Signals, Issue 82

Signals Number 82 March–May 2008

Your museum …

Sydney’s finest harbour-side venue Whatever you’re planning … a conference, meeting, product launch, party, cocktails or celebration, our helpful staff can prepare you an attractive package.

From our 220-seat theatre and Tasman Light Deck to the Terrace Room, Yots Café and HMAS Vampire and South Wharf, we’ve got history, style and views.

Signals

COVER: One of the little treasures of Bateaux Jouets – toy boats from Paris 1850–1950, our latest exhibition from France’s Musée national de la Marine. Dreadnought-style battleship Salamandre c1900, measuring 1.05 metres, was a steam powered toy equipped with a clockwork torpedo boat and manned by 32 wooden sailors. Reproduced courtesy of Musée national de la Marine ABOVE:

The museum’s Tu Do, which brought 31 Vietnamese refugees to Darwin in 1977, carried new citizens on a parade in Darling Harbour during Australia Day celebrations this year. It was Tu Do’s first outing under power since its recent restoration. Museum volunteer Bob Bright (RIGHT), formerly a marine engineer on the coastal trade, spent over two years restoring the vessel’s 33.56 kW, Korean-made Jinil diesel engine. The story will appear in a future issue of Signals. Photograph above courtesy Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority; right: A Frolows/ANMM

Australian National Maritime Museum’s quarterly magazine Number 82 March–May 2008

Contents 2

Taipan reincarnated Ben Lexcen’s radical 18-foot skiff sails again

10 Bateaux Jouets – toy boats from Paris 1850–1950 Rowboats to battleships bring memories of childhood dreams

16 Steel Beach – shipbreaking in Bangladesh All that remains is an oily stain on the beach

20 Members admire MV Cape Don Servicing lighthouses was the Don’s life work

21 Members message, events and activities Talks, tours, previews, cruises, films … autumn calendar for Members

26 What’s on at the museum Autumn exhibitions, events and activities for visitors, schools programs

30 Masses of MMAPSS The museum’s heritage grant scheme diversifies across the nation

34 Little Shipmates: seafaring pets A focus of affection when sailors are far from home

36 Faces from the Dunbar disaster New book by museum curator puts human faces to the tragedy

38 Tales from the Welcome Wall Storytelling, cooking and Uncle Antonio

40 Off-watch reading From Venus to Antarctica – biography of eccentric French explorer

42 Collections William Bligh’s signet ring and its Australian connection

44 Currents 48 From the Director

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reincarnated

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SIGNALS 82 SIGNALS 82March–May March–May2008 2008

The museum has completed its restoration of the revolutionary 18-foot skiff Taipan that changed Australia’s most famous racing class. Historic vessel specialist and museum curator David Payne describes the research and attention to detail that went into the project.

‘FREAK.’ ‘Cheat.’ ‘Poison.’ ‘Killer.’

‘It will ruin the skiffs.’ That was the crescendo of headlines about Taipan that were written by yachting and sports writers over the summer of 1959 and 1960. They were taking their lead from startled 18-foot skiff class officials whose ambling and conservative status quo had been knocked off its feet by this outlandish craft and its talented, impulsive young sailor, sailmaker and designer, 23-year-old Bob Miller. With Taipan, Miller changed the shape and performance of Australia’s famous 18foot skiff class forever. Later changing his name to Ben Lexcen, he would gain world fame as the designer of the wingedkeel 12-Metre yacht Australia II that snatched the 132-year-old America’s Cup from the USA in 1983.

The passage of time was to prove that Taipan was the opposite of all those defamatory headline tags. The outrageous, media-savvy speed machine that is the standard 18-foot skiff of 2008 has a DNA trail that leads directly back to Taipan. Back in 1959 Bob Miller’s creation was an emphatic design statement: super-light, streamlined, efficient, sporting next year’s look and handled by just three crew. You can say the same of today’s boats.

Taipan on the day of its official launching with John Bertrand at the helm, Carl Ryves on mainsheet and Dick Sargeant for’ard.

Photographer J Mellefont/ANMM

SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

Back in 1959 it was also widely believed that Taipan would fall apart within a month, and again the pundits were wrong.

Taipan survived, passing through many changes of ownership, with new rigs and other modifications added as the years went by. When Canberra-based Jim

Reeder donated Taipan to the newly inaugurated Australian National Maritime Museum in 1986, he outlined the work he had done to make the boat sailable. As well as his own modifications, it was clear that substantial changes to the deck, centreboard and transverse structure had taken place over a long period, indicating there was major work required to restore it to any earlier configuration.

The museum’s eventual restoration of Taipan was a very detailed process that used a cautious approach. It was managed throughout by head of conservation Jonathon London to the highest standards for a museum-quality project. The task began with a complete condition assessment of the existing hull and associated items by the independent, specialist heritage shipwright and conservator Michael Staples. Michael’s experience with historic 18-foot skiffs includes an acclaimed restoration of the 1919 18-footer Britannia, long a centrepiece of the museum’s largest gallery. His brief for Taipan was to itemise the structure and fittings, noting the materials used together with their condition, and to identify each item’s age and its status as an original inclusion or a later modification.

Concurrent research was undertaken by senior curator Daina Fletcher and curator of the Australian Register of Historic Vessels, David Payne, searching out any media reports, photos, plans or drawings of the boat from any period – but with special attention to the first year during which the skiff was raced. Its last owner Page 3

Jim Reeder had passed on all the information that he had collected when he donated Taipan. These included photocopied images of the boat from 1960, and despite their poor resolution a lot of detail could be determined. Some of the most significant images, providing important details of the layout, were found by Daina Fletcher in the Bob Lundie collection held by Sydney Heritage Fleet, the volunteer-based maritime history organisation that’s accommodated in this museum’s Wharf 7 Maritime Heritage Centre.

Other photos came to us from the noted New Zealand yachting and racing skiff historian Robin Elliott, or were found in

etc etc.’ It was important to the museum that a restored Taipan reflected this approach as well.

In tandem with the research a conservation plan was established, with the objective of determining what period the craft should be restored to, and how this could be done. This document then developed with the project, noting resources and recording decisions taken.

The conservation plan determined that Taipan should be restored to its configuration of February 1960, before it raced in the World Championships in New Zealand and before large holes were cut in its deck to satisfy interpretations of the 18-foot skiff class rules that were

All the documentation, evidence from the hull itself and details on the later plans showed a pattern of continual development by Miller contemporary newspapers or magazines reporting on Taipan and its early racing campaigns.

The only plan of Taipan was a single set of lines drawn by Bob Miller. No other plans were prepared. Norman Wright Junior, a principal in the Brisbane family boatbuilding business where Miller was working at the time, is reported to have said that the structure and configuration were ‘designed as we went, on scraps of paper and bits of wood’. Miller drew subsequent plans for 18-foot skiffs that were derived from Taipan, and copies of these plans became available from various sources, but they had to be used with caution. A review of all the documentation, evidence from the hull itself and details on the later plans showed a pattern of continual development by Miller. The brilliant young designer was always coming up with new ideas for construction and fittings. In many instances the later drawings were quite different from Taipan, and only a few details such as the mast spreader fitting and the fences and endplate on the rudder were replicated from these later drawings for our restoration project.

applied to Taipan for that championship.

When the skiff left Sydney for Auckland on the MV Wanganella, Taipan had been sailing for three months and had just won the Queensland State titles, in January 1960. A number of changes had taken

place which corrected faults and improved the original structure or layout.

It was this configuration that was seen to best represent the craft as Miller intended it to be.

It was also agreed after much discussion that, if the remaining original hull structure was considered strong enough, then Taipan should sail again to show how it performed. With no other skiffs of its type surviving from that period, this would be a wonderful demonstration of how different the boat was. It would give us the opportunity to assess the effectiveness of the restoration and if necessary to fine-tune elements of it. And it would offer the museum an excellent opportunity to thank the generous donors who had funded the restoration, by staging a public media event.

Before any significant restoration was begun, preliminary plans of the hull shape, the hull construction, layout, spars, appendages and sail plan were hand drawn by David Payne. They were developed from a careful examination of the historic images, details and dimensions noted in contemporary articles on Taipan, and evidence from the hull. Some of the structure identified as post-1960 was partially removed and this

Two consistent themes emerged from these sources: light weight and simplicity.

Miller even wrote on one plan, ‘Important. This is an ultra light displacement boat and every care must be taken to keep the weight down to a max of 200 lbs [90 kg]. Don’t hesitate to drill holes in ply frames or back of stem …

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BELOW TOP: Sole plan of Taipan by Bob Miller, with a note by Norman Wright Jnr confirming the plan and design was drawn by Miller.

BELOW BOTTOM: Plan of the restored hull by the museum’s David Payne.

OPPOSITE: Blueprint plan by Bob Miller for a Taipan-style skiff, prepared

after Taipan became a success. All plans from ANMM collection

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THIS PAGE: Authentic period fittings include mainsheet blocks by

Australian manufacturer Ronstan and a bronze sheet winch drilled out to provide incremental weight savings. Photographer A Frolows/ANMM OPPOSITE: On the wind with crew on trapeze: 1959 with Bob Miller at

the helm (photographer unknown); 2007 with Carl Ryves at the helm (photographer J Mellefont/ANMM).

revealed more details of original structure or its location. The preparation of the plans was an essential task. It established on paper what the finished vessel should look like, allowing the builders to carefully estimate what they needed and organise a sequence to achieve this.

The preliminary drawings were then reviewed by a team who all brought specialist knowledge to the task. Simon Sadubin and Bob McLeod of Sydney Harbour Wooden Boats are specialist heritage shipwrights who were commissioned to restore the hull and rig.

The project’s special advisor Carl Ryves was a very close friend of Bob Miller who, like Ryves, was a champion and Olympic yachtsman. Ryves had sailed Taipan to victory in a famous challenge on Botany Bay in Sydney in 1960. Brian Hamilton and Norman Wright III were former Taipan crew members who had also helped build the skiff in Brisbane.

They were particularly helpful in elucidating a number of details that were not visible on any photos, such as the mast step. The builders’ recollections and Carl Ryves’s clear thoughts on how Page 6

Bob Miller designed structures and fittings enabled the missing parts to be drawn out in their most likely configuration for the period.

The research, drawing and review process between museum staff, the restoration shipwrights and advisors continued throughout. Further examination of the hull by the shipwrights and constant rechecking of the images sometimes revealed a significant detail that had not been previously determined, and the same procedure often suggested minor changes to items before they were fabricated.

This process forms a blueprint of how to achieve an accurate restoration. It is worth noting, too, the importance of the timing of the project, which gave access to people who were around when the boat was being built and sailed. Left too long, this information is lost and it becomes much harder to make an accurate reconstruction of the boat and its rig.

Evidence of Taipan’s original configuration came from the hull itself in different ways. Early on it was clear that some of the original web-frames were

still in place, and they showed how the transverse structure had been fabricated.

It was also clear that the web-frames had been cut back in part. Our intention was to retain any original structure, so rather than replacing the entire web, a piece was joined on to bring it back to the original shape.

At some unknown point a new deck had been installed in place of the original.

When this was removed by our shipwrights, one complete and original deck beam remained intact, close to the stem. When compared with evidence from photos it became the blueprint for re-creating the remaining forward deck beams. On the inside of the hull all the cleats for the deck beams remained intact, indicating the original deck beams’ location. There was a change in cleat configuration for the side-deck beams, indicating a slight change in the beam structure. This confirmed other documentary evidence that also suggested such a difference.

On the hull a crucial type of evidence for the layout was found in discolourations or SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

markings left behind where original structures had been attached, ensuring that items went back in exactly the same place. The most obvious were the glue markings for the cleats at the chines, used to connect the laminated beam and

research images, so the same type of plate and its location could be replicated exactly and confidently. Careful examination of the many holes drilled out to lighten the quarter knee showed two that matched the location of the spinnaker

Taipan was a show-off, chased by a flotilla of media and private craft and replicas of the type of skiff it had consigned to history brackets at the centre-case to the hull.

The butt joints in the plywood hull planking were apparent on many of the contemporary photos and gave a clear reference point for the relative location of some structure. They were vital in determining the exact location of the mast step.

Even original fitting holes were uncovered by the restoration shipwrights and reused. Removing fibreglass sheathing from the chine revealed the plugged holes in the chines and stringers for the original shroud plates. Plates were visible in that location in one of our SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

sheave fastenings, so those fittings could go back exactly as before.

The many research images could be put into date sequence and indicated that changes had been made during that first season. Small details showed up, such as where additional cleats had been added, and a major change was noted at the mast partners. This then suggested that the structure around the mast step had been modified at an early point, explaining why six frames could be seen in contemporary photos rather than the five that were originally noted in early press reports.

While the original materials used were well documented, it was not possible to source some of them today and as a result appropriate equivalents were used in their place. Australian plantation-grown hooppine plywood was used for the new hull structure in place of the original klinki plywood from Papua New Guinea, which has not been readily available for at least two decades. The deck was rebuilt using a Fijian mahogany plywood that was stained to replicate the stained klinki plywood decks from 1959. The original deck had been stained to look like a more fancy and expensive Australian red-cedar plywood, and this approach was repeated in the reconstruction. Bunya pine had been used in 1959 for the spars, but it was now impossible to source it at an appropriate quality. The new spars were shaped instead from spruce, giving a similar weight and colour, but providing extra strength compared to the original sections. This was a useful safety factor to have for the sailing trials.

The new mainsail and jib were made in Queensland by Jack Hamilton, who had been a contemporary sailmaker to Miller,

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and had even made sails for Taipan when it raced in Sydney as Jantzen Girl and then Glamel in the early 1960s. The two spinnakers were made by 12-foot skiff sailor Ben Gemmell at his Sydney loft.

Rather than create them the modern way with computer software, Gemmell looked up texts and information on the design of sails in that period, including the popular Herbulot or chevron-cut style (named for its inventor, French naval architect J J Herbulot) used for the big parachute spinnaker. Gemmell and his apprentice then went down on hands and knees onto the loft floor to lay out the design in the traditional manner, just as Miller would have done in 1959.

Fittings on Taipan in 1960 were a mixture of custom-made and commercially available stock fittings. The stock fittings were sourced by the restoration shipwrights starting with a review of catalogues from the late 1950s. Once they had identified a number of likely fittings from the catalogues, they searched their own and other people’s collections of old sheaves, shackles, eye plates, saddles and so on, until a complete set was assembled.

Sailing was in Bob Miller’s blood and restoring and sailing Taipan was a means towards a better understanding of his creativity. You can do all the numbers, draw it, build it so it matches the boat in

A crucial type of evidence for the layout – discolourations or markings left behind where original structures had been attached This included a beautiful brass snubbing winch, generously donated by Peter Gossell of the Wooden Boat Association of NSW. The custom-made fittings on the mast were produced in the way they would have been made originally. The concept was sketched out as a drawing and the builders then created cardboard templates on the spar for an exact fit. The templates were then used to create the final metal fitting, which was drilled out as per the instructions from the post-Taipan plans drawn by Miller in 1960.

In 1959 signwriter Howard Lambourne had helped paint the hull and painted the name on the sides. He happily came down from Brisbane to do the signwriting again 48 years later. Putting on the finishing touches, Carl Ryves and one of his former hands on the Flying Dutchman class Sidewinder, Olympic Gold medalist Dick Sargeant, came down and spent a morning going over sheet and halyard ends and other small details so that they were done in a fashion that was typical of 1960.

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the picture, but to really prove the reconstruction is successful the boat has to feel right in its element.

The key to Taipan was its ability to plane across the waves; it was light, responsive, quick to accelerate, delicate and balanced.

All this came out when it was re-launched and headed off in a light-to-moderate north-east breeze on Sydney Harbour early in October 2007, on its first sail trial. With Carl Ryves steering, Dick Sargeant forward and David Payne on sheet it all came together in the first gust that saw two crew on trapeze and Taipan leaping ahead to be planing upwind.

