Queensland Maritime Museum Association

Autumn/Summer 2014

Installation of new Honorary Members at AGM

Left to right: George Buckingham,

Jack Duvoisin,

The Board of the museum decided that we have not appointed any Honorary Life members for some time. Therefore, it decided to recognise the contributions of 3 members this year. The board intends to make the appointment of Honorary Life members a regular event at future AGMs. The 3 nominations and their contributions are listed below. Honorary Life Members 2014 Keith Boulton Keith Boulton has made a significant contribution to the Museum in recent years. He has been a regular contributor to Maritime Manifest with

Keith Boulton

In this issue Installation of new Honorary Members Australian Maritime Museum Council Conference 2015

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QMM AGM

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Marquette Maritime Museum The Armstrong Guns

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WW1 100th Anniversary

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Enlistments and Crossing the Bar

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Life and Honorary Members

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Patron: His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC Governor of Queensland

Installation of new Honorary Members at AGM (cont.) Keith Boulton (cont.) well researched articles on a wide range of topics.

Keith is a trained safety officer and early in his time at QMM put up his hand to assist with our safety system. On a monthly basis Keith inspects the entire site carefully checking for safety hazards and safety breaches. It is a task that most of us do not see occurring but I can guarantee that Keith is meticulous. Invariably, each month he identifies something that needs attention and Alan and I are very grateful for his diligence as it is making a vital contribution to keeping this workplace as safe as possible. Keith has strived to make a positive contribution to the Museum across a range of areas and has always been prepared to help out. Black Beard Boulton is perhaps best known for his piracy and his nautical antics. There are insufficient adjectives to describe the meticulous attention and dedication has displayed to the planning and implementation of our Pirate Week program and the Mariners Day events for children. Keith, we congratulate you and thank you.

George Buckingham George Buckingham consistently demonstrates the highest levels of dedication to the Museum. In 2012 George was awarded the Bosun Marvin Curry Award by the Historic Naval Ships Association in recognition of his dedication to the upkeep of Diamantina. In 2006 when we had finally dry berthed Diamantina after she had been afloat Maritime Manifest Autumn / Summer 2014

for 8 years, George was the first to be knocking down the CEO’s door to get started on cleaning the hull. When we eventually started, George was a zealot and the hull was cleaned, not entirely by George but probably 50%. In recent years, George has been diligently refurbishing compartments in Diamantina that we are now able to open to public inspection. He hasn’t only focused on work aboard Diamantina and has been a dedicated helper across many areas of the Museum for nearly 30 years. Of course, we must not overlook his performance on the stage as one of the Marines in the Pirate Pantomime. Congratulations George and thank you. Jack Duvoisin Jack Duvoisin has been a stalwart of the Museum for over 12 years. As a light-house engineer with the Commonwealth Light Service and later AMSA, Jack brought a unique set of skills to the Museum as both a technician and manager. He has worked tirelessly with his small team to display, conserve and restore many of the aids to navigation in the Museum’s collection. Jack served on the Board of Directors for 9 years and his diligence as a company director was outstanding. In that capacity he was tireless as an ambassador and as a contributor to the corporate governance of the Museum. Jack served on the Display Committee for many years and made a valuable Page 2

contribution to the planning and preparation of displays throughout the Museum. He successfully prepared a number of grant applications.

challenging question about the visible range of Point Lookout Light which was central to finding Centaur. The Pirate Pantomime of our Pirate Week is the result of fine work of many volunteers however Jack performed a critical role in the scripting and preparation of the musical backing. As the leader of our musical ensemble he is both a great leader and co-worker. Jack we congratulate you and thank you.

Two activities perhaps best sum up Jack’s contribution. When David Mearns sought our assistance in the research leading up to the search for the Centaur, Jack left no stone unturned in answering a very

Australian Maritime Museum Council Conference 2015

GOOLWA SA FEB 2015 Conference Program

Theme - Connections!

