located in the National Archives of Australia’s online catalogue, RecordSearch. Other researchers can now benefit from the three years of effort and expertise that Richard has applied to describing these valuable records.
The drawings are part of several huge series of records that passed to the National Archives when the drawing office of the Naval Technical Services Branch relocated from Melbourne to Canberra in 1962. These records include general arrangement and detail drawings dating from 1869 to 1957. Many document the vessels ‘as fitted’, making them accurate sources for the spaces and systems aboard Royal Australian Navy (RAN) vessels throughout their service lives (see page 31 for how to locate these records).
These drawings complement the many ships’ plans held in the Australian National Maritime Museum’s collection. Some of the oldest records at the National Archives detail the Victorian monitor, HMVS Cerberus, which passed to the Commonwealth Naval Forces in 1901. Other early RAN vessels documented within relevant series are the former Queensland Naval Reserve Training Ship, Gayundah, and the light cruiser HMAS Brisbane (I). There are also substantial collections of records for the RAN light cruisers Adelaide (I), Melbourne (I), Australia (I) and (II), and the ill-fated Sydney (II). These drawings provide impressive detail, from bilge keels to turret supports, and there are two further series of plans for the many vessels requisitioned by the RAN during World War I and World War II.
Richard’s own family history research has revealed that his grandfather sailed to war on HMAT Armadale (transport A26), departing for France in 1916. As SS Armadale, this steamer was launched in Glasgow in 1909 for the Australind Steam Shipping Company. Its presence in the collection is explained by Armadale being requisitioned as a transport throughout World War I. Although the National Archives collection contains only a few records for this ship, Richard located an arrangement drawing that shows Armadale before it was converted for trooping. A copy of this drawing now hangs proudly on his office wall.
A personal link
Richard has another personal link with the records: he worked with them throughout his professional life. He joined the Department of Defence as a trainee draftsman in 1967, and his role later evolved into records management. Moving into early computer systems in the 1970s, Richard oversaw the creation of databases that facilitated the supply of plans for naval dockyards and, sadly, for legal teams investigating cases of occupational asbestos exposure.
Further requests arrived from external organisations and individuals, including the Australian National Maritime Museum. Seeking details for vessels or artefacts in their own collections, other customers included the Australian War Memorial, the Western Australian Museum and the Rocky Hill War Memorial and Museum in Goulburn, New South Wales. Detailed drawings also proved critical to the maritime archaeology teams who located the wrecks of AE2 in the Sea of Marmara and HMAS Sydney (II) off Western Australia.
‘We had many requests from owners of smaller ex-navy vessels’, Richard says, ‘and ship modellers seeking general arrangement drawings’. Many of these people and organisations can now make use of the plans held in the National Archives.
Detailed drawings also proved critical to the maritime archaeology teams who located the wrecks of AE2 in the Sea of Marmara and HMAS Sydney (II) off Western Australia
Volunteer Richard Blavins has described thousands of naval ships’ plans at the National Archives Preservation Facility in Canberra. Photograph Samantha Birch 02
This series of cross-sectional drawings for HMAS Sydney (I) illustrate its post-World War I fit-out. Based on the original 1913 plans from the London & Glasgow Shipyard at Govan in Scotland, they were updated in January 1925 at Garden Island. Image courtesy National Archives of Australia, MP551/1, 73/5
More volunteers welcome
Now retired, Richard became a volunteer after offering his expertise to the National Archives. Commencing this huge description project in 2016, he works two days per fortnight at the National Archives Preservation Facility in Canberra. The first step is cross-checking the bundles of plans in the collection against packing lists that accompanied the records when they were transferred to the National Archives. The next step requires opening up each folded document to ascertain its contents and value.
Some items are high-level plans worthy of detailed description and scanning. Most drawings, however, are low-level technical diagrams that are simply identified with the relevant vessel’s name and an approximate date range to assist future researchers. So far, the records in Series MP611/1 and MP624/1 have been described and uploaded onto RecordSearch. Richard is more than 80 per cent of the way through Series MP551/1, leaving some 2,000 more records to be reviewed before completion.
Hundreds of records remain, leaving plenty of scope for additional volunteers to become involved. Another seven series contain hull machinery and electrical records for RAN cruisers, submarines, torpedo boat destroyers, destroyers, support ships, small craft and merchant ships. These records span the period 1910 to 1950, while an associated collection of ships’ books from 1910 to 1961 is also awaiting review. Other drawings, including those from the Cockatoo Island Dockyard, are held in the New South Wales office of the National Archives, located at Chester Hill, Sydney.
‘We’d love to hear from any volunteers who are interested in working on these plans’, says Melissa Thomas, the Assistant Director for Description at the National Archives. Melissa is also hoping that this work will inspire other volunteers to contribute to similar projects at the National Archives, encouraging researchers to use this huge collection in innovative ways.
Details of the plans are being progressively loaded into RecordSearch, the online search page for the National Archives of Australia’s collection at recordsearch.naa.gov.au. While a basic search by vessel name is a good starting point, select the ‘Advanced search’ tab for a more targeted strategy. Click the ‘Item’ box, then enter the vessel’s name against ‘Keywords in title’. For best results, try running separate searches with each of the following codes in the ‘Series number’ box:
• MP551/1 (Ships’ drawings and specifications, together with those for two floating docks)
• MP611/1 (Ships’ drawings and some specifications)
• MP624/1 (Ships’ drawings and specifications)
• A11619 (Plans and Specifications of Turret Ship CERBERUS).
Many plans have been digitised, while scans of other items can be ordered if desired. The Series notes that accompany each collection of records can also be illuminating. For assistance with finding records, or to ask about vessels not yet recorded in the catalogue, contact the National Archives Reference Service online at naa.gov.au/ collection/askquestion/index.aspx
If you are interested in volunteering, please contact the National Archives at naa.gov.au/ about-us/contact-us
If you don’t know a pliosaur from a plesiosaur, how do you devise an exhibition about them and other prehistoric marine reptiles? How do you decide what approach to take and what items to include? And how do you find fossils or make replicas? Em Blamey takes us through the creation of our latest attraction.
Photogrammetry and similar techniques are revolutionising palaeontology, as they allow scientists to study fossils from all over the world without having to travel
AS A CREATIVE PRODUCER AT THE MUSEUM, I’m tasked with developing exhibitions that are not based on our collections. My previous major projects have been familyfriendly experiences based on Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas and Horrible Histories® Pirates
To help us determine future exhibition topics, we conduct audience research. When this indicated that visitors would be keen to see an exhibition on prehistoric marine reptiles (the ‘dinosaurs’ you can do in a maritime museum), my next project was decided. At that point however, I knew very little about them. Like most people, I went through the dinosaur stage while growing up, and I still knew my Stegosaurus from my Spinosaurus – but not their salty cousins. Luckily, there’s a MOOC – Massive Online Open Course – for that! I completed a fascinating and free course on the palaeontology of ancient marine reptiles by the University of Alberta and I was hooked1
The course gave me a good overview of the topic – I now understand the difference between a pliosaur and a plesiosaur (the first is a type of the second) – and it helped me find a framework for the exhibition content. The latter was crucial, as it’s a vast field stretching across hundreds of millions of years, with countless approaches and directions that an exhibition could follow. I decided to focus on the three main groups of marine reptiles: ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs.
Even with a framework in place, there’s a lot to consider. For example, do we want to show model reconstructions of the creatures, or just bones and animations? Real fossils or replicas? Australian species or ones from overseas? Do we include specimens of the whole ecosystem or just the marine reptiles? How scary? How high-tech? How do we make it different to prehistoric shows in other museums?
Luckily, Queensland Museum came on board as exhibition partners, giving us access to their palaeontologists and extensive fossil collection. I spent many happy hours exploring their immense stores with Senior Curator of Palaeontology Dr Espen Knutsen, finding specimens for the exhibition and brainstorming content ideas. I also contacted scientists, museums and universities around the world, hunting for fossils, casts, objects and images we could use to tell our stories.
Some of the things I wanted didn’t exist (and not just because most of the marine reptiles are extinct), so I commissioned various artists and artisans to make what I needed. These creations and their creators were as fascinating as the creatures they depicted, so I decided to include their stories in the exhibition too. As well as telling you what a particular model or object is, the labels also note who made it and how.
We also took advantage of new techniques and technologies to create models and reproductions of these prehistoric predators. This included using photogrammetry to produce 3D models of specimens without having to cast them, sculpting in Virtual Reality (VR) and 3D printing in ‘stone’.
A key specimen I wanted to include is a stunning fossilised ichthyosaur on display in Stuttgart, Germany. Preserved with her baby emerging tail-first from inside her, it serves us irrefutable evidence that these creatures gave birth to live young – unlike most land-based reptiles, which lay eggs. The specimen was not available for loan however, and creating a mould, casting it , and then shipping the replica would have been very expensive, and risked damaging the original.
3D-printing in a stone-like material forms a stunning reproduction that shows all the intricate details and is even robust enough to touch
Dr Heinrich Mallison photographing the Stuttgart specimen. Image Heinrich Mallison 02
3D-print of the Stuttgart specimen and the label showing how it was made. Image Andrew Frolows/ANMM
Queensland Museum came on board as exhibition partners, giving us access to their palaeontologists and extensive fossil collection
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Huge skull off a Shonisaurus overlooks the cast of a ichthyosaur skull from Queensland Museum. Image Andrew Frolows/ANMM
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Contributions by the kid curators are displayed in drawers throughout the exhibition. Content by Ki’lulu Leggett, design by Marianne Hawke
Fortunately for us, Dr Heinrich Mallison, who is also located in Germany, was able to help. Heinrich is an expert in photogrammetry, a technique where you photograph specimens, centimetre by centimetre, and then use specialist software to convert the hundreds of pictures into accurate and detailed 3D digital models. Heinrich photographed the Stuttgart specimen and sent us the file, which we had 3D-printed in a stone-like material to form a stunning reproduction that shows all the intricate details, and is even robust enough to touch. Photogrammetry and similar techniques are revolutionising palaeontology, as they allow scientists to study fossils from all over the world without having to travel.
Scientists are also using 3D models and printing for different areas of research. One story included in the Sea Monsters exhibition features Dr Luke Muscutt from the University of Southampton, UK, who used 3D-printed plesiosaur paddles in flow tanks to look at their unique swimming motion. Plesiosaurs are the only known creatures ever to swim by flapping all four of their flippers (turtles only flap their front ones). Luke’s research led another group to apply this very efficient four-flipper motion to an underwater robot, creating an incredibly manoeuvrable machine.