Details of the sail shape, rig tension, mast bend, boom bend, and the trim of the hull all matched with what was seen on the images. Most importantly no weaknesses showed up, it felt smooth and controllable, easy on the tiller, and it was a delight to sail.

This was repeated on 18 November 2007 when the legendary John Bertrand, America’s Cup-winning skipper of Australia II, took the helm for the hugely successful public re-launch of Taipan at

ANMM senior curator Daina Fletcher and curator of the museum’s historic vessels register, David Payne (both in red), discuss the restoration with heritage shipwrights Bob Macleod and Simon Sadubin (in blue).

Photographer A Frolows/ANMM

Chowder Bay on Sydney Harbour. It was Taipan’s 48th birthday. In perfect conditions Taipan was a show-off, chased by a flotilla of media and private craft and joined by replicas of the type of skiff it had consigned to history, providing a perfect contrast to the nimble Taipan.

This was also the day when the new parachute spinnaker was trialled for the first time, and as it ballooned out Taipan ran off downwind cantering over the choppy water.

Meanwhile a fleet of 20 or so modern 18-foot skiffs were being rigged in Double Bay for their club race later that afternoon. Far from being the renegade boat that destroyed the class, Taipan was the boat that turned down the path that led to those skiffs. As it rode with the wind and waves under its red and black spinnaker, Taipan also showed an attribute that was completely ignored when it was launched: this was a boat with poise, capable of rising above the controversy it created.

In the winter edition of Signals David Payne will explore the nature of Taipan’s designer Bob Miller, a unique Australian talent; investigate the processes and influences that led to the skiff’s design and building; and introduce some of the people who were involved.

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A stunning new exhibition from France’s Musée national de la Marine shows off a century of toy boats that will intrigue the children and delight the child in many adults – as well as pleasing aficionados of highly collectable industrial arts in its many forms. They are introduced by Antonia Macarthur.

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SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

AS RATTY said to Mole in The Wind in the Willows, ‘There is nothing – absolute nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.’ He could have added that the other half of the thing most worth doing was ‘simply messing about’ with toy boats.

torpedo boat and has a crew of 32 removable wooden sailors. Such is the variety of these ingenious toy boats.

Our new exhibition, Bateaux Jouets – toy boats from Paris 1850–1950, developed in conjunction with the Musée national de la Marine, reflects Ratty’s sentiments and covers 100 years of toy-boat development. It is guaranteed to enthrall children and adults alike. Most of us have sailed a toy boat as a child, even if it was only a home-made paper boat in the bath.

Here are 200 of them being shown for the first time in Australia.

A unique short film featuring conversations with the toys themselves is shown in the exhibition. Le jouet reflet de son temps (‘the toy reflects its times’) was made by the French illustrator and collector Jan Remise, who in the early 1960s produced a television series on how to make toys. This led to a passion for mechanical toys and with Jean Fondin he published The Golden Age of Toys in 1968. Most of the toy boats in our exhibition are from an extremely extensive collection recently sold by Monsieur Remise to the Musée national de la Marine.

The toy boats range from the earliest tin toys made by individual craftsmen, to the more sophisticated mechanical vessels mass produced in large factories in Germany and France. A fisherman sits at the tiller moved along by a rubber band; a steamboat with two circling aeroplanes can be pushed on wheels; two porcelain dolls gently row up the river by clockwork, which also propels the SS Leviathan. The huge battleship Salamandre – it appears on the cover of this issue of Signals – measures 1.05 metres and is steam-propelled by an eight-atmosphere engine with a manometer or pressure gauge. It also features a small, clockwork-powered

Between 1850 and 1950, Western Europe changed from an agricultural society into an industrial one, and the rapidly escalating production of manufactured and then mass-produced goods came to include toys – things that had only ever been made individually by amateurs or artesans. With the movement of workers from the countryside to the towns and cities to work in the factories, there was a parallel growth in urban development.

New parks were created with artificial rivers, lakes and ornamental ponds, and soon walking in the park and sailing toy boats became popular pastimes for workers in often-crowded urban conditions.

TOP: Children’s games, Francois-Louis

Lanfant de Metz (1814-1892).

Oil on panel, 19th century ABOVE: Teenager with his Meccano cruiser,

by Rodolphe Ahlerp. Photo postcard, 1929 LEFT: A canopied leisure paddle steamer; clockwork, German, late-19th century.

All photographs reproduced courtesy Musée national de la Marine; toy photography by Arnaud Fux.

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This was a period of revolutionary technology driven from its beginnings by steam engines, and of course the knowledge of this technology was applied to designing and building bigger and better naval ships and passenger liners.

These amazing new vessels frequently

public’s fascination with the real ones.

Their growing popularity is apparent in the proliferation of toy factories in France alone, where they increased sevenfold in 30 years. The general public could not get enough of them and images of small children playing with toy boats in the sea,

A fisherman sits at the tiller moved along by a rubber band; two porcelain dolls gently row up the river by clockwork appeared on the front pages of newspapers and magazines, enthralling the public with their grandeur, power and unprecedented speed. There was fierce competition to break speed records on the lucrative transatlantic passenger route between Europe and New York, also making headlines. The quest for speed records became an end in itself as the internal combustion engine developed and led to the invention of powerboats designed purely to race or set records.

Toy manufacturers were quick to see the opportunities these ships and, later, speedboats presented, and they produced a wide range of toy boats to reflect the Page 12

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE:

A clockwork engine and chain works the rower’s oars. French late-19th–early-20th century.

Tin steam launch. Rubber band propels the toy and moves the pilot’s arm and tiller back and forth. Fernand Martin France 1893 Ram-bow torpedo boat modelled on the first ones built is probably the only one of its kind.

Carved wooden hull, tinplate and ferrous metals, steam-powered. France 1880–90 German manufacturer Bing produced passenger liner SS Léviathan in various sizes, from 20 to 100 cm. 1915–27, length 51 cm

on lakes or in tubs quickly became one of the clichéd images of childhood.

This growth was made possible, in large part, by the development of accurate machine tools and a new manufacturing material, tinplate. Milling innovations allowed iron and then steel to be produced in very thin, easily workable sheets, while plating it with tin prevented the natural rusting of untreated steel when exposed to normal humidity. Tinplate was cheap to produce, could be cut quickly by machine and stamped with designs before painting, making mass production possible. Malleable tinplate could be bent into an infinite variety of shapes, which

was ideal for the intricate new ship designs. Colours and designs could be printed directly on sheets of tinplate.

By the end of the 20th century, specialist toy manufacturers were producing very high quality toy boats indeed. The legendary French company, Radiguet, made zinc boats with elegant black and gold hulls, exposed pressurised-steam engines, mahogany decks and brass fittings. The names of Barré, Jouet de Paris, Heller & Coudray, Märklin, Carette and Schoenner are today familiar to toyboat enthusiasts and collectors SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

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worldwide. Closely following new designs and technology, one manufacturer made a toy speedboat in 1909 modeled on the new mass-produced speedboats that had competed that year at the famous race meeting held at Monaco.

The steam engine is the only mechanical propulsion system to have been used to drive both real ships and toy ones. In the latter case it generally took the form of a fixed-cylinder or oscillating-cylinder engine, powered by steam under pressure from a boiler heated by an alcohol burner – which sounds rather dangerous by modern standards. This was a powerful engine that could keep a large toy boat running for nearly half an hour. A far simpler and cheaper variant of an external combustion engine was the ‘putt-putt’ or steam jet engine. A candle heated a chamber and pressure differentials drew in water and expelled jets of steam with

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT:

The Espana clockwork tin boat with flying planes, Spain c1930.

Le Hoche, squadron battleship from a cardboard construction kit by Imagerie d’Epinal Pellerin, France, after 1887.

Speed boats from bottom: 1 clockwork German 1920; 2 & 3 non mechanised racers France 1930; 4 clockwork German 1905.

Exhibition developed in collaboration with Musée national de la Marine

SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

a satisfying staccato popping noise.

Simplest of all were toys with propellers rotated by twisted rubber bands.

A long-standing rival of the steam engine was the cheap and sturdy clockwork or spring-powered motor, which eventually overtook steam in the first half of the 20th century. Electricity was used as early as 1882 but was difficult to maintain, and it was not until the 1950s, with the development of small dry batteries, that toy boats driven by tiny electric motors became available to everyone.

their boats go down. Children and their parents still sail their boats on the Round Pond, sharing it with the famous Model Yacht Sailing Association which started in 1876 and still races most Sundays. The fascination of ‘simply messing about’ with toy boats continues unabated.

The toys in our exhibition are all drawn from the Musée national de la Marine, whose curator Annie Madet travelled to Sydney for the exhibition’s opening. This is the second major exhibition that the Australian National Maritime Museum

The steam engine is the only mechanical propulsion system to have been used to drive both real ships and toy ones Collectors continue to search for these well-loved ghost ships of childhood.

Worn and rusted, dented and disjointed, they can be found in jumble sales, opshops, stalls and auctions, while a search on the internet will list hundreds of thousands of hits for toy boats. One unusual hoard of toy boats was found in 1970 in Kensington Gardens, London, when the famous Round Pond was drained for cleaning. More than a dozen sad, sunken wrecks appeared in the mud, conjuring up long-ago scenes of heartbreak and tears as children watched

has embarked on in collaboration with the Musée national de la Marine. The other was Génies de la Mer – masterpieces of French naval sculpture, a stunning collection of beautifully crafted sculptures that adorned French royal and naval vessels from the 17th to 19th centuries.

Bateaux Jouets – toy boats from Paris 1850–1950 has been generously supported by sponsors Specific Freight and Cathay Pacific Cargo (see sponsors story on page 47). The exhibition opens on Thursday 20 March and runs until 17 August 2008.

Sponsored by

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Steel Beach Shipbreaking in Bangladesh

Our latest photographic exhibition portrays an industry that’s a danger to both its workers and the environment.

Guest photographer Andrew Bell relates the impressions he gathered while working on this striking portfolio.

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SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

AT LOW TIDE, the vast mud flat of the Bay of Bengal is almost apocalyptic.

Unwanted oil tankers, passenger liners and fishing boats dot the world’s largest river delta like beached leviathans, the monolithic steel forms turning coastal idyll into industrial wasteland. Around 40,000 workers toil with blowtorches, hammers and brute strength on the steel carcasses, recycling everything on the ship as well as the ship itself. This rather surreal industry is in Bangladesh, on a stretch of beach about 25 kilometres long near the town of Sitakunda.

Bangladesh is a Sunni Muslim country that was formerly known as East

Pakistan. It was created in 1947 with the partition of British India into the separate states of India and Muslim Pakistan, the latter comprising two widely separated, culturally distinct parts, East and West Pakistan. Bangladesh, the eastern portion, gained independence in 1971 after a bloody war with Pakistan.

Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world, one of the poorest and, according to the UN, one of the most corrupt. In a land where unemployment is 40 percent and safe working conditions are a luxury, it’s little surprise that those working in these grim shipyards consider themselves lucky to be there. Eighty percent of the population live on less than two dollars a day in an underdeveloped economy where the biggest currency note in circulation equates to about 12 Australian dollars. There are approximately 65 separately owned scrap yards functioning simultaneously on the SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

25-kilometre coastal stretch – it’s big business but minimal workers’ rights.

The work, needless to say, is extremely dangerous. Basic safety equipment such as hard hats, gloves, boots or goggles are in most cases unheard of and insurance is a foreign concept. Since the industry is not officially recognised by the government, there are no policing entities to enforce codes of practice. Politicians and government employees hold financial stakes in the shipyards, further isolating workers who are pushing for change.

(Bangladeshis are very engaged in politics, which can often result in ‘hartels’ or strikes.)

OPPOSITE: Workers at the end of the night shift

carry empty drums out to the hulks, to fill with waste oil.

LEFT: Yard owners inspect progress of breaking

up a tanker.

BELOW: A night watchman keeps warm

by a fire of solid oil.

All photographs copyright Andrew Bell www.andrewbell.net.au

Breaking a sizeable ship takes about six months, until all that remains is an oily stain on the beach Explosions due to gas build-up and falling steel are among the dangers workers face, along with other chemical perils that have not been dealt with effectively. Most other countries have banned work on ‘raw’, untreated tankers.

In India, for example, the Gujarat Pollution Control Board monitors the removal of toxic and hazardous material from foreign vessels before dismantling.

Bangladesh remains one of few countries without regulation of the industry by government departments.

Approximately 600 serious accidents occur every year, around 20 resulting in death. A single explosion in 2004 killed six workers. Typically a family may

receive the equivalent of $300 for the death of a worker but this is highly variable as the payoffs depend wholly on the sympathies of shipyard owners.

Hiring labourers through contractors, the owners seem legally untouchable.

Someone with a contract to deliver tons of steel from the hulk to a truck will employ labourers by the day, distancing the yard from employer responsibilities and making legal action futile.

While there have been a few critical media reports, one by the BBC in 2002 and another by Radio France, this exposure has been catalyst to minimal change. A ‘model yard’ was set up – it was called PHP, standing for peace, Page 17

TOP: On a rainy morning workers arrive for a 12-hour shift.

ABOVE: After a night shift on the ships.

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happiness and prosperity – but the biggest change was the tightening up of security.

Yard owners simply barred the gates and turned away visitors, particularly those with foreign faces and carrying cameras or recording devices.

Up until the early 1970s, old or uneconomical ships might sometimes be scuttled at sea, so initially the Bangladesh scrap merchants got them for free. All they had to do was take them away.

This has changed with stiff competition in the scrap trade from India, Turkey,

third of his wage is spent on food and bedding, the rest is sent home to support his family.

Breaking a sizeable ship takes about six months, until all that remains is an oily stain on the beach; the entire ship is recycled. As the ship gets lighter, large anchor winches on land haul the hulks with the tide towards the yards.

Scrap dealers and sellers are invited to tender for the components. High-value items such as lifeboats, electronics,

Explosions due to gas build-up and falling steel are among the dangers workers face, along with other chemical perils

Pakistan and China, so that a large tanker now costs millions of dollars. Ship purchases are typically financed by bank loans commanding 15% interest. A yard owner hopes to make around 10% of the purchase price, and the growing interest bill drives the yards to operate seven days a week (although many workers take off Fridays for prayers).

A larger yard employs around 700 workers, 300 of whom work a night shift when darkness compounds the risk of dangerous work conditions. Shifts start at 8 am and 8 pm, a 12-hour shift earning an average wage of about US$2. A ‘lifter’ will earn less and a supervisor a little more. A typical example would be a boy who is around 14 years old, from the north-west of Bangladesh. He cuts steel in the shipyards 12 hours a day, seven days a week. For those from this poor rural area, the pay is far superior to existing agricultural labour opportunities. About a SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

furniture and kitchen fittings are keenly sought after. Passenger liner furniture is valued for its quality; there is even an industry making fake ship furniture to take advantage of this demand. Heavy mechanical equipment from the engine room, as well as pipes, portholes, switches, railings and ladders, are all hot numbers.

Electronic utilities such as wire, light bulbs and any bolts or screws that can be undone are also salvaged. Even the oil from the bottom of sumps and bilges is removed and sold as fuel, to fire bricks.

Reduced to bare metal, the hull is cut into manageable pieces and loaded into trucks.

About 80% of Bangladesh’s steel needs are met from the ships. Most is melted down to make steel for the construction industry, but some is also used for truck bodies.

Bangladesh is a country that has had much more than its share of famine,

floods and bad luck. The daily newspapers are filled with stories of terrorist bomb attacks, extremist executions, crime, corruption and a horrific road toll. Using any sort of road transport is a nerve-racking experience.

Adhering strictly to a right-of-way rule – the bigger the vehicle, the more rights the driver commands – adds a certain electrical charge to every journey. Adding to the road toll are those drivers who have survived an accident but were cornered by angry bystanders. Accident reports often end by stating either that the driver escaped the scene, or was beaten to death by an angry mob with no faith in the nation’s legal system.

