Members news and events

A smorgasbord of offerings

Marking your membership with fine fare and new horizons

It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces at our annual Members Anniversary Lunch in December, and a huge pleasure to be able to hold this event again after 2020’s lunch was cancelled due to Covid-19. It was the perfect day to celebrate the museum’s 30th anniversary, and the perfect way to relaunch our Members program for the year ahead. By Matt Lee.

THE GUEST SPEAKER for our 30th anniversary lunch was Paul van Reyk, a Sydney food writer who entertained us with tales of Australia’s culinary history from his new book True to the Land – A history of food in Australia. Paul migrated to Australia from Sri Lanka in 1962 on the P&O liner Arcadia, as part of the diaspora of Sri Lankan burghers. As he is a migrant himself, it is not surprising that major themes in his book include the making of the Australian multicultural table and the roles migrants have played in producing our country’s food. Paul told us about Mak Sai Ying, the earliest recorded Chinese migrant to the colony of New South Wales, in 1818, who became the publican of the Golden Lion Hotel in Parramatta. When gold was discovered in the 1850s, Chinese flocked to the Victorian goldfields looking to make their fortune. Some opened cookshops and the flavours of Chinese food arrived in Australia. Some Chinese migrants went to the goldfields in Queensland and became the first to plant bananas and pineapples, crops that grew into major industries. In 1838, 200 Lutheran emigrants from Prussia landed in Adelaide. By 1900 some 18,000 German migrants had arrived in South Australia, where they began to farm and sell their traditional German crops and plant grape vines for home consumption. Today, the Barossa Valley is renowned both as a premier wine region in Australia and for its German cuisine.

Greeks arrived from the 1850s and opened fruit and vegetable shops, cake shops and oyster bars. Later they opened family-run cafés and imported soda fountains from America.

Pasta arrived in Australia as early as 1823, and Italian migrant Pietro Lucini was soon producing macaroni in Melbourne from Australian-grown wheat. The Italians also brought their coffee culture with them, and Rinaldo Massoni installed the first espresso coffee machine at the Café Florentino in Melbourne in 1929.

Paul went on to talk about the rise of Asian cuisine as the White Australia policy was phased out and migration from Asian countries increased. Many Australians developed a taste for Asian food from travels to the region, and soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War had enjoyed Vietnamese, Thai and Cambodian dishes, so Asian migrants now had a market to set up restaurants serving dishes from their homelands. It was a rich and fascinating talk, prompting the question ‘What is Australian cuisine?’ when Paul explained that the status of the Aussie meat pie as a national food is now challenged by the kebab wrap, Vietnamese pork roll and Portuguese grilled chicken. Food is always popular at our Members events and I’ll be looking to knit more culinary experiences into our program in the future.

A chef on a cruise liner tempts a passenger with a food platter, 1970s. ANMM Collection ANMS1424[034] Gift from P&OSNCo. Image © and reproduced courtesy of P&O Heritage

Making connections The last couple of years have been challenging for the museum, especially due to the two lockdown periods and the inability to offer many events or services. While we managed to hold a series of virtual events, nothing beats an in-person talk or an on-the-water experience. Although I have only recently taken over managing the Members program, I have been closely involved with our Members throughout my 27-year history at the museum in other roles. I remember fondly working closely with former Members managers Fran Mead, Adrian Adam and Di Osmond over the years, and I’ll be using all the things I learned from them to help me reshape our Members program and the range of events that we offer. In the next couple of months, we will be in touch with all our Members, asking them what they would like to see in our events. A Members program should not only be about connecting our Members with the museum and its collection, but also be a form of community, where they can meet like-minded people who share passions and interests in things maritime. There will be a range of talks by guest speakers on a wide selection of topics and themes. Obviously one of the major attractions of the museum is our fleet of floating vessels, so Members will find more opportunities to get out on the harbour and also to explore visiting ships and boats from other organisations. We are also planning a series of outings to historic sites and places of interest in a new series of ‘Meet the Neighbours’ events. You can find more information about the upcoming Members events on page 48. As the Covid-19 situation improves, we hope to soon re-open the Members Lounge.