I basically became a complete bore about these incredible creatures. When anyone casually asked, ‘How’s work?’, they could expect to get a list of all the wonderful things I’d discovered. Luckily, most listeners seemed to become similarly hooked by my tales, so I thought it would be good to know what others found particularly interesting. Did the same cool facts that awed me grab them, or were there other aspects that took their fancy?
We decided to add the work of ‘kid curators’ to the exhibition, giving a younger viewpoint on these ancient animals
I was especially interested to see which elements appealed to kids, as they would make up a large part of our audience. So I asked some. I talked to them about the exhibition and my research, showed them some books and asked what they thought. They thought it was pretty cool – so cool, in fact, that they started doing their own research and sent me wonderful drawings and sketches of their favourite creatures. Their work was fabulous, funny and far too good not to share, so we decided to add the work of these ‘kid curators’ to the exhibition, giving a younger viewpoint on these ancient animals.
I’m writing this a week out from the opening of Sea Monsters – Prehistoric Ocean Predators. After working on it for four years, it’s been thrilling to see it all come together in the gallery: skeletons are being assembled like giant jigsaws, stunning opalised bones are gently laid on velvet cushions, and interactives are put through their paces by passing preparators.
Ancient marine reptiles were discovered before the first dinosaur fossils and have fascinated us ever since. I’ve loved the process of getting to know them. I’ve learnt from scientists, research papers, websites and reference books, and also gained alternative perspectives from others involved in the exhibition: how a model-maker researched a sea snake’s stripes to paint his plesiosaur, or how a composer listened to today’s ocean creatures to inspire his gallery soundscape. Nine-year-old Ki’lulu, one of our kid curators, said, ‘I loved helping with the exhibition and it was an awesome experience for me.’ I would have to agree. 1 coursera.org/learn/ancient-marine-reptiles
Our sea monsters will be at the museum until April 2020 – come and meet them. Plus there’s plenty more information and behind-the-scenes content on our website.
Created in partnership with Queensland Museum Network
We farewell Peter Dexter and welcome John Mullen
After nine years as Chairman of the Council of the Australian National Maritime Museum, Mr Peter Dexter AM FAICD retired on 17 August 2019. To no small degree, the year-on-year growth we have experienced in recent years is attributable to Peter’s exceptional leadership of the Council that governs the museum and sets our strategic direction. Paul McCarthy pays tribute to Mr Dexter and introduces our new Chairman, Mr John Mullen.
Mr Dexter has championed the recognition and celebration of Australia’s rich and unique Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures
PETER DEXTER AM FAICD WAS APPOINTED Chairman of the Australian National Maritime Museum Council on 19 July 2010 and reappointed twice. When his term ended on 17 August this year, he became the longest-serving chairman in the museum’s 28-year history.
As Chairman, Peter oversaw significant growth and development at the museum. Today, it is one of the country’s most visited museums, engaging almost three times as many school students, more than twice as many onsite visitors, and almost seven times as many offsite visitors as it did in 2010. Peter has worked hard to ensure that targets have been met, high standards maintained and our reach – nationally and internationally – broadened. A key goal has been to ensure long-term sustainability through self-generated income, and this has been met with significant success: in 2010–11, the museum generated $9.96M (or 31.6% of total revenue); by 2018–19, this had increased to $18.94M (or 45% of total revenue excluding one-offs).
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Plan, 6 March 2019
Peter’s support was critical to major developments that have transformed the museum’s Darling Harbour site over the past decade. These include the $8.8M upgrade of the eastern side of the main building and improvements to Wharf 7 and the North Annex in 2011; construction of the North Gallery in 2013; the opening of the award-winning Action Stations Pavilion in November 2015; and, more recently, the upgrade of the museum’s foyer and, in particular, the acquisition and installation of the major sculpture Au Karem ira Lamar Lu – Ghost nets of the ocean
Peter has championed the recognition and celebration of Australia’s rich and unique Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. His support was crucial to the establishment of an Indigenous Programs Unit and ground-breaking exhibitions, including East Coast Encounters – Reimagining the 1770 encounter ; Undiscovered – Photographic works by Michael Cook ; and Gapu-Monuk Saltwater – Journey to Sea Country, which won several awards.
Peter was instrumental in revitalising the Australian National Maritime Museum Foundation in 2015, including the appointment of new directors and the cultivation of major supporters. Peter was a director of the Foundation from 2002, including an ex-officio director from July 2010. After Peter’s ex-officio appointment to the Foundation Board lapsed when he ceased to be Chairman of Council, he was reappointed for three years as a director in his own right.
Peter Dexter AM presents historian and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander activist, Dr Jackie Huggins with the museum’s Reconciliation Action01
On 21 December 2017 the museum
hosted a press conference to announce that HMAS AE1 had been found after a 103-year search: Peter Dexter AM , Kevin Sumption PSM , VADM Tim Barrett
AO CSC , Chief of Navy, Senator the Hon Marise Payne, Minister for Defence, and John Mullen
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Peter Dexter AM and Kevin Sumption PSM with Their Majesties King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway on their 24 February 2015 visit to the museum
In recognition of his service, Peter has been made an Honorary Fellow of the museum, the museum’s highest level of recognition
In September 2019, the museum formally farewelled Peter at a gathering of staff, volunteers, honorary life members, supporters and Councillors. In recognition of his service, Peter has been made an Honorary Fellow of the museum, the museum’s highest level of recognition. He is the third Honorary Fellow, joining RADM Andrew Robertson AO DSC RAN (Rtd) (recognised July 2016) and Mr John Mullen (recognised June 2017).
John Mullen has succeeded Peter Dexter as Chairman. John has worked in the logistics industry for more than two decades, including roles as global CEO of both DHL Express and TNT Express Worldwide. John is the Chairman of Telstra and Toll Holdings, and in November 2019 he became a Director of Brambles.
Until recently, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Asciano Ltd.
John is currently on the board of the Kimberley Foundation Australia and is the co-founder of the museum’s long-term research partner Silentworld Foundation. He is passionate about maritime explorations and in his spare time dives for colonial shipwrecks, maintaining the Silentworld Foundation museum – dedicated to historical material from early marine voyages to the Pacific.
As the former Chair of the Australian National Maritime Foundation, his appointment maintains strong communication and relationships between the Council and the Foundation.
In June 2017, John and his wife Jacqui donated SY Ena to the museum through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program. This beautiful vessel is now considered one of the finest examples of a working steam yacht in the world.
John championed the search of the Royal Australian Navy’s AE1, with the submarine discovered in December 2017 off the Duke of York Island, near Rabaul, Papua New Guinea.
John brings his expertise in philanthropy, maritime archaeology, leadership and management to the Council.
During Peter’s time as Chairman, the museum won many Australian and international awards, including:
• Silver Medal in the MUSE awards for the media projection Waves of Migration (2013)
• Silver in the NSW Tourism Awards Major Tourist Attraction (2016)
• Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design International Architecture Award for Action Stations (2017)
• Australian Teachers of Media Award –Best Educational Game for The Voyage game (2017)
• Award of Excellence in the Communicator Awards, The Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts, for Pompeii Trader (2018)
• Silver in Pop-up Display, Exhibit and Set Design in the Sydney Design Awards for Container: the box that changed the world (2018)
• Winner, Best Scenography, International Design and Communication Awards for Gapu-Monuk Saltwater – Journey to Sea Country (2018)
• Winner, International Project of the Year (less than £1 million), for Gapu-Monuk Saltwater – Journey to Sea Country (2019)
Jointly established by the museum and Australian Sailing in 2017, the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame (ASHoF) honours and promotes the greats of sailing.
Daina Fletcher provides an overview of this year’s inductees and their achievements in the sport.
2019
Inductees
Meteorologist and maritime lawyer Adrienne Cahalan OAM (born 1964) is a world-renowned champion sailor and navigator with an unparalleled record that includes sailing in 18-foot skiffs, 27 Sydney to Hobart yacht races, circumnavigations, Whitbread and Volvo around-the-world races, as well as achieving five multi-hull world speed sailing records.
EACH YEAR THE AUSTRALIAN SAILING HALL OF FAME grows in strength, richness and diversity, and this year was no exception. The third group of inductees were honoured at a special awards ceremony held in conjunction with the Australian Sailing Awards on Friday, 18 October.
Adrienne Cahalan OAM , Mark Foy, Magnus and Trygve Halvorsen, and Greg Hyde joined previous inductees – esteemed Olympic and ocean racing champions, legendary solo sailors Kay Cottee and Jon Sanders, and the team of Australia II, who won the America’s Cup for Australia in 1983 – in this prestigious Hall of Fame.
In 2004, Cahalan was the only female on a 12-strong crew that broke the non-stop around-the-world record – she was navigator on Steve Fossett’s maxi-catamaran Cheyenne, which finished the punishing voyage in 58 days, 9 hours and 32 minutes, cutting an impressive six days off the previous record.
Adrienne Cahalan was nominated for Female World Sailor of the Year four times, and has inspired a generation of sailors around the world.
Mark Foy (1865-1950) was an innovator and trail blazer, whose sailing legacy thrives today in the 18-foot sailing competition. Joint manager of the retail company Mark Foy’s, Foy championed racing for working men in their beamy open boats with huge sail areas. In 1891 he established the Sydney Flying Squadron, with new rules designed to make races more exciting for sailors and spectators alike. Adapted from horse racing, Foy’s innovations – easily identifiable coloured sails and emblems, and the application of handicaps at the start of a race to encourage a close finish – added to the spectator experience.
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Navigator Adrienne Cahalan (second from right) with sailing friends at the Sailing Awards evening on 18 October. Photographer Gregg Porteous/Australian Sailing
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Windsurfer and sailor Greg Hyde (second from left) with his children Albert, Henry and Emily at the museum cocktail party before the Sailing Awards. Photograph Andrew Frolows/ANMM
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Sailing entrepreneur Mark Foy in England during the AngloAustralian challenge 1898. ANMM Collection, gift from Mary Shaw, ANMS0203[001]
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Magnus and Trygve Halvorsen (front) with fellow Saga crew members in the 1946 Sydney to Hobart Yacht race. Gift from Harvey Halvorsen and Judith Lynn Vigo, ANMM collection 00038530
The yachting establishment banned Sydney Flying Squadron boats from the 1892 National Regatta and, in response, Foy organised a rival regatta, which thrived. Each Saturday, Sydney’s shorelines and ferries were packed with crowds, barracking and punting on their favourite crews, echoing the excitement of horse racing, just as Foy intended.
Foy took the sport to the international stage, boasting of the speed of the big open boats on regular business trips to England. In 1898 he raced the 22-footer Irex in Australia’s first international race for the Anglo-Australian challenge shield. Although unsuccessful, Foy continued to issue challenges and to promote open-boat racing.