Among this chaos (to which there is a certain rhythm) many outsiders feel that

the shipbreaking industry has to be stopped, but there are many more issues apart from safety and pollution (visit www.greenpeaceweb.org/shipbreak/ bangladesh.asp). Many families rely on these jobs as their only means of support and no one is offering an alternative.

Perhaps if the government and yard owners followed the Indian example, a safer work environment with less pollution could turn a fringe activity into a bona fide industry the benefits of which were more widely spread.

The exhibition Steel Beach – Shipbreaking in Bangladesh is on view in the Tasman Light gallery until 30 March 2008.

ABOVE LEFT: Night shift workers cut the steel

sections of a ship.

ABOVE RIGHT: Recycled toilets and sinks are

sold to builders and renovators.

Page Page 19 19

Members admire MV Cape Don ANMM Member and maritime researcher Randi Svensen found our tour of the sole surviving Cape Class lighthouse tender a nostalgic reminder of vanished seagoing lifestyles and livelihoods.

ANMM MEMBERS braved intense Sydney summer heat at the old Waverton coal wharf for a tour of the only remaining Cape Class lighthouse tender still afloat, MV Cape Don, currently under restoration by the MV Cape Don Society. A ship built as recently as 1963 may not sound historic to everyone but Cape Don is significant because she represents the end of the era of small, Australian-built ships – ones that looked like real ships – before containerisation and boxy car carriers became the norm, and before Australian shipbuilding and seafaring began their sad decline.

Built for the Commonwealth Lighthouse Service at the Newcastle State Dockyard to service navigational equipment around Australia, especially lighthouses, Cape Don transported officials and lighthouse keepers and their families, as well as equipment and supplies. The derrick on her foredeck was capable of lifting a bulldozer ashore for building road access

to lighthouse sites. The 74.25 metre (243 feet) ship became redundant when lighthouses were automated in the 1980s.

After morning tea in the comfortable saloon we followed our guide, chief engineer Tim Elderton, first to the bridge and then down steep companionways to the lower decks of the ship. After an engine-room inspection, we snaked down passageways to peek into onboard life in the 1960s. The basic but comfortable cabins for the 39 crew all had portholes, while accommodation for the 12 VIP passengers was nothing short of luxurious. The well-preserved fitout of solid varnished timber and 60s-era fittings made it easy to imagine the passengers and officers dressed for dinner, making their way to the saloon for sumptuous meals prepared in the well-equipped galley below, and sent up to the dining saloon via a dumb-waiter.

Funds are being raised for Cape Don to be slipped and made seaworthy before the

final stages of restoration are tackled.

When she’s back in survey the society has a variety of plans for her including training maritime apprentices and humanitarian work. When in port, she’ll be a floating museum based, they hope, at the Waverton wharf. Projects are already being mooted, such as a voyage to the Gulf of Carpentaria to install water purification plants for remote settlements, and searching for a lost Spanish settlement on the island of Espiritu Santo.

Meanwhile, she’s already in use for corporate and social functions and for reasonably priced overnight sleepovers for enthusiasts.

The Don has also been enlisted as a training venue for a number of Federal bodies, including Customs whose sniffer dogs hone their skills on board. Others train in stowaway detection while Defence force personnel can sometimes be seen abseiling on the ship’s hull in boarding exercises. Young volunteer Lachlan Stewart-Baker, a 20-year-old sailing rigger, recounts waking in the middle of the night to find a gun-toting trainee running down the corridor in a border protection exercise by an organisation too hush-hush to be named.

The ship’s happy band of volunteers is looking for funding and welcomes new members, those with trade skills or just plain enthusiasm. With support she will again be a productive ship and she’ll also join vessels like Lady Hopetoun and John Oxley as a living record of Australia’s working maritime heritage for future generations. There’s information at www.mvcapedonsociety.org.au.

ABOVE: MV Cape Don Society volunteer Nigel

Williams was the radio operator in the 1970s when Morse code was still in use.

LEFT: Restoration candidates MV Cape Don and

Manly ferry Barragoola share a berth at the old Waverton coal-loading dock. Photographs by Randi Svensen Page 20 20 Page

SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

Message to Members From Members manager Adrian Adam

Members service coordinator Claire Palmer plumbs the engine-room depths aboard MV Cape Don during a popular Members tour of the old lighthouse service tender, learning about the restoration plans of the MV Cape Don Society (story opposite page).

Photographer Randi Svensen

A BIG WELCOME to all those new Members who joined the museum over the busy holiday season. I hope the year is progressing well for all our Members. There is much to admire about what’s on offer at the museum this year and I urge you all to come along and be inspired by our exhibitions, join in and have some fun at the many programs and events to be held here.

On the exhibition front we are excited about Bateaux Jouets – toy boats from Paris 1850–1950 which opens in March. It features toy boats that were inspired by 19th and 20th-century developments in steam navigation, transatlantic liners, battleships and speedboats – but don’t be fooled, this is an exhibition for the big kids too! It’s an amazing collection. The exhibition was developed in collaboration with Musée national de la Marine in Paris. Also winding along is The River – Life on the Murray–Darling, an exhibition that looks at the continent’s largest river system and how it has become part of an Australian identity. Thankfully there’s a bit more water in the system with the recent rains …

Later in the year, look out for Great White Fleet, an exhibition to mark the 100th anniversary of the visit of the great US Pacific fleet to Australia in August 1908. It was a huge event at the time, and a precursor to the alliance that would grow between the USA and Australia. An exhibition that will appeal to the traveller in all of us will be Trash or Treasure: souvenirs of travel, opening mid-year. It’s a history of travel souvenirs collected during wartime, holidays, long sea voyages and religious pilgrimages, exploring the personal memories that souvenirs evoke. Another special exhibit, On the waterfront, will open in September with an interactive look at life around the working harbour shores of Sydney at the turn of the 20th SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

century – completely unrecognisable from our gentrified modern waterfront.

There will be a wealth of events, lectures and tours to lure you this year and I do encourage you to make the most of your membership and join in. Two of them are inspired by 20th anniversaries dating from that very big year, 1988.

One was the arrival at the museum of the patrol boat HMAS Advance, 20 years ago this May. The other was the triumphant return of Kay Cottee on 5 June 1988 after her record-breaking solo circumnavigation. Kay went on to become chairman of this museum (1995–2001) and her yacht Blackmore’s First Lady is a centrepiece of our largest gallery. To find out how to be involved see the anniversary events and other Members activities in the pages overleaf.

The submarine HMAS Onslow will disappear into dry dock at Garden Island for most of May as she receives much-needed maintenance. Members can inspect her dramatic underwater body themselves in an exclusive visit to the dry dock. Our replica of James Cook’s Endeavour will voyage to Queensland, leaving in July and returning at the end of September. Our more adventurous Members can sign on as voyage crew – or as supernumeries if you’d prefer a cabin to a hammock – on one of the many legs of this voyage. But don’t delay as there is already a lot of interest ... check out our website for details.

On your next visit you may notice that our Yots café has undergone a transformation with the arrival of our new caterers Bay Leaf, after many years of The Mode Group doing such a fabulous job. So on your next visit, do enjoy a meal in Yots and don’t forget your Members discount.

Page 21

Specially for Members

Member Bryan Heywood took this lively photo of the Great Ferrython during the Members Australia Day cruise. Doing the other bridge walk, Members Tom Wright, Jill and David Mueller explore Pyrmont Bridge’s underside. Photographer C Palmer/ANMM

How to book It’s easy to book for the Members events on the next pages … it only takes a phone call and if you have a credit card ready we can take care of payments on the spot.

Members Events Calendar March Thu 6

Lecture: 6th Phil Renouf memorial lecture

• To reserve tickets for events call the Members Office on 02 9298 3644 (business hours) or email members@anmm.gov.au.

Bookings strictly in order of receipt.

Fri 7

Viewing: Steel Beach exhibition

8&9

Special: Classic & Wooden Boat Festival

• If paying by phone, have credit card details at hand.

Sun 9

On the water: C&WBF and superboat cruise

Thu 13

Tour: Garden Island naval heritage tour

• If paying by mail after making a reservation, please include a completed booking form with a cheque made out to the Australian National Maritime Museum.

Tues 18

Preview: Bateaux Jouets exhibition

Thu 27

Film: Shipbreakers

• The booking form is on reverse of the address sheet with your Signals mailout.

April

• If payment for an event is not received seven (7) days before the function your booking may be cancelled.

Fri 4

Viewing: Tall Ship Adventure exhibition

Wed 9

Viewing: The River exhibition

Booked out?

Thu 10

On the Water: sail Svanen

Fri 18

Tour: ANMM collections

We always try to repeat the event in another program.

Sun 20

Lecture: Endeavour’s botanical artists

Cancellations

May

If you can’t attend a booked event, please notify us at least five (5) days before the function for a refund. Otherwise, we regret a refund cannot be made. Events and dates are correct at the time of printing but these may vary … if so, we’ll be sure to inform you.

Sat 10

On the water: Autumn leaves cruise

Sat 17

Special: Advance 20th anniversary

Parking near museum Wilson Parking offers Members discount parking at nearby Harbourside Carpark, Murray Street, Darling Harbour.

To obtain a discount, you must have your ticket validated at the museum ticket desk.

Page 22

Thu 22

Tour: Onslow in dry-dock

Sun 25

Lecture: Captain Cook – an actor prepares

Sat 31

Tour: South Steyne in dry-dock (TBC)

June Sat 7

Special: Kay Cottee and Blackmores First Lady

SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

Lectures and Talks 6th Phil Renouf Memorial Lecture Boats and boat people on Sydney Harbour, an evolutionary tale 6.15–8.30 pm Thursday 6 March ANMM with Sydney Heritage Fleet presents this annual lecture in honour of the Fleet’s late president Phil Renouf. Guest speaker Sean Langman, champion sailor and managing director of the famous Noakes boat and shipyard, talks about the people and boats he knows so well. Sean has won almost every ocean race on the east coat of Australia, and in 2007 completed his 18th Sydney to Hobart race on board the newly restored 30-foot, gaff-rigged Maluka, built in 1932.

Members $20 guests $25. Includes Ensign wine, cheese and James Squire beer

Photographer Andrew Bell

Join photographer Andrew Bell for a discussion and viewing of the exhibition Steel Beach – Shipbreaking in Bangladesh.

Andrew’s photographs on the Bay of Bengal reveal the 25-kilometre beach where ships are brought to be scrapped, turning coastal idyll into an industrial wasteland. This beautiful collection shows the skeletons of huge ships, the men working in hazardous conditions and the impact of shipbreaking on the environment.

Members $15 guests $20. Includes a light lunch, Ensign wine and James Squire beer Exhibition preview Bateaux Jouets – toy boats from Paris 1850–1950 6.15–7.30 pm Tuesday 18 March Be the first to see this major new exhibition developed in collaboration with Musée nationale de la Marine in Paris.

The exhibition features toy boats and dreams of adventure on the high seas. The toy industry boomed with factory production and the growth of the engineering industry in the 19th century. It produced mechanical toys inspired by steam navigation, transatlantic liners, battleships and speedboats. Annie Madet, Musée national de la Marine curator, introduces the exhibition and tells some of the stories behind its unique toys.

Members $15 guests $20. Includes Ensign wine, cheese and James Squire beer

SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

On a 25-kilometre stretch of beach on the Bay of Bengal, ships at the end of their useful lives are brought to be scrapped. About 40,000 people, using little more than blowtorches, hammers and brute strength, dismantle the ships piece by piece. Curator Mariea Fisher will speak about the photographic exhibition, Steel beach – ship breaking in Bagladesh and introduce the award-winning film Shipbreakers, a documentary screening in the exhibition gallery about the worlds’s largest maritime graveyard and the human tenacity of its workers.

Members $15 guests $20. Includes Ensign wine, cheese and James Squire beer Tall Ship Adventure: a young man’s journey 1905 Fremantle to New York 12–1.30 pm Friday 4 April This is the story of 19-year old Fred, sent on a voyage from New York to Fremantle to broaden his experience before starting university.

On 10 September 1905 he boarded the Queen Margaret and during the voyage taught himself navigation, was in charge of the ship’s slops and acted as the ship’s chemist. Senior curator Paul Hundley leads a viewing of this exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History.

Members $15 guests $20. Includes a light lunch, Ensign wine and James Squire beer The River – Life on the Murray–Darling 6.15–7.30 pm Wednesday 9 April The Murray–Darling is our largest river system and has become an integral part of the Australian identity. People of this vast river basin – Indigenous communities, European explorers, farmers, paddle-steamer crews, soldier settlers, irrigators, immigrants, environmentalists and tourists – are all part of the history, the changing physical topography and the future of the Murray–Darling. Join exhibition curator Michelle Linder for an introduction and guided viewing.

Members $15 guests $20. Includes Ensign wine, cheese and James Squire beer

BOOKINGS AND ENQUIRIES Booking form on reverse of mailing address sheet.

Phone 02 9298 3644 or fax 02 9298 3660, unless otherwise indicated. All details are correct at publication but subject to change.

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Fred Taylor 1905 Courtesy Smithsonian Institution

Shipbreaking in Bangladesh 12–1.30 pm Friday 7 March

Farewell viewing and film Steel Beach – shipbreaking in Bangladesh 6.15–8.30 pm Thursday 27 March

Specially for Members In the wake of Endeavour’s botanical artists 4–6 pm Sunday 20 April at museum and on board HMB Endeavour replica

Lucy Smith at Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew 2003. Photographer Aaron Davis

In 2001, botanical artist Lucy Smith had the opportunity of a lifetime when she was chosen to take part in the BBC documentary The Ship. For six weeks, she lived and worked as an 18th-century artist on board the Endeavour replica as it traced James Cook’s voyage from northern Australia to Indonesia. Lucy will share her personal experiences and her insights into artist Sydney Parkinson’s working practices on that pivotal voyage of 1768–1771.

Members $15 guests $20. Includes Ensign wine, cheese and James Squire beer

Tours and walks Garden Island heritage tour 10 am–1.30 pm Thursday 13 March at Garden Island Don’t miss this opportunity to enjoy a behind-the-scenes guided tour of Garden Island Heritage precinct with representatives of The Naval Historical Society of Australia. The tour includes the Kuttabul Memorial, the Chapel, various heritage buildings including the original boatshed and the top of the Captain Cook Dock. Take a self-guided tour of the RAN Heritage Centre before departure.

Members $25 guests $30. Includes guided tour, entry to RAN Heritage Centre, morning tea. Some walking and climbing of stairs. Catch the 10.10 am Watsons Bay ferry from Circular Quay to Garden Island ANMM collection tour 11 am–12.30 pm Friday 18 April at Wharf 7 Get behind the scenes in our special Wharf 7 storage areas that are normally closed to the public, and view objects from the museum’s large collection. Visit our preservation laboratory where manager Jonathon London will explain how artefacts are preserved and prepared for exhibition.

Members only $15 includes light lunch. Limited numbers.

Meet in Wharf 7 foyer

Page 24

HMAS Onslow dry-docked 11 am–12.30 pm Thursday 22 May at Garden Island HMAS Onslow, one of six RAN Oberon class submarines, was launched in 1968 in Greenock, Scotland and commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy the following year. Named after the Western Australian town, Onslow participated in regular deployments over 30 years. During her dry-dock join Fleet Manager Steven Adams and learn about the preservation and maintenance program.

Members only $20. Meet outside main entry gates, Garden Island, Cowper Point Road, Woolloomoolloo. Bookings essential and photo ID required. Some climbing involved; needs reasonable physical condition. Children over 12 years permitted accompanied by parent or guardian. Appropriate footware and long sleeves a must South Steyne dry-docked 11 am–12.30 pm Saturday 31 May at Garden Island

A Sydney icon since 1938, this famous Manly ferry made over 100,000 trips during her 36-year service, and carried more than 92 million passengers. Now operating as a floating restaurant next to Pyrmont Bridge, don’t miss your chance to see her in dry dock.

