2013 Newsletter - Maritime Museum of Townsville

Newsletter of the
MARITIME MUSEUM OF TOWNSVILLE
2013
Just
like the amazing transformation that you see on TV, the
Museum has had its own makeover in recent months. It began late last
year when all of the furniture at the top of the Port Building was removed so
that the old carpet could be pulled up and the beautiful timbers underneath
were sanded and polished. These are the original floorboards from when
this building was the Harbour Master’s Office and was located at the Port.
Additionally, volunteer Ernie has painted the whole office, new storage
shelves were installed and the board room table was fitted with a new top.
New office furniture has added style to the makeover.
This is now a great, professional space for the administrative side of
running the Museum.
If you would like to hire our Boardroom for your next small corporate
function, call us at the Museum on 4721-5251.
Museum President – Mr Tony Manning
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
This newsletter marks another chapter in the history of our
Maritime Museum which was established by the former
Townsville Harbour Board some 27 years ago.
Sadly, as part of a cost cutting exercise directed by the State
Government, the Port of Townsville Limited cut our already limited
operational funding by $20,000pa in November last year.
The Museum does not receive any operational funding from the
Townsville City Council, the State Government or the Federal
Government. The only funding we currently receive is $25,000
from the Port of Townsville.
This funding is significantly less than the funding of $36,000pa
originally provided by the Townsville Harbour Board in 1986 when
the Museum was established. At that time the Museum was a
much smaller operation and the operating costs were much less.
In today’s terms this funding would be worth to the order of
$100,000.
The current Museum budget is based on total income of $73,000
and expenditure of $$96,000; an operating loss of $23,000pa.
Unless alternative sources of operating income can be found, the
Museum will be unable to continue trading sometime next year.
This would be a significant loss for Townsville as the Museum is
very highly regarded throughout the country as a “proper
museum” with some real artefacts and models.
To address the lack of funding I have recently undertaken
numerous meetings with government representatives and
business leaders and am hopeful that when we produce our next
newsletter I will have some better news of our funding situation.
Continued next page.................
Part of the large Open Day crowd
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Page
President’s Report
Thank you to our supporters
Museum Happenings
Sayings with Maritime Origin
Museum Open Day
Neville Rackemann 1934-2012
Birthday Celebrations
Phill’s Epic Adventures
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Newsletter of the Maritime Museum of Townsville
Many thanks must also go to committee member Yvonne Melville who has recently written numerous letters seeking
donations of financial support which hopefully will have some favourable results.
On a happier note I am most pleased to be able to report that our manager, Judy and her dedicated team of some 27
volunteers continue to do an outstanding job keeping our operation afloat. I cannot praise all of these people enough for
their truly dedicated efforts without which the Museum would truly falter.
I would be remiss in any newsletter if I did not mention the generosity of a number of people and organisations that have
made wonderful contributions to our volunteer Museum.
Just last month Kath Miller visited and left us with a cheque for $1,000 to assist with our costs. This follows on from previous
similar generous donations.
Following our open day earlier in the year and some publicity from Channel 7 about our financial plight, electrician Ian
Ferguson wandered in and offered his services to repair a range of electrical maintenance problems that had been
outstanding for some time and this saved us a considerable amount of money.
More recently our sewerage pump station failed leaving us in an embarrassing situation just prior to a major function, without
hesitation Andrew Hucker, Arthur Gleeson and Darryn Gleeson………….jumped in, not literally. They arranged for pumping
out many thousands of litres of septic sewage, sourced a replacement pump and re-commissioned the pump station prior to
our function. That really got us out of the sh….!
Furthermore, the lovely efforts of Jessica Howe of Channel 7 had a couple of articles on the Museum which resulted in some
good publicity.
My sincere and heartfelt thanks go to all these people and organisations for their wonderful community spirit and generous
donation of their time and energy.
Finally, Secretary Denise and I have just returned from an extended road trip to Canberra, Echuca and Sydney.