By the 1920s, 18-footers had become the standardised open boats, and interstate competitions were held in Western Australia and Queensland. Mark Foy remains one of the most significant historical figures in Australian sailing history.
Brothers Magnus (1918-2015) and Trygve Halvorsen (1920-2014) were true pioneers of yacht design and sailing. Their first run in the Sydney to Hobart was in 1946, in Saga, and overall they sailed to four wins on handicap (plus another win, in Solveig , when they were ill and the yacht was skippered by the legendary Stan Darling). The brothers still hold a record of three consecutive handicap wins in the Sydney to Hobart, on Freya, in 1963, 1964 and 1965. Sailing Freya, Magnus and Trygve competed in the 1965 Admiral’s Cup in England and, of four starts in the New Zealand to Australia Trans-Tasman race, they achieved four wins on handicap. They were also involved in the first Australian challenge for the America’s Cup, crewing on the Halvorsen-built Gretel
Magnus and Trygve were awarded the (joint) AMPOL Australian Yachtsman of the Year in 1965–66.
Greg Hyde (born 1962) is one of the most accomplished all-round sailors Australia has ever seen. With success in windsurfing while still a teenager, he won three world championships and competed for Australia when the sport was first represented at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984.
Greg helmed winning yachts in the Sydney to Mooloolaba race in 1985 and the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in 1993. In 16-foot skiffs he won back-to-back national titles in 1995 and 1996.
After surviving a severe, rare form of encephalitis later that year, Greg developed epilepsy and experienced subsequent strokes. Despite this, he returned to competitive sailing, winning a gold medal at the 2009 Masters World Games in the Access 303 class (for sailors 45+ years) and the World Championships in 2012.
Mementoes of these stories of excitement, excellence – and even obsession – are currently on display in the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame exhibition in the museum’s Wharf 7 building. The exhibition features historic objects from some of Australia’s sailing champions, from ocean racers to solo sailors. It also features Australia’s oldest 18-foot skiff, Britannia, which raced for the first time on Sydney Harbour with Mark Foy’s Flying Squadron, in November 1919. Mr Foy would be very pleased!
To find out more about the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame visit sailinghalloffame.org.au/
Challenging, Thrilling, Racing is a dramatic visual essay about the history of the race, with a special focus on photography in the Tasman Light Gallery
The museum marks 75 years of the Rolex Sydney to Hobart
Nine-times Sydney to
The museum’s latest exhibition, Challenging, Thrilling, Racing: Sydney to Hobart 75 Years, is a dramatic visual essay about the history of this prestigious race. Senior Curator Daina Fletcher explores the exhibition’s highlights.
THIS YEAR MARKS THE 75TH SAILING of the legendary Sydney to Hobart yacht race. After its relatively relaxed beginnings on Boxing Day 1945 – just months after the end of World War II – the race has evolved into a highlight of the ocean racing calendar. Known as one of the world’s toughest blue-water events, it attracts sailors and yachts from around the globe. For some it’s a social or sporting event, for others a fierce competitive challenge. For many, it is a bucket-list aspiration.
This year 170 boats will gather: greyhounds, bare-bones supermaxis and veteran timber cruising craft among them. It is this variety of yachts, sailors and motivations, combined with the variability of the weather and waters over the 1,160-kilometre route, which gives the race its personality – equal parts old sea dog, sprinter, sports star and supermodel.
Last year Wild Oats XI took line honours for the ninth time with the extraordinary Mark Richards at the helm, and Alive became the first Tasmanian boat in 39 years to claim the title of overall winner on handicap. The current race record was set in 2017 by LDV Comanche, at one day, 9 hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds – an unthinkable record for those who sailed in the very first race 75 years ago.
The first ‘Hobart’ sailors were friends from the newly formed Cruising Yacht Club (now the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia – CYCA), who decided on a summer cruise together to Hobart. Before they left Sydney, British yachtsman John Illingworth joined the group and proposed making it a race. The Royal Navy captain had been stationed in Sydney during the war. It was just months after the armistice and life was returning to its peacetime rhythms. The CYCA teamed up with the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania to co-manage the race and, in the interests of keeping the focus on ‘cruising’, spinnakers were not permitted.
Nine yachts left Sydney on December 26, 1945. On 2 January 1946, Illingworth’s Rani – whose crew was mostly assembled from defence personnel – was first across the line, with a time of six days, 14 hours and 22 minutes. Peter Luke’s Wayfarer arrived after 11 days, having anchored en route at Port Arthur for roast pork and crayfish! His record stands as the slowest passage in the blue-water event.
The race grew in the post-war years, with peaks and troughs through the decades. It has seen huge social and technological change, resulting in necessary revisions of safety standards and rules. A major turning point in its history came with the deaths of six sailors in 1998, after hurricane-force winds decimated the fleet.
Challenging, Thrilling, Racing
To mark the 75th race, the museum has developed a program of exhibitions in and around its site, including the Tasman Light Gallery, Yots Café and our wharves, where you can see the iconic Kathleen Gillett, the ketch that sailed in the very first Hobart race. The Tasman Light Gallery is named for its central feature – a large, historic, first-order lens from the Tasman Island lighthouse, which all yachts in the Sydney to Hobart must pass on the final leg of the race to the finish line on the Derwent River.
Challenging, Thrilling, Racing is a dramatic visual essay about the history of the race, with a special focus on photography located in the Tasman Light Gallery. Also on display is a showcase containing the timber trophy presented to the race’s first winner, John Illingworth, as well as examples of early navigation equipment and memorabilia, a model of Wild Oats XI and a model reconstruction of a helicopter rescue of imperilled sailors in the 1998 storm. Tiger 75, the Royal Australian Navy’s 816 Squadron Sikorsky S-70B-2 Seahawk helicopter that took part in that rescue is suspended from the ceiling of the adjacent tall gallery. The helicopter has recently been transferred from the Royal Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm Museum.
Works by Tasmanian photographer Richard Bennett are on display in the gallery, and they will also feature in the museum’s café, Yots, in the lead-up to the race. Bennett’s speciality is aerial photography, and in 1998 his aircraft was requisitioned for the search effort. His photographs of Stand Aside and Midnight Rambler fighting the huge seas have become two of the most compelling photographs from that tragic race.
Bennett, an ocean sailor himself, first photographed the Hobart race in 1974 and has captured every race since, acquiring a pilot licence to help in his search for the perfect shot. His yacht photographs are characterised by moody seas and the dramatic lines of Tasman Island landscapes. One of his personal favourites is the Shogun photograph of 1984.
I love everything about the Sydney to Hobart: the many moods of the sea, the sense of participation in a great adventure, the camaraderie, the tactics, sensing the proximity of the elements, the wildness … the gales, the different light and the dramatic coastline. It’s about putting all those elements together. There is an organisational challenge in being in the right location to capture the peak of the action. (I am not there often enough, according to the yachties!).
Richard Bennett
The Tasman Light Gallery also features work by Italian photographer Carlo Borlenghi and Italian-Australian, Andrea Francolini.
Borlenghi grew up on Lake Como and developed his passion for photography while studying engineering. A non-sailor in a circle of sailing friends, he began to attend his local regatta. He travelled the world for the magazine Umo Mare Vogue, photographing the most important nautical events, and his passion grew into a career of international renown. Carlo Borlenghi is the official photographer for Rolex, the Sydney to Hobart race sponsor.
Borlenghi’s perspectives include close-framed, high-octane action on the water and panoramic aerial shots. All reveal delicate subtleties of light and tone, a Borlenghi signature, and capture an excitement of moment or mood. One of his photographic heroes is Henri Cartier Bresson, who promoted the pursuit of the ‘decisive moment’.
In all these pictures the common denominator is ‘Nature’ - the incredible light, the big sea, that you don’t find anywhere in the world. Everybody knows that my favourite race is the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race because I like the strong sea, the big waves, the different scenery. You can find so many different things: a good background for the start in one of the most beautiful cities in the word [and later] the organ pipe and Tasman Island.
Carlo Borlenghi
Andrea Francolini is another non-sailing Sydney to Hobart photographer, trained in graphic design in his native Milan. He found his vocation after a fall into the water before his first regatta left him stranded on the dock taking photographs. Francolini moved to Australia nearly 20 years ago and developed his career on the water. It remains his mainstay. Today his interests are broad and his work is informed by his admiration for reportage and portrait photographers Sebastiao Salgado, Richard Avedon and Annie Leibovitz, and Australian photographer Trent Parke.
When shooting boats, no day is the same. The boats change and, on the water, will never react the same way. A splash will always be different. As for the beaches and the ocean in Australia, the size is what really gets me, and how rough the ocean can be. The light here, too, is very different to the light in Europe or other parts of the world … You have to respect the ocean at all times.
Andrea Francolini
In 2003, a portrait-sitting with sailing winemaker and businessman Bob Oatley AO BEM , led to a 14-year appointment photographing the new Oatley super-maxi Wild Oats XI – from its construction in 2005, a record of modifications, its crew and team, and above all its record-breaking run in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. At the time of print, the nine-times line honours champion is undergoing urgent repairs to enable it to contest the title for the tenth time in this, the 75th race. Good luck to all 170 entrants in this year’s historic Sydney to Hobart.
His yacht photographs are characterised by moody seas and the dramatic lines of Tasman Island landscapes
Dive into the museum this summer and discover a range of exciting events and exhibitions.
THE MEMBERSHIP TEAM and I have had an amazing year preparing events and working on new membership benefits. Thank you for your continued support throughout the year and we hope you are enjoying your membership. As always, we would love to hear your feedback or any suggestions about your membership or museum experience.
We have some wonderful events to keep you busy over the next coming months, beginning with the 75th Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race on Boxing Day. Enjoy a prime position at the starting line on board Aussie Magic to wave the fleet off on its epic 628-nautical-mile journey.
Our exclusive Australia Day cruise on board Eclipse allows you to absorb the colour and spectacle of the annual harbour parade, including the famous Ferrython and tall ship races. Relax and enjoy a catered Aussie barbecue, with lamingtons and pavlova for dessert. Both of these cruises sell out quickly, so please book early.
Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Ocean Predators will continue over the summer, featuring never-before-seen real fossils, hands-on interactives and gigantic life-sized casts from real specimens, including a 13-metre-long Elasmosaurus.
Our successful Ocean Talk series will return in 2020, kicking off with ‘T-Rex vs Sea-Rex’. Who would win the ultimate battle of prehistoric predators? Join experts Dr Anne Musser and Dr Colin McHenry as they reveal more about these ferocious predators.