Members only $20. Meet outside main entry gates, Garden Island, Cowper Point Road, Woolloomoolloo. Bookings essential and photo ID required. Some climbing involved; needs reasonable physical condition. Children over 12 years permitted accompanied by parent or guardian. Appropriate footware and long sleeves a must

On the water 2008 Classic & Wooden Boat Festival and Superboat Grand Prix cruise 1.15–4.15 pm Sunday 9 March Take in the classic boats at our 2008 Classic & Wooden Boat Festival and in Cockle Bay, then venture onto the harbour to catch all the action of the Australian Offshore Superboat Series.

This is the first time this event has been held on Sydney Harbour and over 20 boats, reaching speeds of over 200 km/h, will compete. Using the natural amphitheatre of the harbour, the Superboat Grand Prix will showcase one of the world’s most exciting water sports.

Members $35 guests $45. BYO refreshments. Meet at Pyrmont Bay wharf next to the museum

SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

Svanen sunset sail 4.30–7.30 pm Thursday 10 April Built in 1922 in Denmark, Svanen spent 47 years trading between Denmark and Greenland as a grain carrier for the Tuborg Beer Company. In 1986 after appearing at the World Expo in Vancouver, Svanen sailed to England and joined the Australian Bicentennial First Fleet voyage to Sydney where she has since remained. Enjoy a sunset sail on this grand old ship and experience the thrill of tall ship sailing.

Members $ 55 child $35 Guests $65 child $45 Cash bar on board

Captain Cook: Obsession and discovery – actor’s view 4–5.30 pm Sunday 25 May on board Endeavour The four part documentary Captain Cook: Obsession and discovery was screened to much acclaim on ABC TV late last year. The documentary was based on the book Captain Cook – Obsession and Betrayal in the New World, written by British author, geographer and Cook expert, Vanessa Collingridge. The series examined the man that was James Cook, revealing the true scope of Cook’s journeys and achievements, separating myth from fact. Matt Young, the Australian-based actor who played the role of James Cook, speaks about the difficulties of making the documentary and the challenge of bring this giant of history to life.

Members $15 guests $20. Includes Ensign wine, cheese and James Squire beer on board Endeavour Kay Cottee and Blackmores First Lady 20th anniversary 6.30–10 pm Saturday 7 June

Autumn leaves annual garden & history cruise 10 am–1.30 pm Saturday 10 May on the Lane Cove River.

The autumn garden holds many delights at this mellow time of year. Why not view them from the historic ferry Lithgow and pick up gardening tips from Adam Woodhams, assistant gardening editor with Better Homes and Garden magazine, on this leisurely and ever-popular annual cruise up the Lane Cove River.

Members $45 guests $55. Morning tea will be provided on board. Meet at Pyrmont Wharf next to the museum

Special events HMAS Advance 20th anniversary 3–6 pm Saturday 17 May HMAS Advance was built by Walkers Ltd of Maryborough, Queensland and was launched in 1967. Serving out of Darwin in patrol boat squadrons she dispersed illegal foreign fishing boats, weathered Cyclone Tracy (1974), assisted hydrographic surveys and starred in the TV series Patrol Boat, before being transferred to the museum on 17 May 1988. Join the museum council’s RAN representative CDRE Steve Gilmore CSC AM RAN and former commanding officers of HMAS Advance as they share stories of her days in service. Tour the vessel and enjoy a light supper cooked in the galley.

Members $20 guests $25. Includes cooked supper, Ensign wines and James Squire beer

EMAIL BULLETINS Have you subscribed to our email bulletins yet? Email your address to members@anmm.gov.au to ensure that you’ll always be advised of activities organised at short notice in reponse to special opportunities.

SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

Kay Cottee and First Lady in museum gallery. Photographer A Frolows/ANMM

Kay Cottee was the first woman to complete a solo, non-stop and unassisted circumnavigation of the world sailing more than 22,000 nautical miles in her 11.2 metre yacht Blackmores First Lady. Cheered by 100,000 people at Darling Harbour, RearAdmiral Tony Horton took her hand as she made her first step ashore on 5 June 1988. She was officially welcomed by Hazel Hawke, wife of the prime minister, NSW premier Nick Greiner and governor Sir Eric Neil. Join us at this anniversary dinner where Kay, Tony Horton and Kay’s original sponsor, sailor and businessman Marcus Blackmore, will share their memories of the day and the voyage.

Members $110 guests $125. Includes cocktail reception, canapes and a sumptuous three course meal

Page 25

What’s on at the museum Autumn school holidays 13–27 April

During term time Fun family Sundays Every Sunday during school term 11 am–3 pm Courtesy Musée national de la Marine

KIDS DECK: Bateaux jouets (toy boats) Hourly sessions 10 am–4 pm daily Themed on our exhibition Bateaux Jouets – toy boats from Paris 1850–1950, we have simple toy boats to play with and race through the maze. Join the fun and dress up in period clothes, then make a toy boat to take home.

For children aged 5–12 years. $7 per child or FREE with any purchased ticket. Adults/Members FREE Family film 1.30 pm daily FREE Photographer Arnaud Fux courtesy Musée national de la Marine

Battle of the bateaux Sunday 27 April 10 am–4 pm Toy boats have fascinated the young (and the young at heart) for centuries. See a unique collection in the exhibition Bateaux Jouets – toy boats from Paris 1850–1950, and compare them to the latest in wireless, remote-control boats which take to the waters around the museum. Bring your own remote controlled toy boat or just watch the fun in this interactive on-water spectacle.

SPECIAL GROUP RATES For groups of 10 children or more; booking essential. $7 per child for a fully organised program of activities that includes: • All museum exhibitions • All children’s activities • Entry to the destroyer HMAS Vampire and the submarine HMAS Onslow • Free entry for two adults per 10 children • Free bus parking NB $2 extra per child for either HMB Endeavour or 1874 tall ship James Craig. Book early to ensure your space!

For bookings or more information: Phone 02 9298 3777 Fax 02 9298 3660 Email: bookings@anmm.gov.au

Page 26

Join in the fun with toy boats! Come and dress up in period clothes and make your own toy boat. Then race it through the maze and play with other toy boats with simple mechanisms.

Themed on exhibition Bateaux Jouets – toy boats from Paris.

For children aged 5–12 years. $7 per child or FREE with any purchased ticket. Adults/Members FREE Movies on Sundays Every Sunday during school term 1.30 pm Rest and view a FREE film to complement the temporary exhibition program. Visit www.anmm.gov.au for film program.

Mini Mariners 10–10.45 am every Tuesday during school term March – Tall Ships Let’s unfurl the sails for a rollicking adventure on the high seas. We will work hard as we climb the rigging and perform all the duties of an 18th-century sailor.

April – Boats in the Harbour Join the crew as we row, row, row through stormy seas singing songs as we go merrily along.

You can even make your own boat to take home.

May – Under the sea Let’s sing a song about wibbly, wobbly jellyfish and learn all about the things that live under the sea.

Then you can make your own jellyfish mask to take home.

Come dressed as your favourite sea creature or mermaid.

Specially for children 2–5 years and their parents/carers. $7 per child. Members/adults free. Booked playgroups are welcome; call 02 9298 3655. Please note that this program is not offered during the school holidays and for safety reasons is held inside the museum.

Family evening on HMB Endeavour replica Saturday 29 March 6–8 pm Enjoy a salty sea adventure for the whole family – an evening aboard HMB Endeavour replica in the company of our 18th-century sailors. Captain Cook would have approved of the sausage sizzle on the wharf.

Cost adult $20, family $40 (2 adults, 4 children). Members $15, family $35. Suitable for children 7 years and over.

Bookings essential 9298 3655

SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

Autumn 2008 program Special events 2008 Cruise Forum No 1 in association with WEA A Tale of Two Rivers: Murray–Darling and Parramatta 10 am–2 pm Wednesday 12 March The Murray, once a hub of promise and new opportunities, and the Parramatta whose foreshores provided farms for early settlers and later became an open drain for Sydney’s industry, now face many challenges to survive. Speakers: museum curator Michelle Linder; John Prentice, Murray–Darling Basin Commission; author Greg Blaxcell. After the lecture cruise up the Parramatta River stopping for a picnic lunch, and return to see the documentary When the river was the only road.

Cost $60 concession $55 includes morning tea and lunch.

Bookings WEA 02 9264 2781

Saturday 8–Sunday 9 March

Lecture: Three barques and a Box Brownie 10 am–12 noon Thursday 15 May A hundred years ago travel on a four-masted trading barque was fraught with peril, especially for a novice. In 1905, 19-year-old Fred Taylor used his Box Brownie to record his trip from New York to Fremantle. The images are on display in Tall Ship Adventure. Curator Paul Hundley will talk about the experiences of passengers and crew, and Alan Edenborough, Sydney Heritage Fleet, will describe sailing techniques. Followed by tours of the exhibition and historic tall ship James Craig, and an awe-inspiring documentary film Around Cape Horn.

Cost $35 includes morning tea.

Bookings WEA 02 9264 2781

Photographer J Mellefont/ANMM

Patrol Boat HMAS Advance Sunday 18 May 10 am–4 pm

This year is the 40th anniversary of the museum’s ex-RAN Attack class patrol boat’s commissioning into the Royal Australian Navy, as well as the 20th anniversary of its transfer to the museum. We are celebrating HMAS Advance with a variety of family events including a special behind-the-scenes guided tour. In association with the Royal Australian Navy.

SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

Restoration is the theme for this year’s Classic & Wooden Boat Festival, Sydney’s fun-for-everyone harbourside celebration of maritime heritage and maritime cultures.

The museum’s newly-restored Taipan, the boat that changed the shape and performance of Australia’s 18-foot racing skiffs, will be on show and lectures on the restoration will be held in the museum. Over 100 wooden boats will visit. See traditional blacksmiths, caulkers, sailmakers and rope knotters at work (including work on HMB Endeavour replica). Don’t miss our nautical marketplace; working marine engines; heritage boat rides; a giant model display and our hotly-contested deckhand line-throwing contest.

Cost adult $18, child $9, family $40 Become a Member and get in FREE!

Program times and venues are correct at time of going to press. To check programs before your museum visit call 02 9298 3777.

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Autumn 2008 exhibitions In our galleries

Little Shipmates – seafaring pets Until 8 June Tasman Light

The River – Life on the Murray–Darling 5 April–25 May North Gallery John Goodchild courtesy National Library of Australia

The people who live along Australia’s largest river system tell their stories of the wool industry, food production, water rights, fishing, riverboats and the drama of drought and flood in this unique history. Supported

by Visions of Australia, an Australian Government Program Summers Past: Golden Days in the Sun 1950–1970 10 April–20 June South Gallery

Miss Pacific finalists Bondi Beach 1952

These images encapsulating Australian summers were taken by the Australian News and Information Bureau, and vividly recall our enduring love affair with sun and sea.

A National Archives touring exhibition supported by Visions of Australia, an Australian Government Program Tall Ship Adventure: A Young Man’s Journey New York to Fremantle 1905 Until 20 July USA Gallery

Courtesy Smithsonian Institution

This is the story of 19-yearold Fred Taylor’s adventure under sail aboard the barque Queen Margaret from New York to Fremantle, told through his journal and photographs.

The collection comes from the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History.

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Samuel J Hood ANMM collection

Arnaud Fux courtesy Musée national de la Marine

Over 200 toy boats from the Musée national de la Marine, Paris, showcase dreams of childhood adventures on the high seas. These mechanical marvels were inspired by a century of steam navigation, transatlantic liners, battleships and speedboats. Children, adults and collectors will enjoy this stunning collection on show for the first time in Australia.

Cats, dogs, monkeys and birds have long been cherished on board ships. Sydney photographer Sam Hood photographed them for over 50 years and this selection of 14 delightful pictures shows just how much pets meant to seafarers.

Steel Beach – shipbreaking in Bangladesh Until 30 March South Gallery Photographer Andrew Bell captures dramatic images of oil tankers and passenger liners beached on the wide mud flats of Sitakunda – the skeletons of half-scrapped ships, people labouring in a dangerous environment, and items ranging from giant cogs to kitchen sinks waiting to be recycled.

Photographer Andrew Bell

Bateaux Jouets – toy boats from Paris 1850–1950 20 March–17 August Gallery One

On the water Replica of James Cook’s Endeavour Open at museum wharves 10 am–4 pm Visit the magnificent Australian-built replica of Captain James Cook’s ship in which he circumnavigated the world (1768–71), charted Australia’s east coast and claimed it for Britain. See the 18th century come to life through his officers, marines, seamen and naturalists.

Members FREE. Adult $15, child/concession $8, family $30.

Other ticket combinations available. Enquiries 02 9298 3777 Barque James Craig (1874) Daily Wharf 7 (except when sailing) Sydney Heritage Fleet’s magnificent iron-hulled ship is the result of an award-winning 30-year restoration. Tour the ship with various museum ticket packages (discount for Members).

ANMM travelling exhibitions The River – Life on the Murray–Darling Until 25 March Pioneer Park, Italian Museum Griffith NSW Patriotism Persuasion Propaganda – American War Posters Until 3 April Wagga Wagga Regional Art Gallery NSW Antarctic Views by Hurley and Ponting 4 March–1 June Redcliffe Museum QLD

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For schools Years 9–12 History, Geography Over 30 programs for students K–12, across a range of syllabus areas. Options include extension workshops, hands-on sessions, theatre, tours with museum teacherguides and harbour cruises. Programs link to both core museum and special temporary exhibitions. Bookings essential: telephone 02 9298 3655 fax 02 9298 3660 email bookings@anmm.gov.au or visit our website: www.anmm.gov.au

Arnaud Fux courtesy Musée national de la Marine

Bateaux Jouets – toy boats from Paris 1850–1950 Years K–2 HSIE, Science Primary school programs revolve around subjects such as transport, simple machines, the science of toys, covering areas including propulsion and design and the HSIE topic The Way We Were.

Students can also attend a craft workshop where they will design their own boat and make an origami boat-hat to wear on their tour. Secondary programs include science (propulsion), design and technology and the Children in History elective for Stage 4 history. French language tours will also be conducted for both primary and secondary students. $6 per student (craft workshop $2 extra) Transport Years K–2 HSIE, Science Students tour the museum identifying various forms of transport connected with water – sailing ships, row-boats, ferries, tugs, a Navy destroyer, water traffic and even a helicopter! An optional cruise by heritage ferry takes in industrial, commercial and passenger transport systems on the harbour. $6 per student (cruise extra) Navigators Years 3–6 HSIE This program investigates early contact with the Australian continent. Students encounter nonEuropean traders, traditional navigation techniques, and early European explorers.

They view constellations in the night sky used for navigation, and look at the influence of European explorers in the Age of Sail. Items on display include artefacts from ships such as Endeavour and Batavia, and material from Dutch, English, French, Torres Strait Islander and Makassan explorers. $6 per student

Explore this inner-city suburb from the perspective of changing

demographics, construction, planning and development. Led by a teacher-guide, students walk the streets of Pyrmont and examine changes. The program is suitable as a site study for History and Geography. A harbour cruise examining change and development along the waterfront is also available.

From $12 per student. Cruise extra Splash!

Years K–2 HSIE, PD, PE & Health, Creative Arts Splash! is a hands-on program where younger visitors explore leisure in, on, under and near the water through movement, dress-ups, games and stories. The program includes a guided tour of the Watermarks and Jellyfish exhibitions and students make their own jellyfish craftwork to take home. $8 per student Shipwrecks, corrosion & conservation Year 12 HSC Chemistry Relating to the NSW Stage 6 Chemistry syllabus option Shipwrecks, Corrosion & Conservation, this program includes a talk on metals conservation, an experiment-based workshop and a tour of related shipwreck material in the museum’s galleries. Students may also visit our ex-RAN destroyer Vampire and submarine Onslow, and view the tall ship James Craig from the wharf. $20 per student (minimum numbers apply) Pirate school Years K–4 English, Maths, HSIE, Creative Arts Join the pirate school for lessons in treasure counting, speaking like a pirate, map reading and more! Then join a treasure hunt through the museum and board the tall ship, James Craig. $10 per student (James Craig $2 extra per student) Maritime archaeology Years 5–12 History, Science Hands-on workshops where students use a mock seabed and examine objects from shipwrecks as a way of exploring unwritten records of the past. Students learn about the process of maritime archaeology, conservation and interpretation of material history. Programs are available for both primary and secondary students. $10 per student (Years 5–6); $12 per student (Years 7–10); $15 per student (Years 11–12)

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Masses of MMAPSS The Australian National Maritime Museum’s annual round of MMAPSS project grants has reached a wider and more diverse group of heritage organisations than ever before, writes Clare Power who administers the awards for the museum.