DAY 1 - Wednesday 18th • Conference Registration •Mayoral welcome Reception

Session 3: Heritage Connections: Maritime museums and maritime archaeology

DAY 3 - Friday 20th Breakfast and tour of the Armfield Slipway & Boatshed Session 5: National Connections: Commemorating World War I

DAY 2 - Thursday 19th Opening session: Maritime heritage on lower River Murray Session 1: New Connections: New approaches to winning audiences

Session 4: Museum Connections: Grants, Tourism and history of the

Session 6: AMMC AGM Session 7: Workshop: Strategic planning for maritime museums

Session 2: People Connections: Museum management & volunteers; and vice versa

SA Wooden Boat Festival Conference Dinner and ARHV awards

Session 8: The National Wrap: Short reports from around the nation Closing BBQ hosted by Paddle Steamer Oscar W

Saturday/Sunday 21st-22nd:

SA Wooden Boat Festival

Online Conference registration is now open. You can also book your accommodation (Goolwa is very busy at Festival time)!

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Annual General Meeting - Queensland Maritime Museum On Saturday 6 December 2014, QMM held its Annual General Meeting and Annual Christmas function. Both events were well patronised with over 70 people in attendance. The Christmas lunch was prepared by our catering team and featured a main course of cold roast chicken, ham and salads followed by traditional Christmas pudding and was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Thank you to everybody who helped with the lunch. Justice David Thomas, Chairman, welcomed everybody to the AGM and a moments silence was observed in memory of our members who passed away during the year. It was with acclamation that the Chairman advised the meeting of the presentation of a Silver Award to Peter Nunan and David Jones in the National Trust of Queensland’s Heritage Awards. David and Peter co-authored More Than a Haircut and Shave, the story of the South Brisbane Dry Dock. On Behalf of the Board, David Thomas, announced the award of Honorary Life Membership to George Buckingham, Jack Duvoisin and Keith Boulton in recognition of their significant and special contribution to the Museum’s operations. The Chairman presented his report noting in particular the tremendous contribution made to the Museum’s operations by our volunteers. He noted that the Board over many years has been investigating ways and means to enhance the Museum including providing food and beverages but to date without success. David announced preliminary details of a proposal for a major development that will greatly enhance the Museum. More details will be provided subject to the Museum securing support for the project. Ian Jempson, CEO, presented his report, the financial report and thanked all volunteers for their excellent contribution. He listed the many projects completed or in-progress during the year including               

Installing the shed over Pink Lady Converting the old shed under the bridge into a gazebo Preparing the interpretative display of the 8 inch guns Preparing the interp display of Pink Lady and Freedom Installing the new gangway on Forceful Commencing the installation of the new keel supports under Diamantina Refurbishment of the TS Magnus naval whaler The design and curation of the WW1 exhibition Refurbishment of Diamantina’s whalers Installation of radar in Diamantina Significant progress with the restoration of Carpentaria Resolving the bookworm problem Significant upgrade of storage of precious documents in the library The relocation of the uniform store Completion of the Barbier and Benard light pedestal

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       

Conducting Pirate Week twice Conducting the Pirate Pantomime at MBTBC Refurbishment of the little sailing dinghy Started work on refurbishing a boat for Bayside Sea Scouts Brisbane Maritime Heritage Trail Installation of the ammunition lift in Diamantina Preparing the main engine for rotation Installation of security cameras

David Thomas welcomed Mark Fort joining the Board as an elected Director.

Marquette Maritime Museum. A Sister Museum The Queensland Maritime Museum has formed a sister museum relationship with the Marquette Maritime Museum . Marquette is a city on Lake Superior, part of the Great Lakes region of the United States. Lake Superior is the largest of the lakes and due to their size a shipping industry developed on the lakes as an efficient means of transport.

QMM has three connections with MMM; through a long friendship with one of our members and, through the WW2 submarines USS Darter and USS Dace and, our lighthouse collections. One of QMM’s founding members is George Gee. George has been an active volunteer at QMM since 1971 and is primarily involved with our printing services section. Mrs Carolyn Northey is a member of MMM and for the past 45 years she has been a penpal of Mrs Carolyn Pobar whose husband was raised by George and his wife Vonn.