In Canberra we met with the Director of Strategic Studies and History for the Navy to discuss possible assistance for the
“Townsville” project. While no funding is available we were given some books and shown all of the archival history records of
Townsville, these are available to the Museum.
While in Canberra, we attended 25th Anniversary of the Canberra Model Shipwrights Exhibition a truly remarkable exhibition
with numerous outstanding models.
In Echuca we spent some time at the historical port and sailing on the Murray on a restored steam powered paddle steamer
which was another memorable experience.
Finally it was on to Sydney for the International Fleet Review celebrating the Centenary of the Royal Australian Navy and the
Tall Ships parade. This was an extraordinary event, the likes of which I will probably never see again in my lifetime.
THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS!
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As a not for profit volunteer organisation, the
Maritime Museum of Townsville relies heavily
on support from the community. We wish to
say a big thank you to our major corporate
supporters, the Port of Townsville, Kathleen
Miller and BHP Billiton Cannington. We would
also like to thank our other corporate
members, individual members and volunteers
for all that they contribute to the Museum .
Come down and meet Penny & Peter at
Reception
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Maritime Museum of Townsville, 42–68 Palmer Street, South Townsville 07-4721-5251 [email protected] www.townsvillemaritimemuseum.org.au
Newsletter of the Maritime Museum of Townsville
MUSEUM HAPPENINGS
“Whale Thong” – our whale’s tail made out of
thongs with songs
The senior curator of the Museum Mr. Rod Burgess
has been working in recent months on a display
featuring the Port of Townsville. The Maritime
Museum of Townsville was originally situated at the
port so this is a very fitting exhibit for us to be
presenting. The display will be opening towards the
end of the year Rod is assisted by junior curator Ms
Nicole Feely.
Rod also organised a service in March when we
commemorated the loss of the “Yongala” and the 122
people on board. The “Yongala” wreck continues to
be one of the world’s great dive sites and we receive
many enquiries here at the Museum about our
display.
This year’s Strand Ephemera People’s Choice Award
winning entry “Whale’s Thong” now has a new home
here at the Museum. Come down to Palmer Street
and have a look at this amazing sculpture.
COMMON SAYINGS WITH A MARITIME ORIGIN
We’ve all heard the expression ‘flogging a dead horse’ but most people do not
know where it originated. Like many sayings in common usage, the origin is
actually nautical. Dead Horse described that period of work on board a ship in
which seafarers had been paid in advance. Usually the men were paid a month’s
wages in advance when signing on for a voyage. This is the origin of the commonly
used phrase ‘to flog a dead horse’ which originally meant the vain attempt to get
extra work out of a ship’s crew while they were working off their ‘dead horse time’.
This term was common on board British merchant sailing vessels during the 18
th
and 19 centuries.
th
MUSEUM OPEN DAY
11 MAY 2013
Saturday 11 May was a beautiful autumn day here in Townsville and a perfect backdrop for our
Open Day at the Museum. The Open Day was held in conjunction with the National Trust of
Queensland and was designed to celebrate local heritage stories and sites. The Board, volunteers
and friends of the Museum worked hard to set up displays of model ships, wooden boats, vintage
cars, bikes and small recreational craft. Additionally, we had a folk band and an Irish band playing
during the day.
The members of the Wooden Boat Club who meet once a month here at the Museum ran boat
rides off our pontoon which were very popular with the children, as were the ice cream van and the
sausage sizzle! We had a raffle, also ran a small stall on the day selling some second hand items
and this was popular with people looking for a bargain.
We were privileged to have Mr. John Hathaway MP call in on the day and have a look around our
Museum. We had two TV stations come to film here and we were on the news that night.
Approximately 250 people came through the Museum on the day and all commented on the
quality of our exhibits and the beauty of our location. Many thanks go to all those connected with
the Museum and worked hard to make the so successful. Special mention must be made of Kay
and Anne Jaumees who cycled all around Townsville delivering our posters.