ALTHOUGH THE grants awarded under our Maritime Museums of Australia Project Support Scheme (MMAPSS) are provided to preserve and foster the nation’s maritime heritage collections, they’re not just limited to maritime museums and historical associations.

Maritime heritage can be found in all sorts of places and the 2007–2008 round of grants have gone to a diverse group of applicants that’s included heritage engineers, steam traction engine enthusiasts and community environmental groups. This will ensure that the projects, when completed, are reaching broader audiences than ever before.

These grants are administered and funded by the Australian National Maritime Museum, jointly with the Australian Government through the Distributed National Collections Program of the Department of Communications, Technology and the Arts (as it was known at the time the awards were judged). They are assessed by senior management of this museum and the manager of collections development in the Commonwealth Arts portfolio, together with an independent assessor from the National Trust of Australia (NSW).

In addition, each year we award internships to workers or volunteers in smaller organisations, allowing them to travel to Sydney and work with our staff to study the museum practices and techniques in a major cultural centre.

It’s always a hard task to pick out which of many fascinating projects to profile.

Before acknowledging all of our successful MMAPSS applicants and interns, here’s a look at two very different applicants.

Friends of Maatsuyker (FoMI) Wildcare inc Tinderbox TAS: $3,986 This was the first MMAPSS application from Friends of Maatsuyker Island (FoMI). Their successful proposal was to create a lighthouse keeper’s archive and database based on the personal collection Page 30

Maatsuyker lighthouse.

Photograph courtesy FoMI

of John Cook, a lighthouse keeper for almost 25 years. It will reflect his experiences working at four Tasmanian lighthouses: at Eddystone Point on

above a sheer 250-metre cliff face. The original lens from the lighthouse is on display here at the Australian National Maritime Museum. Cape Bruny was the

The keepers and their families dispersed, taking with them a lifetime of experiences from the most isolated and wild locations Tasmania’s north-east; Tasman Island and Cape Bruny marking the outer approaches to Hobart and the Derwent; and Maatsuyker Island at the extreme south of Tasmania.

All are particularly significant light stations, and they represent very well the isolation inherent in the life of a lighthouse keeper. Tasman Island, the highest light in Australia, is also one of the country’s most spectacular, positioned

fourth lighthouse to be built in Australia and the inaccessible Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse, the most southerly in Australia, has to be reached by helicopter.

John Cook was its last head light keeper.

FoMI President, Dr Jason Whitehead, described the value of Mr Cook’s exceptional collection: ‘The de-manning of Australia’s lighthouses in the 1990s marked the end of an era in our maritime history and the SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

end of the unique life of the lighthouse keeper. With it, the keepers and their families dispersed, taking with them a lifetime of experiences from some of the country’s most isolated and wild locations. In many cases, the physical structures and items associated with dayto-day life on the stations were removed, destroyed, vandalised or simply lost. We are fortunate, however, to have personal memories, photos and memorabilia of the lighthouse keeper and their way of life in private collections, such as those of Mr John Cook.’

This collection spans the 1930s through to the 1990s, with items primarily from John Cook’s working life of 1969–1993.

It is believed to be the most intact collection of personal memorabilia for this period of Tasmanian light station history. The collection includes hundreds of photographs and slides, books, letters, maps and items from various light stations. Some items in the collection were given to Mr Cook by previous lighthouse keepers, giving the collection a greater time span. Many significant events took place during the era covered by the collection, including the transition from kerosene to electric illumination, and then to full automation.

Dr Whitehead said this collection is especially valuable because of the stories and personal information that Mr Cook is able to attach to each object within the collection. ‘Mr Cook is the last kerosenelight keeper who can articulate his personal experiences from this period of Tasmania’s maritime history. It is timely now to record this valuable information accurately and with personal recollections, before the entire way of lighthouse keepers is lost from living memory.’

Pioneer World Museum Wentworth NSW: $2,500 The Pioneer World Museum, in Wentworth on the Murray River in NSW, is home to the Australian rowing eight that was campaigned to victory in the prestigious King’s Cup of 1920, 1922 and 1923, by the stalwart team of rowers known as the Murray Cods – after the small stuffed cod they tied to the bow of the boat whenever they rowed. The King’s Cup was (and remains) the most sought-after trophy in Australian men’s rowing and after this string of wins the Murray Cods, all from the Murray Bridge rowing club in South Australia, went on to represent Australia at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games.

The Murray Cods were an unlikely crew of Olympic rowers. Their ages ranged from 24 to 41, with an average age of 32.

Being amateurs, as all Olympians were then, the crew members were employed in a variety of trades, most of them working on the South Australian railways.

One was a storekeeper and another a postal worker. When the Cods wrote asking to compete in the 1924 Henley-onThames Regatta in London, in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics, they were politely informed that they were not able to participate – with the exception of their stroke Sladden, who was a master mariner – since they were all working class and only gentlemen rowed in the Henleyon-Thames!

To raise the £5,000 needed to send the team to Paris, the crew played as musicians at bush dances. A public fundraiser was run by the Adelaide Advertiser, and a bullock donated by ‘Cattle King’ Sir Sidney Kidman was auctioned for £421/14/00. Together with

To raise the $5,000 needed to send the team to Paris, the crew played as musicians at bush dances This was considered exceptionally old by international rowing standards. Their long-stroking style was unorthodox, too, and was considered by some to be unsuited to the 2,000-metre Olympic course, particularly as the King’s Cup was a three-mile (4,830-metre) race.

A test race was held at Port Adelaide, against boats from Western Australia, Tasmania and Victoria. The South Australians won the race, beating Western Australia by a canvas.

donations from The Australian Rowing Association and the Ladies Committee of the Murray Bridge Rowing Club, the fund exceeded £5,000 – but it would not be enough to put them on an even footing with other international teams.

The Cods at the 1924 Paris Olympics, from Downstream (www.slsa.sa.gov/murray/ content/didYouKnow/murrayCods). Photograph courtesy State Library of South Australia with permission of family of R A ‘Bob’ Cummings.

Friends of Maatsuyker Island has engaged the services of an experienced museum registrar who will catalogue the collection and create a database of images with personal annotations from Mr Cook.

When complete, selected images and notations will be made available to the public on the internet, allowing a wide audience of maritime enthusiasts ample access to this unique and valuable collection.

Friends of Maatsuyker Island is a subbranch of Wildcare Inc, a non-profit community group dedicated to the preservation of the cultural and natural heritage values of Maatsuyker Island.

Founded in 2003, the group works in partnership with the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service.

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The Cods arrived in France to find they had been billeted 26 miles from where they were to compete. They had to row 60 kilometres to the training camp, carrying their outdated rowing eight around four locks. Other countries had set up villages for their athletes, but the Australians were left to fend for themselves with only a shilling a day spending money. To raise funds they played again at dances, including one where the guests wore nothing but their dancing shoes! Several crew became ill with dysentery due to poor food.

Rowing the 60 kilometres to the Olympic course, the Murray Cods were second to Italy in their heat and were knocked out

after coming third to Canada and Argentina in the row-off. Gold went to the Yale crew of the USA, whose coach said: ‘I do not attack the rowing of the Murray Bridge crew who did splendidly for old men … Handicapped by lack of first-class competition, poorly boated and badly rigged, where they were using poppets on their riggers instead of swivels.’

The South Australians were harder on themselves. Stroke William Sladden said there were no excuses; the Australian standards were simply below the rest of the world’s. Cox Bob Cummins’ diary entry reads ‘Hard hard luck. Did our best.’ Nonetheless, they beat the Yale

crew later in 1924, at the Irish National Games. Number 6 Wally Pfeiffer also won the 1924 sculling championship of Ireland. After all these achievements the Murray Cods returned home to a lowkey reception due to their poor results in the Olympics.

Their rowing eight is now in need of a condition report to assess the best way to manage the its future needs, including conservation works and display requirements. The MMAPSS grant will be used to provide the services of a specialist who will travel to the museum and stay in Wentworth to assess the craft and write a comprehensive condition report.

MMAPSS GRANTS ACROSS THE NATION Axel Stenross Maritime Museum Inc, Port Lincoln SA: $2,010

This grant helps to preserve the wartime tug Nabilla, funding replacement of deteriorating timbers and preparation and painting of the tug and its display cradle.

Nabilla was built for World War II service by the sporting goods manufacturer Slazenger (one of many companies that diversified into war production) and was active in the Pacific Islands. Later purchased by South Australian Marine & Harbours, Nabilla was the first tug to be stationed in Port Lincoln and is now listed on the Australian Register of Historic Vessels (HV000083).

Broome Historical Society, Broome WA: $2,800

A conservation survey of flying boat engines from Dornier and Catalina aircraft destroyed in the Japanese air-raid on Broome in March 1942 is being undertaken as a collaborative project with the Australian War Memorial and the West Australian Maritime Museum. The aircraft were carrying officials and evacuees from the Dutch East Indies after its invasion by Japanese forces.

Bunbury Timber Jetty Environment & Conservation Society, Bunbury WA: $5,000

The 1911 Arrol Crane on Bunbury Jetty is the oldest ship-loading crane in Western Australia, the last of four that once loaded goods from railway wagons. (Another is said to lie on the sea bed adjacent to the jetty.) The grant will enable preparation of a conservation and management plan, and a move to obtain heritage listing for Page 32

the Arrol Crane. Research for these is being undertaken by the Engineering Heritage Panel of Engineers Australia.

Clarence River Historical Society, Grafton NSW: $3,600

The grant funds conservation of an oilpainting portrait of Clarke Irving (1808– 65), a prominent landholder and grazier in the district, an advocate for its maritime development and a director of steam shipping companies. In 1856–57 he represented the region in the first Legislative Assembly. The damaged portrait, by migrant German painter Conrad Wagner (1820–1910), requires relining with canvas. It is part of the collection of Clarence River Historical Society, formed in 1931 and said to be the oldest country historical society in NSW. Echuca Historical Society, Echuca VIC: $4,289

As part of the ‘Down the Rivers’ conservation project, Echuca Historical Society plans to have a fabric river chart dated 1877, and an 1874 map of Echuca, conserved by a qualified conservator who will also build storage units to protect the objects. A section of the chart will also be copied onto fabric for exhibition purposes.

Maritime Museum of Tasmania, Hobart TAS: $3,625

This project’s aim is to research the museum’s half-model display and to produce an accurate lines plan from a timber half model using laser-scanned dimension data fed into a computer drafting package. This method removes the risk of physically damaging the

models. This system will then be used by volunteers to document the half-model collections at both the Maritime Museum of Tasmania and Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. Plans will be available to model builders and for use in interpretation and display.

Melbourne Maritime Museum, East Melbourne VIC: $5,000

Nautilus II is a multi-step Fauber type hydroplane, built in Melbourne in 1912

by H Maumill for Frank and Percy Cornwall. The championship-winning racer is the only one of its type in Australia and was donated by Alan Chamberlain in 1978. The vessel is supported by a cradle with iron wheels.

The project will be a preservation rather than restoration. The cradle is to be stabilised and repaired, taking paint scrapes to establish its authenticity. Small areas of hull trim will be replaced, while the hull, cockpit and engine compartment will be prepared and varnished or painted.

Nautilus II is listed on the Australian Register of Historic Vessels (HV000078).

Melbourne Steam Traction Engine Club Inc, Scoresby VIC: $5,000

This first-time grant applicant will restore, re-assemble and display the steam engines of the tug Lyttleton II which was scrapped in 2006, despite the best efforts of several interest groups. MSTEC members acquired not only the engines but the entire engine room, believing the best way to display the engines was in their proper context. This early phase of the project will also include development of signage and video to create an engaging exhibition of these impressive objects.

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Morpeth Museum, Morpeth NSW: $3,380

Funding will be used to develop an interpretive display and construction of exhibition showcases to display items of significance to the maritime heritage of historic Morpeth, an early river port for the Hunter valley, near Maitland, NSW. This display will provide greater access to the collection and will present the history of shipping from 1823 to 1933, with a particular emphasis on educational programmes and school groups.

Narrandera Parkside Cottage Museum, Narrandera NSW: $2,500

Another grant to conserve 19th-century river charts, four from the late 1800s.

They are drawn in ink on narrow lengths of fabric which join together to make a continuous chart of the Murrumbidgee River. The chart was probably made by a paddle steamer captain working the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers, and records both the natural and the manmade geography that has changed dramatically in some places over the past century, and remained untouched in others.

Naval Historical Society of Australia Inc, Garden Island NSW: $2,695

A team of volunteers are currently reviewing the society’s collection of documents, photographs and other research material, and restoring the documentation to improve access to it.

A detailed study has been conducted to determine the best form of individual storage methods appropriate to the society’s facilities. MMAPSS funding will be used to purchase these storage items.

Paddle Steamer Ruby Inc, Wentworth NSW: $5,000

The paddle steamer Ruby is a heritagelisted, three-deck, 30-cabin passenger steamer built 1907. Its side paddle wheels are driven by a 1926 Robe twin-cylinder steam engine. This project will finalise restoration work on the boiler by lagging it, a common practice of the era that makes fuel use more economical and lowers heat levels. Lagging will involve an insulation layer, cladding over the insulation, powder coating to match the heritage colours of the boiler, and brass straps and fasteners to anchor the lagging.

Proserpine Historical Museum Society Inc, Proserpine QLD: $2,140

Noted local historian Ray Blackwood donated a unique collection of maritime SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

ephemera to the Proserpine Museum, including marine charts, logs and journals accumulated during his research into the history of the Whitsunday Islands. Due to the size and significance of the collection it is essential that it is housed in a suitable storage cabinet to ensure both preservation and accessibility. The grant will be used to purchase a horizontal plan cabinet.

Queensland Maritime Museum, South Bank QLD: $5,000

The pearling lugger Penguin was gifted to the Queensland Maritime Museum by the Australian Government and is one of a few remaining luggers that worked on the Queensland coast. Originally named Mercia, she is 100 years old in 2008. The vessel’s cradle is not providing adequate support to the keel which has resulted in hogging. This project will include construction of a new cradle, re-caulking and painting the hull and erecting a shade structure. On completion of the restoration work an interpretive display will be created to commemorate the 100th anniversary.

Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol, Mosman NSW: $1,370

Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol is a marine search and rescue volunteer organisation in operation since 1937.

They are currently working on a project to archive and preserve the history of the organisation, which spans five states over the past 70 years. This grant will be used to ensure the archives are stored in the best possible way.

Tathra Wharf Maritime Museum, Tathra NSW: $1,800

Historic Tathra wharf, built in 1862, has great significance to the south coast of New South Wales, and played a vital role in the development of the region with its important dairy and timber industries.

This magnificent multi-level structure combining a steamer wharf, warehouse and cattle race, is the sole surviving ocean facility of its type on Australia’s eastern seaboard. This grant will be used to assist the museum building with urgently needed works to protect the displayed objects and exhibits, currently under threat of damage.

The Maritime Trust of Australia Inc, Williamstown VIC: $3,500

Funds awarded will contribute towards two separate projects being carried out by this Victorian organisation, home to the World War II corvette HMAS

Castlemaine. The corvette’s 20-inch signal projector, originally lit by carbon arc, will be restored. The museum’s important collection of uniforms dating from the 1890s to the 1950s requires urgent conservation and descriptive cataloguing to ensure they are ready for the exhibition Dressed for Service, planned for 2008–09.