We also have a dramatised reading of Shackleton’s Carpenter in the museum’s theatre, starring Peter FitzSimons as Harry McNish. This play received stellar reviews in London’s West End, but with only six performances, you will need to book early. See our website for details. Registrations are still open for the Welcome Wall, with members receiving priority placement. Make sure you note your member number on your order form.
And please remember that membership of the Maritime Museum includes a range of benefits, such as discounts to the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, access to other national cultural institutions, discounts to museum events and a 10 per cent discount at our Store.
Alternatively, you could take your support to a new level by joining the Captain’s Circle. Members who commit to donating $3,000, or three annual instalments of $1,000, will receive a range of exclusive benefits tailored to their interests, including behind-thescenes access to our collections and expert curators. A proportion of the membership will also be tax deductible. On behalf of the Members team and volunteers, I would like to wish you all a safe and happy festive season, and we hope to see you at the museum soon.
Oliver Isaacs , Manager Members
01 Nine-metre cast of a Prognathodon skeleton; the ‘bulldog’ of the ancient seas. Image Andrew Frolows/ANMM
02
The exhilarating Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, 2018. ANMM image
Harbour Cruise
Sydney to Hobart Race Start
10.30 am–2.30 pm
Thursday 26 December
Enjoy a prime position at the starting line of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. Join the throng of spectator craft on Sydney Harbour and soak up the festive atmosphere as we celebrate this iconic race
Family theatre show
Erth: Prehistoric Aquarium
11.30 am, 12.30 pm and 2 pm (30 mins)
Sunday to Friday 5–19 January
Travel back in time to the bottom of the ancient oceans and meet the fearsome creatures who ruled there in this lively and interactive family show.
Access Program
Sensory-friendly Sundays
8.30–11.30 am Sunday 12 January
Enjoy a comfortable environment for kids and adults with a variety of sensory differences.
Booking form on reverse of mailing address sheet. Please note that booking is essential unless otherwise stated. Book online at sea.museum/whats-on or phone 02 9298 3646 (unless otherwise indicated) or email members@sea.museum 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 advised to check our website for updated and new event information.
Two-day TV presenting workshop
Underwater Explorers
10 am–4 pm Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 January
Kids aged 8–14 years will produce their own creative digital stories – learning techniques in green-screen, scripting, directing, acting and filmmaking.
One-day workshop
Photo-Pros
9.30 am–5.30 pm Thursday 23 January
Kids aged 8–14 years will take their photography skills to the next level in this intensive one-day course.
Harbour Cruise
Australia Day Cruise
10.30 am–3 pm Sunday 26 January
Join our exclusive Australia Day cruise on board Eclipse and absorb the colour and spectacle of the annual harbour parade
Interactive theatre for adults
Murder Mystery at Sea:
The Great Ratsby
6–7.30 pm or 8–9.30 pm
Friday 10, Saturday 11, Friday 17, Saturday 18, Friday 24 and Saturday 25 January
Join first class detective Xavier Harris to investigate a baffling murder at sea
Ocean Talks
T-Rex vs Sea-Rex
6.30–8.30 pm Thursday 6 February
Who would win the ultimate battle of prehistoric predators? Experts Dr Anne Musser and Dr Colin McHenry reveal all about these ferocious predators
Access Program
Sensory-friendly Sundays
8.30–11.30 am Sunday 9 February
Enjoy a comfortable environment for kids and adults with a variety of sensory differences.
For carers with children 0–18 months
Seaside Strollers tours and play 12:30–2 pm Tuesday 11 February
Tour: Capturing the Home Front ; play: Colour and shape theme
Special event
Shackleton’s Carpenter
5.30–6.40 pm or 7–8.10 pm Tuesday 25 February to Sunday 1 March
An epic story of exploration, survival, courage and conflict that received stellar reviews in London’s West End
Harbour Cruise
Sydney to Hobart Race Start
10.30 am–2.30 pm
Thursday 26 December
Enjoy a prime position at the starting line of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, one of the world’s most prestigious sailing events. Join the throng of spectator craft on Sydney Harbour and soak up the festive atmosphere as we celebrate this iconic race. You’ll be in the centre of the action on-board Aussie Magic with seasoned Sydney to Hobart yacht racer. Andrew Hawkins. With a gourmet buffet lunch, refreshments and fabulous company, you’ll enjoy a stress-free Boxing Day.
Member/concession $125, general $149, family $470 (2 adults, 2 children)
Interactive theatre for adults Murder Mystery at Sea:
The Great Ratsby
6–7.30 pm or 8–9.30 pm Friday 10, Saturday 11, Friday 17, Saturday 18, Friday 24 and Saturday 25 January
Sydney in the mid-1920s is a city ready to explode. Gangs, plague, police and the legend that is ‘The Great Ratsby’ come together on a steamy night in January. At a ritzy party on the luxury yacht Ena, gangsters mix with the Sydney party set until a body is found floating in the harbour. Join first class detective Xavier Harris, to unravel the mystery behind the body in the water.
Recommended for adults 18 years and over. Member/concession $60, general $70
ANMM image
Harbour Cruise
Australia Day Cruise
10.30 am–3 pm Sunday 26 January
Spending Australia Day on the harbour doesn’t get any better than this! Join our exclusive Australia Day cruise on board Eclipse and absorb the colour and spectacle of the annual harbour parade, including the famous Ferrython and tall ships race. Relax and enjoy a catered gourmet Aussie BBQ of sausages, prawns, chicken, lamb kebabs, salads and rolls, then lamingtons and pavlova for dessert. Yum! Be sure to book early to secure your spot.
Member/concession $125, general $149, family $470 (2 adults, 2 children)
Ocean Talks
T-Rex vs Sea-Rex
6.30–8.30 pm Thursday 6 February
T-rex vs Sea-rex: who would win the ultimate battle of prehistoric predators?
Millions of years ago, while dinosaurs ruled the land, fearsome marine reptiles hunted the oceans. But which were the scariest? Who had the biggest bite? How do we know?
Come and hear experts Dr Anne Musser and Dr Colin McHenry as they reveal more about these ferocious predators, how we study them and what we’ve learnt. Then cast your vote to choose who should be crowned, ‘Killer, King of the Mesozoic’!
Member/concession $30, general $40
Special event
Shackleton’s Carpenter
5.30–6.40 pm or 7–8.10 pm
Tuesday 25 February to Sunday 1 March
Shackleton’s Carpenter by award-winning playwright Gail Louw is an epic story of exploration, survival, courage and conflict.
Starring Peter FitzSimons as Harry McNish, the carpenter and shipwright on the illfated Endurance voyage to the Antarctic, this powerful play explores issues of status and the class system – themes that are still relevant today.
Member $55, general $65, concession $59.50, student $49.50
Endurance, 1915. Photograph by Captain Frank Hurley. ANMM Collection, 00034265
Ocean Talks
Signals from the Ocean
6.30–8.30 pm Thursday 5 March
Learn about the changes in our world’s oceans – from the Arctic to the Antarctic! Imageries feature the splendour of the polar regions and the Coral Triangle, highlighting the impact of plastic pollution, over-fishing and rising sea temperature. Enjoy an evening with multi-award-winning wildlife photographer, explorer and conservationist, Michael Aw, and coral reef expert Dr Emma Camp.
Member/concession $30, general $40
Harbour Cruise
Clark Island Cultural Cruise
1–4 pm Sunday 15 March
Explore Sydney Harbour through Indigenous eyes on board Tribal Warrior’s Mari Nawi
The cruise takes visitors to Clark Island (Be-lang-le-wool ), where you’ll learn about traditional fishing methods, food gathering techniques and enjoy a vibrant Aboriginal cultural performance. The Aboriginal crew will share fascinating stories of Sydney Harbour’s Gadigal, Guringai, Wangal, Gammeraigal and Wallumedegal people.
Bookings and pricing information at sea.museum/events
Kids on Deck
Mesozoic Monsters
10.30 am–4 pm daily in school holidays
Play, create and discover at Kids on Deck with art-making, interactive games and dress-ups! Be inspired by prehistoric ocean creatures. Create your own sea monster puppets and softies, a dramatic diorama, or a goofy gastrolith (pet rock). Play with science experiments and dress up as your favourite sea monster.
Included in any paid ticket. Members free. No bookings required ANMM image
Under 5s tours
Silly Sea Creatures
10–10.30 am and 11–11.30 am Tuesdays and Saturdays 11–28 January
Explore amazing creatures that live under the sea through movement, songs and story-time in a fun and interactive learning program especially designed for toddlers. Afterwards head to Kids on Deck for crafts and messy play. For ages 2 to 5 years.
Child $10, adult $8. Included in Big Ticket. Members free. Includes entry to kids’ activities and 3D cinema. Bookings essential sea.museum/under5s
Kids and family programs
Summer school holidays
Make a splash at the museum these school holidays with exhibitions, vessels, hands-on workshops, themed creative activities, 3D films and more. Enjoy a day of fun for the whole family!
Inspired by our Sea Monsters exhibition, there’s a plethora-saurus of things to do every day. From art-making, scientific experiments and dress-ups in Kids on Deck; exploring touchable objects and artefacts at the Cabinet of Curiosities; relaxing with a 3D film; taking in a family theatre show and much more!
Visit sea.museum/school-holidays for full program details
Family theatre show
Erth: Prehistoric Aquarium
11.30 am, 12.30 pm and 2 pm (30 mins) Sunday to Friday 5 – 19 January
Erth’s Prehistoric Aquarium is an immersive experience that invites you into the wondrous world of prehistoric marine reptiles. Glide with baby plesiosaurs and get dangerously close to the gigantic jaws of a Kronosaurus in a never-before-seen edition of this acclaimed touring production.
Bookings essential at sea.museum/erth Members/concession $15, general $20 (infants under 2 free).
Some of the enormous puppets featured in Erth’s Prehistoric Aquarium. Image Heidrun Lohr
Activity trails
Available every day
Explore Sea Monsters with a fun and creative activity trail.
Free with museum entry
Stay up to date with the full program of family events and activities by subscribing to our monthly newsletter at sea.museum/kids
Creative workshops for 8–14 years
Two-day TV presenting workshop
Underwater Explorers
10am – 4pm Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 January
Explore the world beneath the surface as you capture footage on our underwater drones and use it to create your own imaginative TV segments. Be inspired by prehistoric ocean environments featured in our Sea Monsters exhibition. Learn clever techniques in green-screen, scripting, directing, acting and filmmaking as you produce your own creative digital stories. Have your finished work displayed for family and friends in a special cinema screening.