Maritime Manifest Autumn / Summer 2014

Carolyn Northey visited Australia for the first time in 2010, met her penpal, was introduced to George and toured QMM. This was the beginning of the friendship between QMM and MMM. During WW2 over 50 United States submarines were serviced or repaired in the South Brisbane Dry Dock and 181 submarine patrols departed from Brisbane. Australia’s distinguished naval officer, Vice Admiral Sir John Collins writing on the role of the US submarines noted; ‘… a big factor, at the time little known, was the US submarine campaign in the Pacific which practically annihilated the once flourishing Japanese merchant marine. Great credit is due to the American submariners for their success in a difficult task’. QMM volunteers David Jones and Peter Nunan have coauthored a fabulous account of the submarines operating from Brisbane titled; US Subs Down Under – Brisbane 1942-45. One of the decisive engagements in the Pacific campaign was the Battle of Leyte Gulf (Philippine Islands) which has been described as the largest naval engagement in history. A critical moment in the early phase prior to the Battle was the role of two submarines USS Darter and USS Dace. In the

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graduating class from the US Naval Academy in 1935 were Ensigns Bladen Claggett and David McClintock. David was from Marquette. By 1944, Commander Claggett was the Commanding Officer of Dace and Commander McClintock was the Commanding Officer of Darter. Both submarines operated from Brisbane during the period January to October 1944. In October 1944, the two submarines were operating in the South China Sea as Task Group M in search of the Japanese Second Fleet. In preparation for the Allied landings at Leyte, they had orders to patrol Balabac Strait and Palawan Passage and report and attack all enemy vessels. During the night of 23 October they detected and reported the First Striking Force of the Japanese Second Fleet; 5 battleships, 12 cruisers and 14 destroyers. The two submarines attacked the formation sinking the Atago and Maya and damaging the Takao.

After a period of sustained depth charge attack the two submarines escaped and began a race to overtake the damaged Takao. In the process the Darter ran hard aground on Bombay Shoal and could not be recovered. Dace embarked the ship’s company of Darter and commenced a 10-day passage to Fremantle with all on board surviving on mushroom soup and peanut butter sandwiches. The ‘Silent Service Memorial’ at MMM includes a replica of the conning tower

Maritime Manifest Autumn / Summer 2014

of Darter/Dace and it was dedicated on 27 May 2000 in the presence of 25 of the original 160 crew members of the two submarines. On 15 September 2001 the McClintock Annex of MMM was dedicated to recognize the accomplishments of Captain David McClintock, the crews of the two submarines, and all US submariners who served in WW2. The Marquette Maritime Museum is home to three historic Fresnel lenses from the Great Lakes area: Big Bay Point’s third order lens, Stannard Rock’s second order lens (one of only five that were ever used on the Great Lakes) and, Marquette Harbor’s fourth order lens. In lighthouse terminology the ‘order’ of the lens describes its capacity to concentrate and project the light. A first order lens has the largest radius and provides the greatest luminous range and an example is the Tasman Island lens on the display at the Australian National Maritime Museum. At QMM we display the Cape Don lens which was a third order lens with a 19 nautical mile range. MMM provides guided tours of the Marquette Harbour Lighthouse as it is a neighbour to the Museum and it is part of an active United States Coast Guard station. The Museum opened in 1981 and is housed in the original 1891 City Water Works Building. A scale model diorama at the Museum depicts Marquette’s Lower Harbour in the 1950s when it was the economic engine of the city. The Great Lakes have been the scene of shipwrecks over many years going back to the 17th century. MMM houses a fine

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display of shipwreck tragedies, survival at sea and, early life-saving techniques.

We look forward to a long relationship with Marquette Maritime Museum.

The Armstrong 8-inch Guns

By Keith Boulton Another recently completed display in the QMM Grounds is that of the Armstrong Guns . Both guns were located in various positions and separately around the museum for many years. But after many hours of volunteers work, the gun carriages were fabricated, installed and relocated in front of the flag pole and beside the dock.

The cannons past locations

The new display

Display panels in place.

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The display itself took about three months to plan, research and to produce the panels. There was no external funding for the project. Both Armstrong Guns were donated to the museum. Both guns were dug up from the river bank outside Naval Stores at Kangaroo Point by the Australian Army in about 1978. The guns originally came from the Queensland Gunboats, Gayundah and Paluma. The full story is now detailed on the new signage. A worthy display for two very large and historical items.