Townsville Museum & Historical Society Inc, Townsville QLD: $5,000

Townsville’s coastal radio station opened in 1913 and combined International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) functions with commercial maritime communications. During World War II it provided advance notice of the Japanese attack on Guadalcanal, and in 1971 it tracked Cyclone Althea which devastated Townsville. The museum owns important artefacts taken from the station when it closed in 2002, including the station operator’s console, voice message transmitter, 1940s Morse code transmitter and video footage of operators at work. They museum will be used to tell the story of coastal radio and its crucial link with Townsville maritime history, and digitise the footage to preserve it.

INTERNSHIPS Gemma Webberley, National Trust Of Australia (Tasmania) ‘Runnymede’, New Town TAS

The house supervisor at the historic National Trust property ‘Runnymede’ will spend two weeks here in April developing her skills in a number of areas of museum operations that have significant relevance to ‘Runnymede’ with its links to maritime history: making visitor programs and events relevant to students and other visitors, curatorial practice and philosophies, and issues concerning conservation of maritime objects.

David Senior, Coffs Harbour Regional Museum, Coffs Harbour NSW

This museum technician at the Coffs Harbour Regional Museum will spend two weeks with us working mainly with our preparators. This will allow him to expand his knowledge of the technical work involved in the design, interpretation, lighting, installation and takedown of exhibitions. He will also spend time with our curators and conservators developing curatorial and object handling skills.

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Little Shipmates: seafaring pets

Curator Patricia Miles selected 14 photographs from the museum’s Samuel J Hood photographic collection showing the connection between sailors and their pets.

CATS, DOGS, monkeys and birds have been cherished on board ships for as long as people have made sea voyages. In a life from which children and families are usually missing, and are often very much missed, pets provide a focus for emotions and affection – although cats and dogs may have been expected to earn their keep catching mice and rats, too.

The prolific Sydney commercial photographer Sam Hood, who was active between 1900 and the 1950s, had a particular interest in recording the shipping that passed though our harbours.

As well as making photographic portraits of the vessels, he boarded countless ships and took hundreds of photographs of crew members who purchased them as souvenirs or to send home to families.

In the early 1990s the museum acquired Sam Hood’s entire maritime output of some 11,000 glass plate and nitrate negatives, which have been conserved Page 34

and scanned to form one of our most valuable research collections.

The 14 photographs on display are the pick of Sam Hood’s studies of seafaring animals.

crew of the paddle steamer Newcastle, a ship that did the overnight run between Sydney and Newcastle for 40 years.

A ship’s cat balances in a fairlead high up the topsides of the famous Pamir, one of

Every photograph shows a clear attachment between the people and their pets Nearly all the photographs are posed formal portraits. In some this imparts an appearance of solemnity both to person and pet. A dog sits within the encircling arm of a young British India Line officer on the ship Chindwara, both of them equally serious-faced. A Japanese seaman on the Mitsui Line cargo ship Yahiko Maru poses with a litter of puppies nestling in a coiled line.

Two cats appear to be important inclusions in the portrait of the catering

the last commercial sailing ships on world routes. The cargoes of grain that it hauled would have provided happy hunting grounds for hitch hiking rats and mice.

Every photograph shows a clear attachment between the people and their pets, right down to the bonneted baby perched on top of a deckhouse with a calm-faced woolly dog by its side. The child may have been part of the captain’s family living on board the ship, which was not uncommon in this era.

SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

OPPOSITE: Baby and dog on a sailing ship about 1910, nitrate negative ABOVE: Paddle steamer pets 1910–1920s, nitrate negative RIGHT: Top dog of the British India Line, about 1920s, nitrate negative FAR RIGHT: Seaman with a cat and kitten on board a sailing ship about 1910, nitrate negative BELOW LEFT: Ship’s dogs and puppies about

1950, glass plate negative BELOW RIGHT: Cat on watch on board Pamir,

1947, glass plate negative

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Faces from the

Dunbar disaster A new museum publication about Sydney’s worst marine disaster, the 1857 Dunbar shipwreck, has put faces to the names of three of its victims. Publications manager Jeffrey Mellefont tells the story of a remarkable Victorian portrait.

THE MUSEUM has just published Dunbar 1857 – disaster on our doorstep, a comprehensive, illustrated account of the tragic mid-19th-century shipwreck that horrified the young colony. On a stormy, pitch-dark winter’s night, the fine, fast, clipper-like Dunbar missed the entrance to Sydney Harbour and was smashed to pieces on the formidable sea cliffs south of The Heads. Just minutes from safety after an 81-day passage from Plymouth, all 63 passengers and all but one of the 59 crew perished – and Sydneysiders knew nothing about it until dawn revealed a tide of wreckage and battered corpses washing into the harbour.

As well as migrants, many of the victims were prosperous Sydneysiders returning from ‘home’ visits to Britain. For Sydney – a town of around 50,000 people – it was a numbing tragedy.

The new book reconstructs these events in detail and examines their impact on society – which included a flood of illustrated pamphlets and booklets relating the disaster in lurid detail.

One, from the museum’s collection, is reproduced in facsimile. The new book also traces the history of the wreck site from the first attempts at salvage, the myths surrounding its location, the wave of recreational divers who picked the site clean of artefacts as diving equipment became available in the 1950s and 60s, and its subsequent protection by historic shipwreck legislation. Included is a catalogue of the museum’s large collection of Dunbar artefacts that include the poignant, personal effects of its unfortunate passengers.

While the book’s author, ANMM curator Kieran Hosty, and editor Jeffrey Mellefont

were preparing it for publication, they encountered a remarkable and moving Victorian oil painting which shows the human faces of three victims of the Dunbar shipwreck. The painting, which had remained out of public view in private ownership since the shipwreck, belongs to Dr Christian Garland of Hobart. He brought it to Sydney last August to display at the 150th anniversary commemorative service held at St Stephen’s church in Camperdown, where many of the Dunbar victims are buried.

It has now been published for the first time with Dr Garland’s kind permission.

The only known portrait of Dunbar’s lost passengers shows Mrs Marianne Egan and her two children Gertrude Evans Cahuac, 18, and Henry William Cahuac, 20. They were returning from England to rejoin her second husband and the children’s stepfather, the prominent Sydney citizen Daniel Egan who was a member of the Legislative Council of the colony of New South Wales. Their marriage was reported in The Sydney Morning Herald (18/07/1843) where she is referred to as widow of the late St John Cahuac of the McLeay valley. During their visit to England Marianne and her children had sat for the portrait, but did not take it on board Dunbar with them because it was unfinished. It came out a few months later and was kept by Daniel Egan before being bequeathed to his wife Marianne’s nephew – Dr Garland’s greatgreat-grandfather.

‘I inherited the painting in 1968,’ Dr Garland told us. ‘I first saw it at the home of my great-grandmother Grace Elizabeth Evans in Manly when I was four, immediately falling in love with the romance and tragedy of the Dunbar disaster. I had it cleaned and had the frame restored in the 1980s, but the artist’s signature has never been found.

‘After cleaning, the painting came to life, especially the fresh skin tones, and a necklace appeared on Gertrude’s neck!

I hung it in the centre of the main wall of

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SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

ABOVE: Detail of Dunbar windows in the

Blessed Sacrament Chapel at the Benedictine Monastery, Arcadia. The drowned passengers Gertrude and Henry Cahuac appear at the feet of their patron saints.

OPPOSITE: Dunbar passengers Marianne Egan

(centre) and her children Gertrude and Henry.

The painting’s owner (left) is Dr Christian Garland. Photographs J Mellefont/ANMM

an otherwise empty room – and at that moment they truly came back to life.

Their eyes followed me around the room and it unsettled me to the point where I had to withdraw from them. This feeling was resolved at the 150th anniversary when we stood in light rain around the tomb of Dunbar victims at St Stephens, and read out their names one by one.

I finally felt I had put them to rest.

‘It was an absolute delight to be able to present the painting for public viewing for the first time at the Dunbar commemoration at St Stephens. One visitor thought that the style resembled that of a prominent portraitist, Robert Hawker Dowling. He was in England at that time and was related to the Waller family members who also drowned with Mrs Egan and her two children. I’m investigating the possibility that Dowling may have been the artist.’

Mrs Egan and her two children were commemorated by her clearly devoted, bereaved husband the Honourable Daniel Egan MLC, who commissioned three SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

stained glass windows at a cost of £70 to be installed in the first St Mary’s Cathedral in College Street, Sydney in 1860. They were described in The Sydney Morning Herald as ‘a splendid specimen of the recently revived art of glass painting, the colouring being rich in the extreme.’ They were made by John Hardman of Birmingham, England, who was closely associated with the Gothic revival movement and was influenced by the vibrant stained glass of the 14th and 15th centuries.

The youngsters appear as insets at the feet of their respective patron saints, St Gertrude of Helfta (the 13th-century German Cistercian nun and mystic) and St Henry (the 10th-century Bavarian Holy Roman Emperor, Henry II). Gertrude Cahuac kneels in a robe decorated with fleur-de-lis. Young Henry wears a cloak or monastic cowl. Benedictine records show that he was a boy postulant in the Benedictine monastery that adjoined the original St Mary’s Cathedral, seven years before his trip to England.

Only two of the three windows, those representing the children, survive.

The central panel representing Marianne Egan was destroyed in the fire that razed St Mary’s on 29 June 1865. It depicted the Blessed Virgin, beneath whose feet was ‘a figurative representation of the wreck, with the mother and two children about to be engulfed by the waves’ (SMH 29/12/1860). The two surviving panels were sent to the Benedictine nun’s convent Subiaco at Rydalmere, and in 1980 were transferred to the chapel of the new Benedictine monastery at Arcadia in Sydney’s north-west, where they remain as an important feature today.

The 20-year-old’s Victorian sidewhiskers depicted in the glass panel may have bemused some 20th or 21st-century viewers – until compared with the likenesses in the family oil portrait, when the young man’s light, youthful beard is confirmed. It’s not impossible to believe that this portrait may have been the reference for the stained glass painter.

But ultimately it’s the humanity and fragility of these young lives that touches us most, knowing that soon they would be lost with their mother beneath the terrible waves at the foot of the sandstone sea cliffs of South Head.

Their text reads ‘PRAY FOR THE SOULS OF MARIAN EGAN AND HER CHILDREN HENRY

With thanks to Brother Terry Kavenagh of St Benedict’s Monastery, Arcadia, for access to his research notes.

AND GERTRUDE CAHNAC DROWNED IN THE WRECK OF THE

DUNBAR ON THE

SOUTH HEAD OF PORT JACKSON ON

20TH 1857’. Note the possible misspelling of the name.

MARCH

Dunbar 1857 – disaster on our doorstep is available from The Store for $30 (Members $27) Page 37

Family, farms and feasts Robert Fedrigo has encouraged many of his extended family to take their place on the Welcome Wall. Here he pays tribute to his uncle Antonio Fedrigo, the family pioneer whose life revolved around supporting and encouraging other migrants from Italy.

WE’RE ALL familiar with the big wave of post-WWII Italian migration, but fewer know that in the 1920s Italians already viewed Australia as a land of opportunity. My uncle, Antonio Fedrigo, was one of those. He arrived in Sydney in October 1927 at the age of 30, from Corbolone in the northern Italian province of Venezia. He first shared a modest house at Ryde with two families from his home town, the Crosariols and the Marins. I recall him saying that there was nothing here, just a lot of ‘bosc’ or bush. Outside the city of Sydney he remembered a lot of rough roads made up of continuous pot holes.

Within months of Antonio’s arrival his first cousin Beppi Fedrigo arrived, disembarking at Melbourne where he settled.

Beppi was later joined by his wife Antonietta. This was not uncommon. The men would find suitable accommodation and get established in the workplace before sending for their wives or fiancées. It also established a Sydney–Melbourne axis for our families, and years later it would become a routine to travel between Sydney and Melbourne at Christmas for holidays and special functions.

In Sydney Uncle Antonio accepted any work that was available.

Regular work was hard to come by, however, so most new arrivals found work on farms. For the next 11 years Antonio lived at Leo Buring Wines at Emu Plains working as a gardener and caretaker until about 1938. Times were tough so you travelled to wherever the work was available. He later spent two years in Lismore working as a farmhand. On his visits to Sydney he lived with the Crosariol and Marin families at Fairfield, in Page 38

their large old home that was divided to accommodate a number of families. This was a common practice of the times, offering support to newer arrivals.

My uncle found Australians friendly and welcoming. His easygoing nature allowed him to build good rapport with locals, and he became an enthusiastic ambassador for his new country. He visited Italy in 1938, assisting other friends and family with their travel arrangements and later returning to Australia in March 1939. He spoke highly of Australia and how it provided stable employment and opportunities, motivating many family and friends to travel to our shores.

During the ensuing war years (1939–45) Uncle Antonio lived and worked at the Christian Brothers Seminary at Campbelltown where he also secured work for a family friend, Toni Martin.

This position allowed him to avoid being interned, unlike many other Italian migrants during these years when Australia was at war with Italy.

Around 1948 he moved to Orchard Hills near Penrith, where his brother-in-law Attilio Crosariol purchased a large farm. He helped in the vineyard and as the chef for some 15 nieces and nephews as they worked the farm. Antonio possessed an exotic flair for cooking, serving up wild game, freshwater eels and snails. Years later Attilio sold this farm to the Zaccaria family whose daughter married the now-famous Sydney chef Beppi Polese, considered the patriarch of Italian restaurants in Sydney where Beppi’s is an institution. Much of its fresh farm produce came from the farm where my uncle had worked.

SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

The museum’s tribute to migrants, The Welcome Wall, encourages people to recall and record their stories of coming to live in Australia.

LEFT TO RIGHT:

Antonio Fedrigo (1897–1983) (second) from left with his brother-in-law Attilio Crosariol (in black shirt), montaged on the liner Citta di Genova that brought them to Australia. Photographs courtesy Robert Fedrigo Author’s father Pasquale Fedrigo and friend Johnny.

Antonio Fedrigo: pioneer migrant, advisor and helper.

An extended family gathering for the annual grape harvest at Penrith in the 1950s.

In 1952 Antonio joined with his nephews Edovilio and Pasquale Fedrigo (my father) and Guido Calderan to buy a 2.5-acre farm at St Johns Park near Cabramatta. This allowed each nephew to own part of their own home until they could afford to establish

This was the big era of migration for the next generation of Italian citizens, for whom there seemed little scope for employment and prosperity after the war. In his travels back to Italy Antonio continued to convey stories of hope and opportunity, putting Australia high on the list for many prospective migrants from his extended family.

The early years were undoubtedly difficult for most of the newcomers since they needed to master a new language, learn new skills and adopt a new country with different customs and traditions. The large family unit provided much-needed support and camaraderie for all. As the families expanded with the births of the first Aussie generation, gatherings and family functions were regular.

The most memorable family custom was the wine-making ritual.

Each year in March, six or eight family groups would travel to our Uncle Attilio’s farm near Penrith to pick grapes. We’d arrive on Sunday at the break of dawn and work till about 11.00 am.

We’d have a break mid-morning and enjoy some lovely food – not to mention fresh grapes from the vine. The work was accompanied by story telling, some off-key singing, some problem-solving and always plenty of jokes. The grape-crushing phase began about midday, and with many helpers it was all done by 1.00 pm and then it was reward time with a huge lunch and a relaxing afternoon. It was a great adventure and experience for us young kids and a day full of fun and enjoyment for everyone.

Uncle Toni was always the focal point of such gatherings and received tremendous respect from all. He was an extremely humble man of simple means, poor in education – he had just four years of schooling – but rich in many other ways. An intuitive man with a store of natural abilities, he was someone who saw a challenge and found a solution. With no tuition he mastered four musical instruments and kept many people entertained. He was a storyteller and a prankster, an advisor and a helper always ready to pass on his lifelong experiences and knowledge.