The Chairman’s Circle

We are also putting together a series of VIP events for our Chairman’s Circle Members. These dedicated supporters of the museum and its Foundation assist us financially in maintaining and developing the National Maritime Collection. The Circle supports a range of activities each year. To join the Chairman’s Circle, members make an annual donation of $1,000 to the museum’s Foundation. In return, they receive invitations to meet our director, chairman and curatorial and collections staff, experience the museum after hours, go behind the scenes and attend exclusive VIP events. They are also recognised on the museum’s Supporters wall. To find out more about the Chairman’s Circle or to join, please contact me on 02 9298 3777 or email matt.lee@sea.museum. So to all our Members, remember to look out for a questionnaire asking for your feedback on the Members program and what you would like to see included – and together we can curate a series of events with something for everyone. I look forward to seeing you back at the museum in the near future.

Matt Lee, Manager – VIP Relations

True to the Land – A history of food in Australia by Paul van Reyk is published by Reaktion Books (2021). ISBN 9781789144062 RRP $50.00

Members event: Speakers talk The Australian navy in Antarctica 2–3.30 pm Thursday 31 March

Richard de Grijs tells how, after World War II, the Commonwealth government sought to establish a permanent base in the Australian Antarctic Territory and assert sovereignty. For their expedition vessel, they overhauled an old polar favourite, MV Wyatt Earp. Plagued by problems during the 1947–48 Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition, its crew turned a potential disaster into the navy’s first and only successful polar research expedition. Free for Members and their guests. Bookings essential; see below. Members event: Speakers talk Mutiny on the Bounty anniversary 2–3.30 pm Thursday 28 April

What led to the infamous mutiny aboard the Bounty? What actually took place that day, and why were William Bligh and 18 men cast adrift in an overcrowded open boat to fend for themselves? Join speaker Arthur Pearce to hear about one of the greatest feats of survival and endurance in modern history. Free for Members and their guests. Bookings essential; see below. Members event: Speakers talk Midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour 2–3.30 pm Tuesday 31 May

In late May 1952, three Japanese midget class submarines entered Sydney Harbour with a mission to attack and sink the Allied Fleet. Find out from Gillian Lewis how the attack was carried out by courageous Japanese naval personnel and why the harbour defences at the time were incomplete and inadequate. Free for Members and their guests. Bookings essential; see below.

Members event: Author talk The Tasman Map 2–3.30 pm Wednesday 7 April

Join author Ian Burnet as he discusses the history of the Tasman Map and how it arrived in Australia. This tale of the first Dutch voyages to encounter Australia is set against the background of the struggle of the newly formed Dutch Republic to gain its independence from the Kingdom of Spain, and the Dutch East India Company’s fight for trade supremacy in the East Indies against its Portuguese, Spanish and English rivals. Free for Members and their guests. Bookings essential; see below. Members event: Speakers talk Lusitania 2–3.30 pm Friday 6 May

Join us to hear the story of the Cunard Line’s RMS Lusitania – once the largest passenger ship in the world and holder of the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic in 1908. Just seven years later it was sunk by a German U-boat, influencing the USA’s decision to enter World War II. Free for Members and their guests. Bookings essential; see below.

To book Members events, email memberevents@sea.museum and tell us which event you wish to attend, and who is coming. Alternatively, you can phone 02 9297 3777. For all other events, please see our website for further details and how to book. Please note that other museum events, including family and children’s programs, were still being finalised as Signals went to press. Please check sea.museum or sea.museum/kids for details. All events are subject to NSW Covid-19 public health orders. For updates, please check our website at sea.museum.

Facsimile Tasman Map (detail), showing the results of Abel Tasman’s voyages of 1642–3 and 1644. State Library of New South Wales