Members or early bird (before 10 January) $150, general $170. Bookings essential at sea.museum/youth
Access Program
Sensory-friendly Sundays
8.30–11.30 am Sundays 12 January*, 9 February, 8 March
Enjoy a comfortable environment for kids and adults with a variety of sensory differences. This summer our submarine HMAS Onslow, new exhibitions and activity areas will be open extra early for a quieter experience, modified to suit people on the autism spectrum and with a range of differing abilities.* Our trained staff and volunteers will be on hand to facilitate creative activities.
Members and children under 4 free, child 4+ or adult $12 (includes access to special exhibitions and kids’ activities all day). Bookings essential at sea.museum/ whats-on/events
For carers with children 0–18 months
Seaside Strollers tours and play
Take an educator-led tour through new exhibitions, enjoy delicious catered treats from Yots Café, adult-friendly conversations in the galleries and baby play time in a sensory space. Strollers, front packs, baby-slings and breastfeeding welcome.
12.30–2 pm Tuesday 11 February
Tour: Capturing the home front
Play: Colour and shape theme
10.30 am–12 pm or 12.30–2 pm
Monday 16 March
Tour: Wildlife Photographer of the Year Play: Sensory jungle theme
Adult $20, Member adult $15, babies free. Includes morning/afternoon tea and exhibition admission. Bookings essential at sea.museum/strollers
Creative workshops for 8–14 years
One-day workshop
Photo-Pros
9.30 am–5.30 pm Thursday 23 January
Take your photography skills to the next level in this one-day intensive course. Be inspired by the museum’s scenic surrounds as you go on outdoor photoshoots and master the art of shooting dark indoor spaces, moving subjects, macro photography and more. Learn to use manual modes on a DSLR camera as well as photo editing skills. Have your finished work displayed in a special exhibition at the museum.
Members or early bird (before 16 January) $120, general $140. Bookings essential at sea.museum/youth. This course is eligible for creative kids’ vouchers
Under 5s activities
Mini Mariners
10–10.45 and 11–11.45 am every Tuesday during term time and one Saturday each month
Enjoy creative free play, craft, games, dress-ups and story time in our themed activity area. Ages 2–5 + carers.
Saturday 15 February – Drip Drop Splash!
Saturday 14 March – Pirates Ahoy!
Members free, child $10, adults $8 (includes cinema). Booked playgroups welcome. Online bookings essential sea.museum/under5s
Can’t make a session? You can now book a Stroller Tour on demand for your group for $230 per group (maximum 15 adults per group). Includes morning or afternoon tea and exhibition entry. Enquire about your preferred date online at sea.museum/ strollers
Family events
Kids on Deck Sundays
11 am–3 pm every Sunday during school term
Play, create and discover at Kids on Deck with art-making, interactive games and dress-ups.
Term 1: Mesozoic Monsters theme
Included in any paid admission. Members free
Hands-on science
Underwater drone challenge
11 am–3 pm every Saturday and Sunday in term time, daily during school holidays
Discover what’s under Sydney Harbour without getting wet! Learn to pilot an underwater drone. Show off your gaming console skills in the outdoors and challenge family and friends to see who’s the best u-drone pilot! Then, at home, relive your explorations with video footage from your dive. Suitable for wheelchair users.
Bookings essential. Session times and prices at sea.museum/drone
* Our January edition also includes access to a special encounter with the puppets from Erth’s Prehistoric Aquarium
* Min height 90 cm for entry to Action Stations and vessels
When did you become a member?
It was so long ago I can’t remember. I think it was sometime in the 1990s, not long after the museum opened.
Do you have a nautical background?
Absolutely not. My husband accuses me of curtailing his sailing pastime, which is a big fat lie! I did grow up near the beach however, and still have a love for the ocean and coastline. Although my family doesn’t have a nautical background, my grandfather worked as a wood machinist at the State Dockyard in Newcastle.
What’s your favourite aspect of museum membership?
The diverse range of exhibitions and activities organised that demonstrate Australia’s long maritime history.
What sort of museum events or programs do you tend to participate in?
I particularly enjoy the exhibitions and outdoor excursions. As well as speaker events, sometimes related to book launches. As a long-time member, I’ve enjoyed sharing the museum (both its collections and exhibitions) with friends, family and overseas visitors.
What have been some of your favourite exhibitions or events here at the museum?
There are too many to mention! I really enjoyed James Cameron: Challenging the Deep, Bligh: Hero or Villain?, the Classic & Wooden Boat Festivals and the tour of Newington Armoury. My husband and I have also enjoyed other events associated with the Captain’s Circle – like the tour of Spectacle Island (it was like Aladdin’s cave, but with maritime and naval treasures) and the opportunity to inspect HMAS Hobart
If you had to sum up the museum in three words, what would they be?
Diverse, relevant, revealing.
Why did you join the new Captain’s Circle museum supporters’ group?
I believe our maritime heritage and connections are important aspects of telling Australia’s story, with the museum playing a critical role in shaping and sharing this narrative. This includes our Aboriginal history, the lives of convicts and early settlers, later migrant stories and more recently the arrival of refugees. Being a Captain’s Circle member allows me to support the museum, which is an invaluable institution. The museum is a keeper of knowledge and expertise, and a centre for learning and ongoing research.
What else would you like to see the museum doing in the future?
I am interested in history, science and contemporary issues. Some of the things I’ve appreciated is the focus on exploring Aboriginal history and culture, the preservation of our marine environment in a time when our climate is changing, exhibitions that partner with our neighbours in the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia, as well as exhibitions that engage and inspire young people.
In the 1930s, famous American photographer Dorothea Lange established her reputation as a documentarian when she was commissioned by the government to capture the devastation wrought on Americans by the Great Depression. Commissioned by the US Office of War Information during World War II, Lange documented America’s factories, shipyards and farms.
Her unvarnished depictions of the forced internment of Japanese–Americans were considered too realistic and raw for public consumption, and Ansel Adams was commissioned to document the desolate camp at Manzanar in a better light.
Complementing Lange’s photographs are works by Japanese–American internee Toyo Miyatake and a selection of home front photography by Sam Hood, William Cranstone, Jim Fitzpatrick and Hedley Cullen reproduced from Australian collections.
Capturing the home front is part of the ‘War and Peace in the Pacific 75’ commemorative program. Supported by the USA Bicentennial Gift Fund
Planes Devastate Reich, Signs of the times, Richmond general scenes, 1944. Photo Dorothea Lange © The Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California. Gift of Paul S Taylor.
Until 27 April 2020
An exhibition combining real fossils, gigantic replicas, multimedia and hands-on experiences to reveal ancient monsters of the deep. Find out how three main types of ancient reptiles – ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs – left the land to rule the seas. In the oceans, they developed into awesome, enormous predators that make today’s great white sharks seem almost friendly!
A Mosasaur attacking a shark. ANMM image
Until April 2020
Elysium Arctic follows a team of worldrenowned explorers, photographers and scientists into the icy regions of the High Arctic. Led by acclaimed wildlife photographer Michael Aw, the Elysium team produced a series of artworks showcasing the extreme beauty of the polar north.
Elysium Arctic captures the uniqueness of the Arctic environment at a time when climate change is threatening its very existence. Michael Aw believes that art can inspire action on climate change. Explore the magic of the High Arctic and see for yourself. Elysium Arctic is the museum’s newest outdoor exhibition, located outside Wharf 7.
Until 16 February 2020
Developed by the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) and funded by Visions of Australia, this community-driven project celebrates the survival and transfer of Indigenous knowledge across generations via shell stringing. The exhibition is a tribute to the ancestral women who against all odds continued shell stringing as an act of resistance and cultural defiance. Most of all, it pays homage to the women of Cape Barren Island, who have preserved this tradition to the present day.
Until 2 February 2020
William Bligh is almost universally portrayed as a villain in movies and books, but does this view stand scrutiny today? Bligh: Hero or Villain? challenges this popular narrative, looking beyond the Bounty mutiny to explore the many sides of this infamous maritime figure. Come and judge for yourself – but be prepared for surprises!
ANMM image
Until 28 January 2020
Koori Art Expressions is a selection of highly imaginative visual artworks created by Sydney school students from kindergarten to year 12. Inspired by the 2019 NAIDOC Week theme, ‘Voice, Treaty, Truth’, over 75 works are featured in this exhibition. While developing the artworks, students reflect on the unique connection Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have to country and how the achievements of the past inform and further our aspirations and plans for the future.
Bright Futures by Kayla Cavell, Randwick Girls High School
Until 28 February 2020
Charting the history of the blue water classic, this exhibition features stunning photography by acclaimed photographers Andrea Francolini, Carlo Borlenghi and Richard Bennett. Featuring a visual timeline and evocative objects, the exhibition highlights the excitement, camaraderie, risk and danger of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. It provides insight into the character of the race that began in 1945 with only nine entrants, and now attracts over 170 local and international teams.
Carlo Borlenghi, Morning Glory, 2010. Image courtesy Carlo Borlenghi & Rolex
Bamal-Badu
Now showing
Darling Harbour is called Gomora in the Sydney Aboriginal language and is part of the traditional lands (bamal, or earth) and waters (badu) of the Gadigal people. Bamal-Badu is a digital art installation that acknowledges the long history of the place where the museum is located and honours and respects the Aboriginal people who lived and continue to live around Sydney Harbour. The installation will take visitors on a virtual journey through the lands and waters of the traditional owners of the Sydney Harbour area and emphasise the importance of acknowledging and respecting our First Peoples.
Bamal Badu is a collaboration with Aboriginal digital artist Brett Leavy of Virtual Songlines .
Massim Kenu – drawings of the unique outrigger canoes from the Solomon Seas Massim Museum in Alotau, Papua New Guinea
Until 24 January 2020
The Massim islands of Papua New Guinea are home to a unique collection of colourful outrigger canoes used for trade, which are vital to the significant inter-island and community exchange of precious artefacts known as kula
The museum’s Historic Vessels Curator David Payne spent August 2017 on assignment with research colleagues, travelling by launch through the Massim islands and documenting their stunning canoes. David then developed his field notes into accurate plans, with a dozen different canoe types now on display, with his drawings revealing each canoe’s individual characteristics.
Wharf 7
Now showing
Featuring the stories of this year’s Australian Sailing Hall of Fame honourees who have produced some of Australia’s greatest sporting moments in the America’s Cup, the Olympics, blue-water racing and world sailing. Iconic and archetypal, these are stories of excitement, national excellence and even Australian obsession – a dazzling moment of team victory in the America’s Cup, the romanticism and adventure of lone sailors on the world’s oceans and the daring of the heavily-canvassed skiff crews.
Special 3D film screenings
11 am, 2 and 3 pm daily
Currently screening:
Sea Monsters 3D – A Prehistoric Adventure uses ultra-realistic computer animation to transport you back to the Late Cretaceous period when the oceans were dominated by giant marine reptiles.