He possessed an exotic flair for cooking, serving up wild game, fresh water eels and snails independent households. Although they didn’t yet own a car they built a garage that had a polished timber floor and a separate store room used as a kitchenette. It provided accommodation for newly arrived families until they could save enough to purchase their own homes. Many decades later I got to park my first car in it!

Antonio was an excellent cook and tutored all the new brides who visited the household on how to cook certain provincial dishes, and which ingredients to use. The small dining table regularly sat 13 of us for dinner and lunch over the years.

Family gatherings were always exciting and it was a great joy for to him to be surrounded by nephews and nieces.

From about 1955 until he retired he worked for the railways and was stationed at Scarborough near Port Kembla. His position enabled him to secure employment for many family members who came from Italy. He would commute by steam train back to Liverpool every two weeks and spend the weekends with family.

SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

Here was a pioneer and adventurer who risked uncertainty for an opportunity in a new land which he adopted as his home, and then became pivotal to many others who came to share that experience of a new life in Australia.

It costs just $105 to register a name and honour your family’s arrival in this great country! We’d love to add your family’s name to the Welcome Wall, cast in bronze, and your story to the online database at www.anmm.gov.au/ww. So please don’t hesitate to call Helen Jones during business hours with any enquiries regarding the project on 02 9298 3777.

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OFF-WATCH READING A FRENCH ECCENTRIC John Dunmore, From Venus to Antarctica: The Life of Dumont d’Urville, Exisle Publishing, Auckland, 2007, ISBN 978 0 9 08988 71 6, pp. 252, maps, black and white plates, bibliography, index. $49.95 from The Store (Members $44.96)

THE FRENCH explorer Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d’Urville (1790–1842) made several visits to Australia and the Pacific, and was a significant early Antarctic explorer. He was also an important ethnographer and naturalist in our region.

There have been several biographies of this remarkable man, including those by French historians Camille Vergniol (1931), Jacques Guillon (1986) and Yves Jacob (1995). Although Dumont d’Urville is absent from the Australian Dictionary of Biography, translator Helen Rosenman introduced him to Australian readers through her impressive two-volume work Two Voyages to the South Seas (1987). And Susan Hunt, Martin Terry and Nicholas Hunt produced a beautiful and informative catalogue, Lure of the Southern Seas, for an exhibition on Dumont d’Urville’s voyages held at the Museum of Sydney in 2003. Nevertheless, this book by New Zealand historian Professor John Dunmore, now in his 85th year, is the first biographical work of its kind in English.

Dumont d’Urville was born less than a year after the beginning of the French Revolution in Condé-sur-Noireau (Normandy). He entered the French navy in November 1807. Although he was initially based in Le Havre, he was soon transferred to Toulon, and the Mediterranean became the focus of his service during the remaining years of the Napoleonic Wars. In 1816 he began hydrographic work as an ensign on the Chevrette in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. During this mission he visited the small Greek island of Milos and became aware of the recent discovery, by a local farmer, of an astonishing classical statue which we now know as the Venus de Milo. In Constantinople he convinced the French ambassador to acquire this priceless treasure for the Louvre and for his services he was decorated with the Légion d’Honneur.

Promoted lieutenant, he served as second in command to Louis Isidore Duperrey on the Coquille’s 1822–25 circumnavigation and made his first voyage to Australia, where he crossed the Blue Mountains with the naturalist René Lesson. They would gather a valuable collection of 3,000 plants and 11,000 insects during their voyage. D’Urville was promoted captain in 1825 and given personal command of the Coquille – which was rechristened Astrolabe – and charged with searching for the remains of La Pérouse’s expedition. This brought him back to Australia in 1826 and 1827. By the time he returned to France in March 1829, he had gathered another rich bounty of 7,000 plant and 10,000 zoological specimens from the Pacific, and had confirmed the fate of his missing compatriot. The following year he escorted the recently deposed King Charles X to exile in England.

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Dumont d’Urville was a very self-contained, reflective individual and not given to putting on airs. Some may have considered him eccentric. Professor Dunmore quotes the naturalist René Lesson (as translated by Helen Rosenman) who recorded an amusing description of his dressing habits: He added the indifference of a tramp to his appearance … his everyday wear was shabbier than that of the sailors, which was very careless in those days. So this rough covering would give rise to some funny misunderstandings when English officers would come aboard to greet the commander of the French ship. The punctiliousness of the British officers for the uniform is well-known, and it often happened that they were greeted on the deck and on equal terms by a tall untidy man, without stockings or cravat, wearing torn duck trousers, and unbuttoned twill coat, the whole outfit crowned by an old straw hat full of holes. I always marvelled at the effect of the word ‘lieutenant’ whispered in the ear of the visitor and the subsequent start of surprise. The misunderstanding tickled him and pleased him no end.

SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

In 1837 Dumont d’Urville departed France yet again for southern waters. During this voyage he reached two parts of the Antarctic coast and named one portion ‘Terre Adélie’ in honour of his wife. He returned to France with yet another rich bounty of scientific specimens. One of these was his Tongan friend and passenger Malfi, who died aboard the Astrolabe. Dumont d’Urville declared he ‘was dearly loved by all and was sincerely regretted’, but added, ‘His body was preserved in a barrel of brandy and he forms part of the collection deposited in the Museum of Natural History.’ While some will criticise Dumont d’Urville for turning the human remains of indigenous peoples into museum exhibits – the repatriation of which is currently a pressing issue in the museum world – it seems to have been a case of ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’.

During this final voyage he also bequeathed his own head to his friend, the surgeon Dumoutier who was a practitioner of the pseudo-science of phrenology.

Tragically, 18 months later, Dumont d’Urville, his wife and their young son would all die in one of the first railway catastrophes in history: derailed at Meudon on 8 May 1842, they were trapped in their locked carriage and burnt to death as fire swept through the wreckage. Ironically, it was the phrenologist Dumoutier, already familiar with the admiral’s skull, who was able to identify his remains!

Professor Dunmore’s book is the last in a trilogy of biographical studies of major French explorers that he has written for Exisle Publishing, the others being on Bougainville and La Pérouse.

Both earlier volumes bear the mark of authoritative scholarship, including substantial journal translations. In this present biography Dunmore has essentially told his story using secondary sources (especially the earlier French biographies of Vergniol, Guillon and Jacob, and the translations of Olive Wright and Helen Rosenman). He has done a good job

intermingled with the posterity of England, will not themselves become a powerful people … Then these shores, at present without human habitation except a few isolated pas, will be alive with flourishing cities, these bays of unbroken silence, crossed occasionally by frail canoes, will be highways for ships of every type. And a few centuries hence, were it not that printing will record by its indestructible means the deeds and discoveries of modern times, future members of the Academy of New Zealand would not fail to argue laboriously over the narratives of the earliest explorers, when they found them speaking of the wilderness, lands, and the savages of their country.

Professor Dunmore also devotes another chapter to Dumont d’Urville’s novel The New Zealanders. Unpublished in his own lifetime, this novel first appeared as a translation by Carol Legge in Wellington, in 1992. Dunmore is puzzled how the manuscript came into the possession of a merchant captain named Salvy before being acquired by the naval archives in 1884. Louis de Salvy was in fact Madame d’Urville’s nephew and he inherited the manuscript along with other original documents belonging to the explorer in 1842.

Some readers may be surprised that only five and a half pages are devoted to Dumont d’Urville’s childhood. The explorer grew up in tumultuous times and there is a great deal more that can be said about his early years, his parents, his relations with his family, his studies, his political and religious views, his ethnological and linguistic ideas and his scientific work. Such details would better help to explain the man. Dunmore tells us that he was ‘not a political animal’, that despite his noble origins he had ‘always stood aside from the political unrest of his day’ and that he had ‘not been involved in the Bonapartist and anti-Bonapartist arguments of the 1810s’. Yet he clearly supported the Revolution of 1830 and accepted responsibility for taking Charles X into exile. Dunmore at times hints at Bonapartist sympathies or at least ambitions to bring the late emperor’s remains back from the island of Saint Helena. Perhaps Dumont d’Urville should have the last word. In a memoir the explorer wrote in the 1830s, he referred to his spirit as ‘naturally republican’. He also admitted that at the beginning of the Revolution of 1830, his ‘possibly immoderate ardor inspired him with very advanced opinions’.

He added the indifference of a tramp to his appearance … his everyday wear was shabbier than that of the sailors, which was very careless in those days condensing the expeditions in the main body of his biography; the result is an easy read, aided by the large font chosen by his publisher. It is also pleasing to find an entire chapter on the voyage of the Coquille under Duperrey. This is an expedition that has been little studied by Pacific historians. Not surprisingly, since this book is by a New Zealand scholar, there is an entire chapter on Dumont d’Urville’s visit to New Zealand in 1827. In that year the explorer foresaw great things for both Australia and New Zealand and wrote whimsically, but presciently: If, as everything leads one to think, Australia is destined to become the seat of a great empire, it is inconceivable that New Zealand should not follow her impetus, and that her children, civilised and SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

This biography is also a summary of intersecting life stories.

Dumont d’Urville sailed with a number of remarkable men who deserve to be better known in Australia. Professor Dunmore’s book offers a welcome introduction to these men and to Dumont d’Urville’s three circumnavigations.

Reviewed by Dr Edward Duyker, winner of the 2007 Frank Broeze Memorial Maritime History Book Prize, awarded by this museum and the Australian Association of Maritime History, for his biography of French explorer François Péron.

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COLLECTIONS William Bligh’s signet ring On Australia Day this year we noted the 200th anniversary of the misnamed ‘rum rebellion’, another nadir in the fiery career of William Bligh. A recent acquisition, detailed here by curator Dr Nigel Erskine, is a more domestic memento of this controversial figure in our history.

LATE LAST YEAR the Australian National Maritime Museum purchased a significant piece of Australian history in the form of a signet ring originally belonging to William Bligh. After his death the ring was given by Bligh’s daughter, Fanny, to one of his supporters from the stormy period in our history that came to be known as the Rum Rebellion. Interest in the life of William Bligh remains unabated, and the story of Bligh’s ring adds another element to it.

William Bligh (1754–1817) is most notoriously remembered for the mutiny aboard the Bounty in April 1789 and his subsequent extraordinary, 3,000-mile open-boat voyage to Timor. However, a decade earlier, Bligh had sailed as master aboard HMS Resolution during James Cook’s third and final Pacific voyage, and between 1791 and 1793 he voyaged again to Tahiti and successfully transported the first breadfruit trees to the West Indies. Bligh returned to an England at war with revolutionary France and he served with distinction at the battles of Camperdown (1797) and Copenhagen (1801).

Despite these successes, however, Bligh’s reputation became tarnished as public sentiment moved to favour Fletcher Christian, whose actions leading up to his takeover of the Bounty were publicly defended by his brother Edward. In 1804 Bligh’s reputation was dealt a further blow when a court martial found him to have acted unreasonably in ordering his second lieutenant aboard HMS Warrior to maintain his watch though listed as sick. One effect of the case was to reveal publicly Bligh’s explosive temper and immoderate language. It must have seemed a blessing to Bligh when his patron Sir Joseph Banks recommended his appointment as Governor of New South Wales in 1805. As it turned out, it was the beginning of another fiery episode in the life of William Bligh.

the use of government-maintained labour on private farms.

Bligh, however, was criticised for benefiting from the use of ‘free’ convict labour on his own farm on the Hawkesbury.

Bligh arrived in Port Jackson in 1806 and succeeded Governor King. His wife remained in England and he was accompanied by Mary Putland, one of his six daughters. Among the pressing issues confronting him were hardships caused by flooding of the Hawkesbury River and a shortage of convict labour. Bligh quickly introduced relief measures for flood-affected settlers, followed later by laws curtailing the use of rum as a currency in the colony. Other reforms included greater regulation of shipping, scrutiny of land title documents, and prohibitions on

To many officers of the New South Wales Corps, Bligh’s reforms were an unwelcome threat to the status quo that had allowed them to operate profitable ventures in the colony with little government control or restriction. Prominent among these was the former Corps officer John Macarthur, whose business interests by 1806 included wool, whaling and the pork trade.

Macarthur and Bligh soon clashed, and when Macarthur failed to pay a shipping bond designed to prevent convict stowaways escaping the colony, he was committed for trial in January 1808.

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SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

At the hearing Macarthur claimed the judge-advocate was his debtor and an enemy, incapable of presiding impartially over the trial. His claim was supported by the six New South Wales Corps officers who made up the court, and the trial adjourned in stalemate. Bligh ordered Major George Johnston, senior officer of the New South Wales Corps, to discipline the officers involved, but his order was ignored. The standoff came to a head

who sailed for England with Bligh aboard HMS Hindostan to give evidence in the court martial of Major Johnston. Another signatory was John Turnbull, ancestor of the former federal Minister for the Environment, Malcolm Bligh Turnbull. When John Turnbull’s wife Ann gave birth to a son in June 1808, he was named William Bligh Turnbull in honour of the deposed governor, and the name Bligh continued to be incorporated in the names of Turnbull males through succeeding generations.

One effect of the case was to reveal publicly Bligh’s explosive temper and immoderate language on 26 January 1808 – the young colony’s 20th anniversary of founding – when Bligh again ordered Johnston to act, but received instead a request that he appoint a new judge-advocate and release Macarthur on bail.

Bligh angrily warned Johnston that he considered these actions treasonable. In the late afternoon Johnston ordered Macarthur’s release and marched to Government House at the head of the New South Wales Corps to arrest Governor Bligh. They were hindered briefly by Bligh’s parasol-wielding daughter Mary, and subsequent events led to an accusation of cowardice – the infamous claim that he was dragged from under his bed, which his supporters have always strongly denied.

The mutiny certainly cast a further shadow over Bligh’s name, although he was later exonerated after his return to England.

Vocal among Bligh’s supporters was the free settler George Suttor. He was the main force behind a petition sent to Viscount Castlereagh, Secretary of State for the Colonies, in November calling for the reinstatement of Governor Bligh, who was still under house arrest. In 1810 Suttor was one of several witnesses William Bligh’s gold signet ring in its original case, with the letter from daughter Fanny Bligh in which she gifted it to a supporter. Photographer A Frolows/ANMM

Following his court martial Johnston was cashiered, and John Macarthur would not return to Australia until 1817. Many years later, we believe during the period 1839 to 1845, Bligh’s daughter Frances (Fanny) wrote the following letter to his supporter and ally George Suttor.

For Geo Suttor Esq. sent with a small packet from the Misses Bligh 30 June 32 Bryant Crescent My Dear Sir It would have been a great gratification to me and my sister Jane, although a sad one, to have taken a personal farewell of you today. We would also have asked you to have allowed us to have put on your finger an antique ring which formerly belonged to our dear Father, as the most acceptable token we can think of as a memento of our grateful remembrance of you, your faithfulness and integrity.

May I ask of you to do us the favour to accept of this ring, and to feel assured that we most heartily desire that the best blessings may be vouchsafed with you and your family. We would also by it wish you a prosperous voyage and happy meeting with your other children.

I remain My Dear Sir With affectionate regards Most truly yours Fanny Bligh

The gold ring features an intaglio classical head engraved in a bloodstone and remains in its original case bearing a cartouche trade label of London jeweller John Miers. Miers was a renowned painter of miniature profiles and had his shop at 111 the Strand, opposite the landmark Exeter Exchange. George Suttor returned to New South Wales in 1812 and William Bligh died in 1817. It appears that Bligh’s daughters Fanny and Jane gifted their father’s ring to Suttor during the period 1839 to 1845 when Suttor visited England.

The ring and letter of provenance recall Bligh’s service in Australia and are poignant reminders of the crisis in authority which threatened the young colony 200 years ago, on 26 January, 1808. They went on display in time for the Australia Day long weekend this year.

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CURRENTS All hands aboard the keyboard Signals editor Jeffrey Mellefont was asked to judge the best article submitted by museum volunteers for their quarterly magazine All Hands.