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Maritime Museum of Townsville, 42–68 Palmer Street, South Townsville 07-4721-5251 [email protected] www.townsvillemaritimemuseum.org.au
Newsletter of the Maritime Museum of Townsville
NEVILLE RACKEMANN
1934-2012
Towards the end of 2012 a
memorial service was held on
board the ex HMAS Townsville for
Neville Rackemann who passed
away last year. Neville had been a
member of the Royal Australian
Navy during his working life and
his family felt that a service on the
Townsville would be a fitting
tribute. Curator Rod Burgess in
association with the Mission to
Seafarers organized the service
during which Neville’s ashes were
scattered above Ross Creek from
the deck of ex HMAS Townsville.
Neville was an author and his
daughter Nadine has donated
copies of his book about his navy
life to the Museum for purchase
through reception.
LIFE
MEMBER
CELEBRATES
85TH
BIRTHDAY
Life Member Russell Melville
Cutting his birthday cake
Last year on Sunday 7th of October Russell Melville celebrated
his 85th birthday with relatives and friends at a barbeque held at
the Maritime Museum. Russell, as a member of the Seafarer’s
Association of Townsville became involved in research soon after
the Maritime Museum’s inception in July 1986. He spent some
years as a volunteer during Neville George’s time as
Administrator and later was a committee member, curator and
treasurer. Russell became a Life Member of the Museum in
1997. You will be pleased to know that Russell recently
celebrated his 86th birthday!!!
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Maritime Museum of Townsville, 42–68 Palmer Street, South Townsville 07-4721-5251 [email protected] www.townsvillemaritimemuseum.org.au
Newsletter of the Maritime Museum of Townsville
PHILL’S EPIC ADVENTURES
South Passage and the International Fleet Review
For those who don’t know, TMHS treasurer Phill Woodgate is amongst other things a volunteer
watch-leader on the Qld Sail Training Association’s tall ship the “South Passage”. Late in September
he joined “South Passage” on a voyage from Brisbane to Sydney where she met other tall ships
taking part in the Australian Navy’s International Fleet Review, a celebration of the Navy’s
centenary. This is his story:
I recently had the pleasure of sailing into Sydney Harbour on Queensland’s tall ship “South
Passage”, in a fleet of 14 tall ships from all over the world, on the first day of the Australian Navy’s
International Fleet Review. The Review celebrated the centenary of the formation of the Australian
Navy on 4th October, 1913, when a fleet of seven ships (one from each state) sailed into Sydney
Harbour to form the newly established Federation’s first naval fleet. It was an honour for me to be
chosen from the many volunteer watch-leaders of the Queensland Sail Training Association to be one
of 3 watch-leaders to take part in this voyage. We sailed from Brisbane to take part in the Review,
under charter by the Australian Defence Forces. On board were 6 “South Passage” crew and a
voyage crew (trainees) of 18 ADF personnel made up largely of young indigenous Australians. Five
of these had been recruited through the ADF’s Defence Indigenous Development Program. The
purpose of the DIDP is to give opportunities for ADF employment to indigenous Australians from
isolated communities. The five had previously sailed on “South Passage”. The whole crew boarded
“South Passage” at Manly boat harbour in Brisbane for two days of training in Moreton Bay. On the
third day we sailed through the Southport Seaway and down the coast to anchor in the Clarence River
for the night. Day four saw us sailing south to Coffs Harbour marina for an overnight berth to
replenish supplies. One of the principal aims of the charter was to illustrate the success of the DIDP
program. To this end, the trainees were to take control of the ship, under the mentorship of the
“South Passage” crew. So, a skipper, sailing master, navigator and three bosuns were selected from
the trainees at this point to take responsibility for the remaining voyage from Coffs Harbour to
Sydney.
Trainees “in charge” on day five, we sailed further south to the Camden Haven River at Laurieton for
an overnight anchorage before proceeding south to Port Stephens. After collecting stores in Nelson
Bay (Port Stephens) we headed out to Point Stephens for a spot of fishing before a short sail south to
the busy old trading port of Newcastle Harbour. The forecast for day 8 was a for strong nor ‘ west
change but there’s hardly a breath on the harbour as we motored downstream, dipped our ensign to
“Spirit of NZ” which lay alongside at Queen’s Wharf and raised all sail. On day 9 we sent the
dinghy ashore at Patonga Beach to collect our “pilot” for Sydney Harbour, John Davis. John is a
“South Passage” skipper of long standing and has a “Sydney Harbour local knowledge” endorsement
on his ticket, which exempts “South Passage” from needing a pilot when entering Sydney Harbour.