Wonders of the Arctic 3D tells the story of survival in one of the most unforgiving environments on Earth, dominated by a single element: ice.
HMAS AE1 Revealed
Princess Royal Fortress Military Museum, Albany WA
Until 2 February 2020
The wreck of Australia’s first submarine AE1 was located in 2017 by maritime archaeologists from the museum and partner organisations. This display shows images from their find and tells the story of the crew.
James Cameron –Challenging the Deep Otago Museum, Dunedin, New Zealand
Until 22 February 2020
In an exhibition that integrates two worlds of modern museums – the power of the artefact and the thrill of experience – visitors will encounter the deep-ocean discoveries, technical innovations and scientific and creative achievements of underwater explorer James Cameron. Created by the Australian National Maritime Museum’s USA Programs supported by the USA Bicentennial Gift Fund
Container: The box that changed the world
Fremantle Maritime Museum
Until 14 April 2020
Dedicated entirely to the history and impact of the humble shipping container, this exhibition goes beyond the corrugated steel to reveal the fascinating story of this revolutionary maritime invention. Housed entirely within specially modified 20-foot containers, it explores the economic, geographic, technical, environmental, social and cultural history and impact of containerisation.
banner display
Various dates and venues
The Australian Maritime Museums Council (AMMC) and the Australian National Maritime Museum partnered to develop the graphic panel display Submerged: stories of Australia’s shipwrecks. Content was developed by AMMC members at maritime heritage organisations across the country, and merged into a nationally touring display by the museum. This display is supported by Visions of Australia
Indigenous Watercraft panel display
Various dates and venues in Australia
Since the First Fleet, 10 million people have settled in this country and made Australia home. With them have come 270 languages to join the estimated 250 Australian Indigenous languages and more than 600 dialects. Discover the different words to represent unique Indigenous watercraft specific to particular areas all around the country.
Australian Sailing Hall of Fame 2019 panel display
Various dates and venues
This graphic panel exhibition features the stories of the inaugural inductees into the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame. These greats of the sport have produced some of Australia’s most memorable sporting moments – in the America’s Cup, the Olympics, blue-water racing and world sailing.
The Australian Sailing Hall of Fame touring exhibition is developed by the Australian National Maritime Museum in partnership with Australian Sailing
Guardians of Sunda Strait panel display
Various dates and venues in Australia and the USA
On the night of 28 February–1 March 1942, HMAS Perth and USS Houston fought bravely and defiantly against overwhelming odds – outnumbered and outgunned by a large advancing Japanese naval force – as they approached Sunda Strait. Both ships sank that dreadful night in the Battle of Sunda Strait. This exhibition is part of the ‘War and Peace in the Pacific 75’ program.
Created by the Australian National Maritime Museum’s USA Programs supported by the USA Bicentennial Gift Fund
Homefront panel display
Various dates and venues in Australia
Banner display developed and written by students from schools in Australia, the USA and Japan. The exhibition will tour schools who have registered with our ‘War and Peace in the Pacific 75’ program, which is supported by the USA Bicentennial Gift Fund.
Clash of the carriers: Battle of the Coral Sea panel display
Various dates and venues in Australia and the USA
Fought between combined United States and Australian naval and air forces and the Imperial Japanese Navy, this was the world’s first sea battle between aircraft carriers. Literally ‘fought in the air’, it was also the first naval battle in which opposing ships neither saw nor fired on each other. This exhibition is part of the ‘War and Peace in the Pacific 75’ program.
Created by the Australian National Maritime Museum’s USA Programs supported by the USA Bicentennial Gift Fund
Banner and panel displays
There is no cost to host the majority of travelling graphic panel displays. For bookings and enquiries, please contact touringexhibitions@sea.museum
In association with Produced by A War and Peace in the Pacific 75 exhibition supported by the USA Bicentennial Gift Fund.
Featuring stunning photographs by Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake and Australian wartime photographers.
Darling Harbour, Sydney Book now at sea.museum/homefront
Image: McDonald Street Items, c 1942. Photo Dorothea Lange. © The Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California. Gift of Paul S. Taylor.
The museum’s Registration team recently digitised 127 documents related to the working life and horrific wrecking of SS Federal. Curator of Ocean Science and Technology Emily Jateff provides an overview of the shipwreck and its discovery.
Telegram sent by R W Wilson describing difficulties gaining access to the beach to recover the dead, washed ashore from the SS Federal disaster, ca April 1901. Australian National Maritime Museum Collection, ANMS0777
The collection is an important asset for understanding past events as it paints a picture of the horror of the recovery of the dead, the Marine Board of Inquiry process and offers insight into the aftermath of the shipwreck
ON 21 MARCH 1901, collier SS Federal was on a run from Port Kembla to Albany when it was lost in a storm off Gabo Island, carrying 3,486 tonnes of coal. Although the lighthouse keeper at Gabo Island saw the ship on a perilous course, he had no way to communicate with the Everard station further down the coast. Federal continued to hug the coast far off the recommended southwest course, and came to grief on submerged rocks in a storm, with the loss of 31 crew members.
A Marine Court of Inquiry was held into the wreckage but it was unable to draw any conclusions. Some of the bodies recovered were in lifeboats and wearing life belts, so it was apparent the crew had time to abandon the ship, with many making it ashore before expiring. Even though the wreck happened before 23 March, a ship was only sent to look for the perished crew on 2 April. The rescue teams had to contend with bad weather, but the general public consensus was that a faster response would have saved lives. After the SS Federal tragedy, the Everard lighthouse was upgraded to a recognised signalling station capable of communicating with ships and other stations, including Gabo Island.
Finding the SS Federal (again)
In April 2019, I was Principal Investigator on board a CSIRO Marine National Facility RV Investigator voyage, titled RAN Hydrographic and Maritime Heritage Surveys. Undertaken in collaboration with Heritage Victoria, this voyage utilised archival research by Heritage Victoria and the Maritime Archaeological Association of Victoria (MAAV) to identify sites of significance in Victorian waters. Conducting a survey of SS Federal was a project priority. In 2012, an avocational diving group initially located the ship, but unfortunately, they did not provide a precise location to Heritage Victoria, limiting their ability to manage the site.
On 15 April 2019, we relocated the site of SS Federal The geophysical mapping team initiated close interval multibeam survey, running a total of nine transects within a 350-metre radius of the site. The vessel is perched on top of a six-metre deep scour (the vessel is located in a high tidal flow area within Bass Strait). The shipwreck is broken up, with the stern smashed and hull plate on starboard side beginning to fall into scour. Drop camera footage was collected for bow, stern and mid-ship and into the scour. Upon approach of the stern section, investigators noted that the hull appeared to be crushed with very little remaining hull structure spotted at the aft end. Long thin sections of hull protruded into the water column preventing further visual inspection in this area. Heritage Victoria was provided with accurate site location, multibeam sonar and drop camera imagery from the maritime heritage surveys for ongoing interpretation, preservation and management of the site.
The Australian National Maritime Museum holds 127 documents related to the SS Federal ’s working life and wrecking event in our collection. These have recently been digitised by the museum’s Registration division and are available online as Collection ANMS0777. The collection is an important asset for understanding past events as it paints a picture of the horror of the recovery of the dead, the Marine Board of Inquiry process and offers insight into the aftermath of the shipwreck. In one poignant letter dated 21 April, Catherine Eckhoff, the widow of Fireman D R Eckhoff requests access to an established relief fund to pay her outstanding debts, with a supporting letter from Father Lewis of Wesleyan Parsonage confirming their marriage. This letter seems to be in response to a 20 April letter to the fund from Mr Eckhoff’s mother in which she advises that her son’s widow is ineligible to receive support as she has been ‘living with another man’. Times may change, but messy family drama is forever.
For further information on SS Federal, this story is covered in the ABC News online article Shipwreck’s watery grave studied in bid to solve century old mystery of SS Federal (28 June 2019) and in the Australian National Maritime Museum’s new history podcast program, available at bit.ly/ssfederal
Looking back on an incredible year
There are many ways to support the museum, and donations are used to preserve and promote Australia’s rich maritime heritage. Marisa Chilcott reports on the various events enjoyed by Captain’s Circle members in 2019.
01
Captain’s Circle members enjoyed Bligh: Hero or Villain? in the company of John Bligh, a direct descendant of William Bligh. Image Andrew Frolows/ANMM
02
On Spectacle Island, Captain’s Circle member Peter Poland found the nameplate of Warramunga, the ship he trained on in the 1950s. Image Marisa Chilcott/ANMM
WHAT AN ENJOYABLE YEAR IT HAS BEEN for members of our Captain’s Circle. Established in December 2018, the Captain’s Circle is a special donor group whose support helps preserve collection items and assist with museum projects. Members enjoy special benefits, including VIP events, previews and behind-the-scenes tours.
This year, our Captain’s Circle members have enjoyed five exclusive events:
March
Museum Chairman, John Mullen, and Jackie Mullen hosted an evening on board their vessel, the 40-metre MV Silentworld, when John regaled guests with stories of his adventures and discoveries in the field of maritime archaeology.
May
Members viewed the Silentworld Foundation Collection. After enjoying a delicious high tea, Captain’s Circle members were given a tour by John Mullen, who shared some of his extensive knowledge of the artefacts, paintings and books in the collection. One member reported: What an incredible privilege to see a private collection of such an impressive calibre ... I think my favourite object was the hand-written note from the young sailor to his mother, retelling the scene he had witnessed from the long boat of the death of Cook in Hawaii. Apparently, this letter was subsequently used in the court martial of a battalion that had not moved in to save Cook. Fascinating!
Our inaugural Foundation Gala Dinner will be a glittering event that shouldn’t be missed. To be held in the Lighthouse Gallery on Friday, 28 February 2020, this event will feature special guests, a celebrity chef and showcase the work being done at the museum. All proceeds will go to acquiring major objects for the National Maritime Collection, helping conserve the museum’s collection and providing support for our programs.
For more information or to secure a ticket, please contact Marisa Chilcott on 02 9298 3619.
Museum curator Dr Stephen Gapps brought Bligh: Hero or Villain? to life, when he gave Captain’s Circle members a special tour of the exhibition and explained how it was developed. Joining the tour was John Bligh, a direct descendant of William Bligh, who provided key insights into his controversial ancestor. John also attended the 265th birthday celebration of William Bligh, which was held at the museum on 8 September. Also attending, from his home on Norfolk Island, was Trent Christian, a descendant of mutineer Fletcher Christian.