AT THE END of each year there’s a remarkable scene when hundreds of diners pack a vast marquee erected on our north wharf for the annual Christmas lunch for our valued museum volunteers, who guide our visitors and help us with a myriad behind-thescenes tasks. Along with pre-prandial drinks and a three course meal, awards are handed out for various levels of service. We are truly fortunate to have this huge body of volunteers whose varied maritime experiences, along with their enthusiasm and passion for the sea, injects a genuine dose of salt and tar into the veins of the museum.

This year the volunteers manager Peter Wood (an old salt himself) asked me to judge an inaugural award for the best article or story submitted to the volunteers own quarterly magazine All Hands. This is a lively journal written and produced by the volunteers, for the volunteers, ever since the museum opened to the public. It has grown to become a substantial publication and its variety of

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subject matter reflects those diverse maritime memories and interests that our volunteers bring to us. All Hands is coordinated, edited, laid out and distributed by a committee currently comprising Alex Books, Michael Collyer, Hayley Mannett, Jenny Patel, Ray Spinks, Byron Mitchell and David Van Kool.

With scrupulous integrity, none of the excellent stories contributed by the All Hands committee members were offered for judging, to avoid any suggestion of favour.

It was a great pleasure to read these stories and to judge them I enlisted the assistance of my esteemed colleague Dr Wendy Wilkins, who has worked on several of our museum publications, since she is the most literate and literary person I know in this museum! It was hard to pick the best but we agreed that several of them deserved commendation.

Herman Willhemsen’s insights into the origins of the SOS distress call sign was fascinating, dispelling myths and providing key information. John Papenhuyzen’s tales of typhoons – among his other recollections of seafaring – made riveting reading. Sam Calandra’s contributions were both funny and moving, and very well written. Who can forget his encounter with a very indignant seagull? And Albert Danon’s ‘Christmas

Cheer’ had us laughing out loud, which is a sure sign of effective writing.

Several of our contributors showed insights and appreciation of the sailing traditions of different cultures. Vera Taylor was one, with her poetic ‘The beginning of sail’, and so did John Lea’s extremely well-researched and footnoted tales of Pacific maritime heritage.

Brian Gallie added skilled drawings to his detailed account of the Chesapeake Bay’s unique sail-powered fishing boats.

But in the end the judges gave the award to Graham Walton’s wonderful tale of a lost dinner when he was a young AB on HMAS Vendetta, the sister-ship of our museum’s own Daring class destroyer, ex-HMAS Vampire.

We found his story to be funny, well-crafted, self-effacing but with a sting in the tail as he encountered a moral dilemma – and we would now like to share Graham’s story, and dilemma, with the readers of Signals.

It’s reproduced opposite, just as it appeared in All Hands.

In the sailor’s dining hall on the museum’s Daring class destroyer Vampire, museum visitor Sven Bartsch from Hamburg occupies the fateful fore-and-aft mess table – just like the one on sistership Vendetta where Graham Walton’s Dinner for one occurred. Photographer J Mellefont/ANMM

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SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

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CURRENTS Who do you think Jack Thompson is?

Helping a researcher visiting the museum’s Vaughan Evans Library led to a television sequence for the SBS series Who do you think you are?, write librarians Frances Prentice and Gillian Simpson.

IT IS USUAL for curators and staff of this museum’s Vaughan Evans Library to assist people doing background research for books, films and TV programs – work which often goes uncredited! In August 2006 Artemis Films’ researcher Robyn Smith visited the library to enlist our help for research that would feature in the first program in the SBS television genealogy series Who do you think you are? Since a huge amount of our research enquiries are from family historians, this was an exciting concept for our library staff.

We knew of the success of the British series it was based on, and the huge wave of public interest in family history that it had stimulated across Britain.

As the identity of the celebrity whose family history we were researching was a secret, library staff were asked to sign a confidentiality agreement which required us not to mention our involvement until the program had been screened.

Robyn’s initial appointment was to search the library’s microfilms of Lloyd’s Captains Registers for a 19th-century sea captain called Tom Pain. Identifying ancestors with names as common as Tom can be a challenge. Captain Pain could have been entered as either Tom, Thos. or Thomas and indeed there were two Pains listed. Once the correct captain had been identified, his service records were located on the registers.

Of the five vessels listed between 1875 and 1884, Tom was mate on three of them and master of two.

Robyn’s research concentrated on the ships Pain had commanded, Lady Bowen and Sharpshooter. To locate details of these vessels library staff guided her to Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping and the Australian Register of British Ships.

Microfilms were searched for the movements of both vessels on Lloyd’s List for the years of Tom’s appointments, and these provided arrival dates in Sydney of voyages from Canada and the United States.

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Next the shipping news, published in the Sydney Morning Herald, was checked to flesh out details of these voyages. This is a source of a great deal of information for researchers, including dates and ports of departure, names of first-class passengers, types of cargo carried and events on the voyages. The Herald reported details of a gale that Captain Pain brought the Lady Bowen through in September 1881, arriving safely in Sydney on 3 October; they also showed evidence that Mrs Pain and two of their children had travelled with him on at least one voyage from Puget Sound in September 1882.

Tracing images of Captain Pain’s ships for the program was problematic as there were several vessels named Lady Bowen.

The correct one was identified at the National Library of Australia, using the Picture Australia website that is a gateway to images in many Australian collections (www.pictureaustralia.org). No images were located for the Sharpshooter, so the focus of the program research remained with Lady Bowen, decided by the materials available for filming.

In late September some of the production team arrived to discuss filming that included plans for a ‘piece to camera’ featuring library staff, and filming the still-nameless celebrity in the library. Library equipment was duly rearranged to give the best possible lighting

Librarians Gillian Simpson and Frances Prentice comb the records.

Photographer J Mellefont/ANMM

for filming. Shooting would also take place on board the tall ship James Craig and so John Simpson, Sydney Heritage Fleet’s general manager, was taken into our confidence. The day for filming arrived and we discovered whose ancestor Captain Pain was – the actor Jack Thompson!

As often happens with these things, our ‘piece to camera’ didn’t make it past the editing booth and we never did get to meet Jack Thompson, but our library resources had their minutes of fame when the program was shown on SBS on 13 January this year – attracting a record 863,000 viewers, the largest audience share for a local production for SBS ever. It was great to be part of it all, to see the results of our research on screen and watch Jack Thompson’s reactions as his family history journey unfolded.

If you are interested in researching your own family history, start by checking our research guides on the museum’s webpage at www.anmm.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=89.

Then contact Gillian Simpson, public enquiries librarian, to arrange a visit to the Vaughan Evans Library (open to the public by appointment Monday–Friday and first Saturday of the month 10 am–4 pm).

SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

SPONSORS Bringing our bateaux Arnaud Fux courtesy Musée national de la Marine

THE MUSEUM is pleased to introduce Specific Freight as a new sponsor and welcomes back Cathay Pacific Cargo, both supporting the transport needs of our latest headline exhibition, Bateaux Jouets – toy boats from Paris 1850–1950. Australian-owned Specific Freight shares an interest in the arts and has global clients such as the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of New Zealand. The company handles a vast variety of cargo requiring delicate and careful handling including fresh fruit and vegetables, frozen and live seafood, live animals such as horses, sheep, cattle and even kangaroos, and high-value and time-dependent pharmaceuticals. They also transport prestige and concept vehicles and boats. Their expertise will ensure safe journeys for the delicate old creations of European toymakers that our visitors will see.

In 2005, returning sponsor Cathay Pacific Cargo transported our last big French

exhibition Génies de la Mer – masterpieces of French naval sculpture (like Bateaux Jouets, developed in collaboration with the Musée national de la Marine). Cathay Pacific Airways began in 1946 and now serves over 52 destinations for both passenger and cargo airfreight. Its cargo work varies from carrying stud horses between Australia and Ireland to moving high-value artwork for exhibitions.

Its current cargo fleet consists of seven Boeing B747-200 and 12 Boeing B747-400 freighters, carrying payloads of up to 119 tons over a nine-hour sector. On the two-deck aircraft the main deck (where museum couriers would normally sit) carries up to 30 containers of 17 cubic metres, and in the belly up to 32 of the 4.5-cubic-metre containers or nine 10-cubic-metre containers. Items up to three metres in height can be carried on the main deck, and if the aircraft is fitted with a nose door very long items such as yacht masts can be accommodated.

Corporate Members of the museum Admiral Memberships Abloy Security Pty Ltd CHAMP Pty Ltd Leighton Holdings

Commodore Memberships Hapag Lloyd (Australia) P/L Trace Personnel

Captain Memberships Art Exhibitions Australia Ltd Asiaworld Shipping Services Pty Ltd Australia Japan Cable Ltd DSTO Aeronautical & Research Laboratory Ferris Skrzynski & Associates P/L HMAS Albatross Welfare Fund HMAS Creswell HMAS Kuttabul

SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

HMAS Newcastle HMAS Vampire Association HMAS Waterhen HMAS Watson Welfare Fund LOPAC Pty Limited Maritime Workers of Australia Credit Union Maritime Union of Australia (NSW Branch) Maruschka Loupis & Associates Middle Harbour Yacht Club Naval Association of Australia Canterbury-Bankstown Sub Section Penrith Returned Services League Pivod Technologies Pty Ltd Royal Caribbean & Celebrity Cruises SME Regimental Trust Fund Svitzer Australasia Sydney Pilot Service Pty Ltd Thales Underwater Systems P/L Zim Shipping Australasia

Museum sponsors Princial sponsor ANZ Australian Customs Service State Forest of NSW

Major sponsors Akzo Nobel Blackmores Ltd Raytheon Australia Pty Ltd Tenix Pty Ltd

Sponsors Australian Maritime Safety Authority Abloy Security Bill and Jean Lane BT Australasia Centenary of Federation Institution of Engineers Australia Louis Vuitton Speedo Australia Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics

Project sponsors ABLOY Australia Cathay Pacific Cargo CSIRO Forrest Training Harbourside Darling Harbour ‘K’ Line Lloyd’s Register Asia MCS Maritime Union of Australia Maxwell Optical Industries Mediterranean Shipping Company Mercantile Mutual Holdings Patrick Penrith Lakes Development Corp Philips Electronics Australia SBS Scandinavian Airlines Shell Companies in Australia Specific Freight Sydney by Sail Visions of Australia – Commonwealth Govt Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation

Founding patrons Alcatel Australia ANL Limited Ansett Airfreight Bovis Lend Lease BP Australia Bruce & Joy Reid Foundation Doyle’s Seafood Restaurant Howard Smith Limited James Hardie Industries PG, TG & MG Kailis National Australia Bank P&O Nedlloyd Telstra Westpac Banking Corporation Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics Zim Shipping Australasia

Donors Grant Pirrie Gallery State Street Australia

Page 47

From the Director

THE LEADING article in this issue of Signals reports in detail on our restoration of Taipan, the revolutionary 1959 18-foot skiff designed by one of Australia’s giants of yacht design, the self-taught genius Bob Miller (later Ben Lexcen). The boat’s public re-launching ceremony and demonstration sail, 48 years to the day since it was first launched, was a marvelous success.

It gave us the opportunity to publicly pay tribute to the team that did such a magnificent job – and what a superb team effort it was! It brought together a coalition that drew on the experience

Mary-Louise Williams

The launch of the museum’s newly restored historic 18-foot skiff Taipan drew a large crowd of yachting enthusiasts and media.

Holding the champagne is America’s Cup legend John Bertrand.

With him is Carl Ryves who campaigned Taipan in 1960, and took a leading role in its restoration. Photographer J Mellefont/ANMM

campaign, and inspired our most ambitious on-line marketing campaign to date with its catchline ‘Who iced Ötzi?’ This included Ötzi’s own MySpace page playing his favourite hiphop number, Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice, and listing forensic archaeology at the top of his interests. In the words of one of the bloggers on Ötzi’s site, ‘Thanx for keeping ancient history fun!’

He inspired our ambitious on-line marketing campaign with its catchline ‘Who iced Ötzi?’ and knowledge of the yachting community, specialist heritage craft shipwrights and maritime museum professionals. And it allowed us to once again thank the many generous supporters whose donations in cash and kind made the project possible.

I THINK WE’RE likely to remember the holiday season that’s just passed as the summer of the Iceman – Ötzi, the 5,300-yearold neolithic hunter who was murdered and mummified in the snow and ice of the Austro-Italian Alps. He came to us (in detailed replica – he’s a bit too fragile to travel in person any more) in an exhibition from the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology. And he attracted an astonishing degree of interest from a whole range of people, many of whom came to the museum just to see him. ‘Where’s Ötzi?’ people were asking all summer, and our visitors book filled with comments such as ‘Just loved Ötzi!’ and ‘Ötzi was excellent!’ As soon as the holidays ended we were booked out with visiting school groups keen to learn about the copper age. He certainly had a high profile right across town in a very visible poster advertising Page 48

THE NEW GOVERNMENT in Canberra has seen a change in the portfolio which administers the Australian National Maritime Museum, a Commonwealth statutory authority.

We are now part of the newly restructured Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts whose minister is Peter Garret, best-known to Australians for decades as leader of the rock group Midnight Oil. We’re delighted to have a new minister who’s on the record with a strong interest in the arts and look forward to welcoming him to the museum – often, we hope, since he’s Sydney based.

This museum and the other national collecting institutions have long been located in the arts portfolio, but we have had a growing involvement with the heritage department over recent years particularly in the area of historic shipwrecks which it administers. Moving the heritage portfolio under the same roof will create synergies and improve coordination, and we look forward to continued involvement in national programs reaching communities right around Australia.

SIGNALS 82 March–May 2008

Online shopping now available safely and securely at www.anmm.gov.au ... click on SHOP. Hundreds of books … something for everyone … from key rings to shipmodels and boating clothes … friendly service … mail order … Members discounts!

We’re open 9.30 am to 5.00 pm seven days a week. To contact our helpful staff phone 02 9298 3698 or fax orders to 02 9298 3675 or email mlee@anmm.gov.au

Nautical naughts and crosses in brass-inlaid box $25.00 Members $22.50

Boxed brass sextant, 5˝, the perfect corporate gift $99.95 Members $89.95

Russian Matryoshka dolls within dolls, sailor with wheel $59.95 Members $53.95

Dunoon English fine stoneware/bone china mugs, very nautical $49.95 Members $44.95

Steam tin tug boat $18.90 Members $17.00 Tin toy flying boat $20.00 Members $18.00

Check, mate! Russian navy chess set $120.00 Members $108.00

Tie land – signal flags, map of discovery and Bayeux tapestry. $79.95 Members $71.95

Keep your weather eye on this thermometer/hygrometer in brass shipwheel $150.00 Members $135.00

Esquisite enamelled lighthouse pill box$69.95 Members $62.95

The Museum Open daily except Christmas Day 9.30 am to 5.00 pm (January to 6.00 pm) Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia Phone 02 9298 3777 Facsimile 02 9298 3780

ANMM Council Chairman Mr Peter Sinclair AM CSC

Director Ms Mary-Louise Williams

Councillors Cdre S Gilmore CSC AM RAN Hon Brian Gibson AM Ms Gaye Hart AM Emeritus Professor John Penrose Mr John Rothwell AO Dr Andrew Sutherland Mrs Nerolie Withnall

Signals ISSN1033-4688 Editorial production Editor Jeffrey Mellefont 02 9298 3647 Assistant Editor Antonia Macarthur

Photography Staff photographer Andrew Frolows

Design & production Jeremy Austen, Austen Kaupe

Printer Printed in Australia by Pirion

Advertising enquiries Jeffrey Mellefont 02 9298 3647 Deadline end of January, April, July, October for issues March, June, September, December

Signals back issues The museum sells a selection of back issues of Signals. Back issues $4.00, 10 back issues $30.00.

Extra copies of current issue $4.95.

Call Matt Lee at The Store 02 9298 3698 Material from Signals may be reproduced only with the editor’s permission 02 9298 3647.

The Australian National Maritime Museum is a statutory authority of the Commonwealth Government. For more information contact us at: GPO Box 5131 Sydney NSW 2001 Australia

ANMM on the web www.anmm.gov.au