Day ten saw us refining the sailing skills of the trainees, practising tacking and gibing around Broken
Bay as well as putting in a man overboard drill to collect someone’s hat when it was blown
overboard. The evening found us moored in Coasters’ Retreat from where we watched “Spirit of NZ”
and “Picton Castle” sail into port. The day finished in high spirits when we all went ashore to enjoy a
barbeque. Day 11 dawned with an ominous pink sky. We were due off Sydney Heads at 09:00, so
we got underway at 06:00 for the 12 mile sail south accompanied by “Spirit of NZ” as we sailed past
Barrenjoey Headland and soon followed by “Picton Castle”.
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Maritime Museum of Townsville, 42–68 Palmer Street, South Townsville 07-4721-5251 [email protected] www.townsvillemaritimemuseum.org.au
Newsletter of the Maritime Museum of Townsville
As we approached Sydney Heads, sails could be seen converging on the area from all directions
and spectator craft gathered inside the heads, while helicopters buzzed low above with cameras
swivelling from their noses. The fleet of fourteen gradually fell into line as the navy’s own tall
ship “Young Endeavour” led us through the heads. She was followed by the replica “Bark
Endeavour”, then “South Passage” (the only ship in the fleet to make the entrance under sail)
“Soren Larsen” (Sydney), “Windward Bound” (Hobart), “Tecla” (Rotterdam), “Lord Nelson”
(UK), “Oosterschelde” (Rotterdam), “Spirit of NZ” (Auckland), “Lady Nelson” (Hobart), “Picton
Castle” (Cook Islands), “Europa” (Rotterdam), “Yukon” (Copenhagen), “James Craig” (Sydney)
and an unofficial entrant “Coral Trekker” (Airlie Beach).
We’d barely passed the heads when the southerly hit with a line squall, rain and a strong cold
wind! Our trainees lined the deck in naval tradition, bearing the cold wet conditions with humour
as we sailed up the harbour. We put in a number of tacks, close off Cremorne Point and Bradley’s
Head, pleasing the onlookers lining the headlands, parks and ferry wharves, as we waited our turn
to proceed under the bridge to our berth. Finally, as the skies cleared, we reached past Kirribilli
House under the famous bridge, dropped our sails off Lavender Bay and motored into Darling
Harbour to tie up in front of the National Maritime Museum. It was with considerable pride on
the part of all crew and trainees, the voyage came to an end but the party was only just starting.
The following day we took on a number of senior defence personnel and sailed down the harbour
for the main event. Together with the other tall ships and vessels that form the navies of 17
foreign countries, we greeted the seven Australian Navy ships re-enacting the first entry of
Australia’s Navy into Sydney Harbour 100 years ago on 4th October, 1913. The flotilla was met
with a 21 gun salute from Garden Island to which they replied with their own guns, while the Air
Force Roulettes carved patterns in the skies above.
Saturday saw more formal festivities on the harbour in the presence of the Governor General and
Prince Harry, culminating in a show of lights and fireworks over Sydney Harbour.
So, this ended as a momentous event in Australia’s history and for me the experience of a
lifetime to sail amidst a fleet of tall ships. My next adventure lies over the horizon on the Dutch
tall ship “Oosterschelde” – a 49 day voyage from Auckland to the Falkland Islands and around
Cape Horn! I will keep you posted.
Phill Woodgate
24/10/13
Senior Defence Personnel aboard “South
Passage” for the Fleet Review
“South Passage” moored at Darling Harbour
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Maritime Museum of Townsville, 42–68 Palmer Street, South Townsville 07-4721-5251 [email protected] www.townsvillemaritimemuseum.org.au