On 9 August, the Royal Australian Navy went all-out to show off the impressive HMAS Hobart, at Garden Island. One of the highlights of the day was watching HMAS Stewart return to port after being on tour. In formation, HMAS Stewart ’s crew lined the upper decks while bagpipers heralded their return.
The weather was poor, but 15 hardy Captain’s Circle members boarded a navy ferry at Birkenhead Point to enjoy a guided tour of Spectacle Island. Located on the Parramatta River, the island is the depository of over 500,000 artefacts, which represent every operation in the Royal Australian Navy’s 108-year history.
You too can be part of this special membership group and enjoy exclusive events. Captain’s Circle members invest $3,000 or contribute an annual instalment of $1,000 over three years. Funds provide vital support for the preservation and promotion of Australia’s rich maritime heritage. For more information, or to join, please visit sea.museum/support/donate/captainscircle or contact Marisa Chilcott, Foundation Manager, on 02 9298 3619.
The museum holds a rich archive of diaries recording voyages through the Suez Canal, which opened in 1869 to provide a more direct route from Europe to Asia via the Mediterranean and Red seas. To mark the canal’s 150th anniversary, curator Kim Tao shares an edited extract from the diary of Michael Walker, a 33-year-old chiropodist who emigrated from England in 1953 with his wife Mildred (aged 32), a teacher, and their children, Nicholas (five) and Elizabeth (three), on the P&O liner Maloja.
Tuesday 10th March 1953
Left Bristol [in south-west England] this morning on the 9.00am London train. Arrived at King George V Dock [in east London] at 2pm. Supposed to sail at 6pm but this later amended to 6.30 tomorrow morning. To bed early. Children most intrigued with sleeping in the bunks.
Wednesday 11th March
None of us had a very good night. Great activity on the dock –busy little tugs fussing around like hens with chicks. Cast off 6.45 and passed through locks, which took about an hour.
Thursday 12th March
Entered the Bay of Biscay at 6pm and celebrated by having roast pork for dinner and then dancing. Boat began to roll a little more. Dancing was rather difficult as one minute we would be going uphill and next we would be chasing downhill. I expect we shall get used to it.
Friday 13th March
Expected great things from the day and date, but the day passed quietly enough.
Saturday 14th March
There have been some cases of pilfering on board, so we must be careful to leave nothing lying about. Must let the purser have our cheques.
Sunday 15th March
Had best night so far. Summer dresses and shorts are beginning to appear and most people beginning to colour up. Saw land at about 9.30am on the port bow and this gradually increased until we entered the Strait of Gibraltar at 1.30pm.
Monday 16th March
I spoke too soon. There was quite a heavy sea last night and I became a victim at about 10.30pm. Children all ill this morning. Mildred, so far, has been unaffected. They are starting school for the children tomorrow and Mildred is volunteering to help.
Tuesday 17th March
Sea much calmer today. Came within sight of North Africa several times during the day and saw snow-capped peaks of the Atlas [Mountains] range.
Wednesday 18th March
Approached Malta at 4pm. Town [of Valletta] looked very battlescarred and seemed to be uninhabited until darkness fell and the lights came on. Heard today that the Captain had had a fall and is going ashore for x-ray – fractured ribs.
Thursday 19th March
Had a quick look at part of Valletta. Surprised how cheap a lot of things were – watches in particular. Some lace being made, most fascinating, but couldn’t afford to buy any. Sailed at 1.30pm having picked up 69 people bound from Malta to Australia.
Friday 20th March
Cloudy with a cold north-easterly wind and the sea becoming more and more rough. Didn’t feel too good after lunch. There has been quite a bit of ‘tummy trouble’ since we left Malta.
Saturday 21st March
Our cabin steward was most concerned about my sickness and laid down the law about what I should and should not eat. Hope to go ashore at Port Said [in Egypt] tomorrow.
Sunday 22nd March [Suez Canal]
Woke to the sound of capstans turning and found ourselves at anchor at Port Said. We were already surrounded by Arab rowing boats selling – or trying to sell – all sorts of stuff to the passengers. The boatmen threw ropes up to the passengers and they were used to pull up baskets with anything one wanted to buy. Most of the stuff looked very attractive at a distance but did not bear very close scrutiny. We only bought some small things – a wallet for Mildred, a fez each for the children and a hat for myself. We were rather disappointed that we were not allowed to go ashore. The Egyptian authorities would not recognise our Documents of Identity as they had no passport photograph on them.
We cast off at 1pm and started our slow, five miles per hour journey through the Suez Canal. On account of the wind we had to steer a zig-zag course through the canal to avoid being driven into the bank. The country on either side of the canal is very barren, especially on the east [Arabian side] where it is little more than desert. On the west [Egyptian side] it is a little more cultivated, with occasional clusters of Eucalyptus trees, bushes and Arab villages. At intervals down the canal are ‘gates’ – signal stations which control the passage of ships. Ships travel in convoy through the canal. If two convoys are in the canal at the same time, travelling in opposite directions, the smaller convoy has to pull into the side to let the larger pass; or else tie up while the larger convoy users pass by. We should take about 15 hours to get through the [193-kilometre] canal. Canal dues are terrifically high. For a ship the size of ours it costs something like 3,000 pounds to pass through. Even so it’s cheaper than going round the Cape [of Good Hope in South Africa].
Monday 23rd March
Went on deck and saw the town of Suez. A town of white buildings with the tall white minarets, from which the people are called to prayer. At 7.30am we came to the end of the canal and passed Port Tewfik.
Tuesday 24th March
Played off some rounds of sports competitions. Mildred and I had a win in the mixed quoits, but were both beaten in the singles. I won my game of darts. Heard today that Queen Mary had died. Were rather surprised that no public announcement was made on the ship. Mildred tried to explain to Nicholas how the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. Don’t think she made much headway.
Wednesday 25th March
A very hot day – about the hottest to date – and very little to look at except water! Elizabeth is still off her food and rather ‘grizzly’. This stifling heat is making us all a little irritable.
Thursday 26th March
Saw the lights of Aden [in Yemen] at about 7pm and anchored in the harbour at 8.30pm. Disembarked fairly soon and went ashore in motor launches. As eastern towns go, Aden is fairly clean, but one could still notice that strange, indefinable smell peculiar to towns and villages in the East. We got back to the quayside just after 11 and were entertained by small boys diving for coins. We learnt later that one such boy had been taken by a shark two nights previously.
Friday 27th March
The children on board are getting very noisy and out of hand. If it wasn’t for the school in the mornings it would be bedlam!
Saturday 28th March
Mildred and I were eliminated from the mixed quoits, Mildred lost her mixed tennis. I managed to get into the darts semi-final. Quite a lot of people sleeping on deck these nights, but we haven’t tried it yet. We think we would rather have the comfort of our bunks.
Sunday 29th March
Had our portholes opened at midday and were promptly swamped and had to have all our bedding changed. On our trip to the cabin our steward presented me with a bottle of Guinness. He seems to take a fatherly interest in us and loves the children.
Monday 30th March
Played my darts semi-final and was beaten. We are now five hours ahead of GMT [Greenwich Mean Time] – and have to go on another five before we reach our destination. We keep putting the clock back and imagining what they are doing at home or what we should have been doing if we were still there.
Tuesday 31st March
Started to write our mail in readiness for posting at Colombo [in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka] , which we reach on Thursday morning. Didn’t feel much like writing.
Wednesday 1st April
Still very hot and humid. The children and I are now sleeping with nothing on, and Mildred with just enough in case the steward walks in! I understand the Maloja has three more trips to do before she is broken up – if she lasts that long. She is really very comfortable though. The Captain, who fell down some steps and broke some ribs soon after we left Tilbury, is now fit again and back on duty.
Thursday 2nd April (Maundy Thursday)
Sighted the coast of Ceylon at 9.00am lying low on the horizon in a veil of mist. We were impressed by the greenness of the grass, trees and shrubs and when we passed the racecourse it might well have been a corner of England. Next land we sight will be Australia.
Friday 3rd April (Good Friday)
The children were a little ‘touchy’ today. Elizabeth is eating better again and is the better tempered of the two. The children have their meals separately and as there are 355 of them – more than I thought – this is probably a good thing.
Saturday 4th April
The highlight today was the ‘Crossing the Line’ ceremony. We actually crossed the line at 3.30am but King Neptune didn’t hold court until 10.30am. Several people went through the initiation ceremony, were plastered with flowers and water, and tipped into the pool.
Sunday 5th April (Easter Day)
Mildred went to Communion at 6.00am and I went at 7.00am. The Baptist minister preached and spoke at great length about nothing in particular. He is a missionary so perhaps we don’t understand his style.
Monday 6th April
I think we shall all be glad to get on dry land again. This is really the dullest part of the journey as we see no land at all from Colombo to Fremantle – over 3,000 miles [4,800 kilometres] It’s the children’s fancy dress party tomorrow and Mildred has been busy all day making costumes. Nicholas is going as Robin Hood and Elizabeth as a nurse. Had my fortune told. He said we would not settle in Sydney, but would make another short sea trip and then settle down. Mildred had hers told too and apparently is going to have another baby. Let me get a job first!
Tuesday 7th April
Went with a party from our dining room to visit the bridge. Saw the radar and navigation charts and asked what the crew probably thought were a lot of stupid questions. Children fancy dress in the afternoon. Nicholas was very upset because he didn’t win a prize, but soon got over it.
Wednesday 8th April
Spent part of the day getting our costumes ready. Mildred went as a window cleaner and I went as ‘got the sack and gone to the dogs’. The winners were two young fellows who wore sacks and were chained together as convicts and called themselves ‘Assisted Passage’.
01 Nicholas and Elizabeth Walker in Belrose, Sydney, 1960
02
Mildred and Michael Walker celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary in Belrose, Sydney, 1985
Thursday 9th April
After lunch Nicholas and I threw a bottle containing a letter off the stern of the ship. Our position was roughly 600 miles [1,000 kilometres] northwest of Fremantle. I wonder if the bottle will ever be found.
Friday 10th April
A lovely day again. Warm and sunny and we did some sunbathing. We haven’t done much up till now as until Suez it would be too cold and after Suez it was too hot.
Saturday 11th April – Arrived in Fremantle
The sun was coming up behind Fremantle and it was really a glorious sight. We had to be up early as we had to have a medical inspection to show none of us was showing signs of smallpox. It was only a case of filing past the doctor with arms bared to the elbow, so it did not take long. We were most impressed [with Perth]. Every house was different – none of the rows and rows of identical houses one sees in England.
Sunday 12th April
We went to Divine Service at 10.30am. Just as the service ended we passed the Mooltan, our sister ship, on her way home. Everybody rushed to the side and waved handkerchiefs and took photographs. The two ships dipped their flags in salute, but we passengers were most disappointed that there was no blowing of hooters or some such noisy salutation.
Monday 13th April
Nicky’s [sixth] birthday. Gave him a small present and one Mother gave us before we left. He was very thrilled to get a card from the Captain – all children who have birthdays on board get one. This has naturally been a rather quiet birthday for him. We must try to make it up to him when we land. We thought we might take him out to tea while we are at Melbourne.
Tuesday 14th April
Cold and grey today with occasional drizzle. The [Great] Australian Bight, of which we had heard such terrible things, has been very calm.
Wednesday 15th April – Adelaide
Adelaide arranged a heatwave in our honour. We docked in Outer Harbor at 8.15am. After lunch we caught the train into Adelaide. Every so often we would come to a level crossing which had no gates, but with a bell ringing frantically to warn motorists and pedestrians. The train made such a noise that they probably couldn’t hear the bell anyway.
Thursday 16th April
While we were sitting on the starboard side this morning we saw our first shark – at least we saw its dorsal fin which I suppose counts as seeing a shark.
Friday 17th April – Melbourne
Arrived at Melbourne at 8am. We found quite a nice little café and had a very welcome tea. Prices seem high at first, but as the prices shown on the menu include a pot of tea and as tipping is not generally practiced in Australia, it doesn’t turn out too badly.
Saturday 18th April
We had a couple of drinks with [passengers] Don and Joyce in the smoke room. Joyce gave us the creeps by telling us she had seen Don’s late father twice in their cabin during the trip. I hope her tales won’t keep us awake tonight.
Sunday 19th April
We had a magnificent send-off [from Melbourne]. Most of the people who had disembarked came down to see us off and I have never seen so many streamers in my life. There must have been hundreds of them and it was really a lovely sight.
Monday 20th April
Spent a good deal of the day sorting out and packing. This has been a most enjoyable trip on the whole. It is hard to believe that we shall be leaving the ship tomorrow. We shall then have to settle down and try to make some money and get the children to school.
We’re pleased to announce that the Welcome Wall is now open for new registrations. For more information and to register, visit sea.museum/ welcomewall
Tuesday 21st April 1953 – Sydney
Passed through the Heads – the entrance to Sydney Harbour –just after six o’clock. What we did see impressed us very much – wooded hills dotted with houses and many small inlets and bays. We first saw the famous Sydney [Harbour] Bridge at 7am. This harbour claims to be the finest and most beautiful natural harbour in the world and I should think the claim is justified. We docked at Woolloomooloo instead of our original berth at Pyrmont so did not pass under the bridge. We caught a taxi and drove to Manly via the bridge. Went to bed feeling very tired, but happy to be ashore. I hope I shall soon be able to fix myself up with a job.
Michael Walker worked as a chiropodist at Farmers department store in the city, while Mildred found a teaching position at Seaforth Public School in northern Sydney. Contrary to the shipboard fortune teller’s predictions, the Walker family settled in Sydney, living in the Northern Beaches suburbs of Manly, Fairlight, Balgowlah and Belrose. Michael later started his own chiropody business in the Trust Building in Sydney and Mildred was a principal at various schools in the city’s northern suburbs.
The author wishes to thank Michael’s daughter, Elizabeth Bissaker (née Walker), for permission to publish extracts from her father’s diary.
LIKE ME, MANY SIGNALS READERS will have entered the State Library of NSW – AKA Mitchell Library – through its classical northern portico of glowing Sydney sandstone, and then crossed the vestibule to the muted reading room that’s so solemn with generations of scholarship. We go to study, to research assignments, essays, articles, theses or books; sometimes merely to browse or even just to find peace and shelter from Sydney. Every time we do, we tread the cool marble and terrazzo of the entrance floor, but – if you’re like me – on most visits we scarcely register the huge map of an earlier, incompletely charted Australia that’s reproduced beneath our feet.
Its details are finely delineated by brass lines inset into marble, in a medium that might be as much cloissoné as it is mosaic –details such as the radiating compass roses or the elegant little cameos of sailing ships, or annotations in copperplate Dutch. If we’ve paused, we’ve probably noted the signage telling us it’s Abel Tasman’s map… and then marched straight on into the reading room.
Author Ian Burnet would like us to realise that the beautiful reproduction underfoot is what he considers to be Sydney’s greatest work of public art, of the indoors variety. Burnet has made the Library’s Tasman Map both the beginning and the end of his fifth book of regional history for interested but notnecessarily-academic readers – readers like most of you, and me.
Between these bookends he tells the story of how our variously named island continent – Terra Australis Incognita, Java Le Grande, t’Zuyd Landt, Hollandia Novia – took its physical, cartographic outline: from early, wildly speculative shapes unrelated to its actual dimensions, to the recognisable form of the Tasman Map in the Library’s vestibule floor. It’s a credible Australia, with just two big, speculative, uncharted arcs from mid-Bight to Tasmania, Tasmania to the east-coast tropics –arcs that nonetheless give a fair sense of the continent’s shape except for the missing Torres and Bass Straits.
Every contributing line of accurate, non-speculative cartography, and the 16 separate voyages on which they were made, were the work of Holland’s United East India Company (VOC) navigators
in the extraordinarily short period of 38 years, from 1606 to 1644, at the very beginning of the Dutch period of dominance of the East Indies (today’s Indonesia). This was at the same time that they were busy rooting out their Portuguese and Spanish rivals, to monopolise their most lucrative commodities: clove, nutmeg, mace, pepper and sandalwood. This was the global main game that had lured Europe’s seafarers to the ends of the world. European encounters with Australia can be considered an almost incidental consequence of it.
As with his previous books, Burnet provides a richly detailed but easily digested context for these big global movements involving the rising Catholic and Protestant maritime powers of western Europe, before going on to summarise all the players who contributed to that map in the library vestibule. There are those whom almost everybody knows – first-off-the-mark Willem Janzoon of the Duyfken; Dirk Hartog of pewter plate fame; Francois Pelsaert of the frightful Batavia tragedy. Lesser-known except to more dedicated history readers are the stories of Jan Carstensz attacked by Aborigines while charting the Gulf of Carpentaria; Frederick de Houtman at the treacherous West Australian Abrolhos reefs; Francois Thijssen sailing off-course on Gulden Zeepaard and charting Cape Leeuwin and half the Bight.
Of course Abel Tasman gets ample coverage, and so he should as the first European to find Tasmania and New Zealand. And as the first circumnavigator of Australia, if we count his huge loop in 1642–43 from Batavia to Mauritius, around the Southern and Pacific Oceans and back to Java via the north coast of New Guinea – because the strait sailed by the questing Spaniard Luis Vaz de Torres in 1606 was unknown to the Dutch. Tasman’s was nonetheless a circumnavigation, despite not once encountering the Australian mainland. On a subsequent voyage in 1644, however, he sailed on Australia’s north and north-west coasts. Throughout these readable accounts of daring, drama and hardships, scattered with pertinent quotes from the protagonists, Burnet keeps us in touch with the larger
The Tasman Map: The Biography of a Map – Abel Tasman, the Dutch East India Company and the first Dutch discoveries of Australia
By Ian Burnet,published by Rosenberg Publishing Sydney 2019. Softcover, 208 pages, colour illustrations, bibliography and index. ISBN 978-0-6484466-5-1
commercial and imperial games playing out through these voyages. That includes the abrupt end to this 38-year-long Dutch interest in exploring the potential of the huge southern land, when the directors of the VOC wrote to its GovernorGeneral Anthony Van Diemen to tell him that there was no longer any commercial interest in Nova Hollandia. ‘The gold and silver mines that will best serve Company prospects have already been found, which we deem to be our trade over the whole of the Indies.’
Just as fascinating as these voyages is Burnet’s account of how the Mitchell Library acquired two priceless treasures of Tasman’s contributions to Australian discovery. One of only two surviving hand-written copies of Tasman’s 1642–43 journal passed through the family of an early VOC investor and was sold to the Mitchell Library by a prominent Dutch bookseller in 1925.
The Bonaparte Tasman Map, acquired by the Mitchell Library in 1933, combined Tasman’s first and second voyages on delicate Japanese paper and was prepared in Batavia about 1644 for the directors of the VOC in Amsterdam. It passed through the hands of famous map keepers and cartographers before and after the VOC went bankrupt in 1799, ultimately being bought by Prince Roland, the grandnephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. Burnet’s book is essential reading just to learn of the unexpected role of Australia’s amazing desert-dwelling social worker for Aboriginal peoples, Daisy Bates, in bringing the Bonapartes and the Mitchell Library together.
The magnificent marble vestibule floor based on the Bonaparte Tasman Map was commenced in 1939 by master craftsmen using Wombeyan russet marble with a tone resembling the varnished paper of the original. It’s bordered by green and cream terrazzo with a surrounding mosaic floor of oceanic waves. Next time you visit the Mitchell Library, give it more attention. Or buy the book. Or both.
Reviewer Jeffrey Mellefont is an Honorary Research Associate of the museum and the former editor of Signals
Museum Director and CEO
Kevin Sumption PSM and Multicultural NSW CEO Joseph La Posta at the museum’s Welcome Wall on Pyrmont Bay. Image Andrew Frolows/ANMM
MULTICULTURAL NSW and the Australian National Maritime Museum have joined forces to look at ways of sharing the national migration story with the Australian public. The museum’s remit includes migration to and from Australia, which it fulfils through permanent and temporary exhibitions, education and research programs and its Welcome Wall, which pays tribute to those who have travelled thousands of kilometres to call Australia home.
Museum Director and CEO Kevin Sumption PSM notes that since 2017, telling Australia’s migration story has been a priority under the museum’s corporate plan and the museum is working diligently on several fronts to realise this:
The museum has ambitious plans in terms of expanding the way it tells and celebrates Australia’s migration story, so I am very excited to join forces with Multicultural NSW,
which has the knowledge and expertise to maximise opportunities and advise us on engagement with NSW communities. We’ll be working on a number of projects together, from exhibitions to community events
Multicultural NSW is the peak New South Wales Government agency representing the interests of diverse communities in the state to promote social cohesion and community harmony. Its CEO, Joseph La Posta, says:
The Australian National Maritime Museum is one of our national treasures. It documents just how embedded our maritime and migration history are. We look forward to working in partnership with the museum over the coming years to bring our migration stories alive and to ensure the evolving nature of our multicultural society is captured and documented
Recently the museum launched a Migration Heritage Fund to ensure that Australia’s migration stories are collected and told meaningfully and through the widest possible range of media. Funds raised will be used to strengthen museum visitors’ understanding of our migration heritage.
Story Michele Camilleri
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Signals
ISSN 1033-4688
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