WW1 100th Anniversary

“They went by ship to foreign shores” Anzac 100 WWI display on the main floor at the special display area has been established to th commemorate the 100 Anniversary of WW1 and in particular the roles of the Royal Australian Navy and the Merchant Navy at the start of the conflict and in PNG and Gallipoli.

WW1 Displays

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The display was officially opened by Captain Ian Pfennigwerth PhD RAN (Rtd) on Saturday August 30 after his very informative 2014 Vaughan Evans Memorial Lecture-The Royal Australian Navy at war in 1914.

Captain Ian Pfennigwerth and the opening address

CEO Ian Jempson with Captain Ian Pfennigwerth

The setting up of this excellent display was the work of a dedicated group of volunteers of the QMM Display Committee. This Committee comprises of Don Braben, Rosey Field, Warwick Foote and CEO Ian Jempson.

Don Braben and Rosey Field

Don and Rosey regularly attend the museum on Tuesdays and Don comes in occasionally on Friday. Warwick makes it in when he can. The display committee is supported by Peter Nunan, Ray Rowe, Mike Nixon, David Jones and other volunteers. The work took about six months to plan, research and produce the display. There are some items that are yet to be added to the display, including:  

A couple of display panels on the Australian Fleet and the conditions endured by the sailors. visual footage from the Australian War Memorial showing the troopships and troops boarding

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 

an interactive component which will feature audios of the diary of Signalman Beaton of HMAS Melbourne Photo albums on board troopships and troops in Egypt

All the items and objects are part of the museum's extensive collection. The project is proudly supported by the Queensland Government One of the smallest items is Captain Sam Gilling's watch. Captain Gilling commanded the Kanowna. On 8 August 1914 the Kanowna departed Townsville with the Queensland contingent of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force bound for Rabaul. The Kanowna did not reach Rabaul as her firemen went on strike due to conditions aboard the ship. She returned to Townsville and was handed back to her owners only to be requisitioned again in 1915. She then transported troops to Egypt. In 1915 she was converted to a hospital ship and made several voyages transporting sick and wounded troops from England to Australia. She was returned to her owners AUSN in 1920 and resumed her passenger and cargo services. The most unusual item is the official seal used by the Administrator of Simpsonhafen in German New Guinea.

German official seal

Heliograph

Another small item is a serviette ring from the German merchant ship Eleonora Woermann captured by HMAS Australia in 1915. Some of the largest items include the Signal Lamp (circa 1912), Heliograph and the hammock and kit bag. The display is a worthy attraction to Queensland Maritime Museum and in time for the 100 year anniversary.

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Enlistments since September 2014 Ian Leabeater Roger Winn

Alan Gabbott Peter Sykes

Crossed the Bar

Life members Robert (Jeff) Andrews Maurice Briggs Keith Cogzell Richard (Dick) Fletcher Kevin Fuge Peter Hall Peter Ives John Keenan Barbara Poniewierski Fabian Sweeney

Bryant Berriman Peter Byrne Edward & Joy Elcock Frederick Franklin Fred Gans William Heymink William Jenkinson John Keogh Beatrice McLeod Carl Savage Coral Tillett

Warren Blee Lilian Campbell-Innes Jennifer (Jenny) Fison Glen French George Gee Victor Horne Raymond Jones Brian Martin David Morgan Helen Savage Peter Grant

Honorary Members Graeme Andrews OAM Arthur (Wally) Walker Jack Duvoisin

Harry Bradley Dorothy Kirby Keith Boulton Jim Smith

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Mark Garlipp Ben Macdonald George Buckingham

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Editor: Robert Tillmanns [email protected] Phone 07 38055605 Mob: 0412 487 993 Submissions for publication by: 1 March 2015

Annual Membership fees: Ordinary Family (2 Adults, 2 Children) Concession Family/Concession Corporate

$35.00 $50.00 $30.00 $40.00 $100.00

Board members:

Mr. David THOMAS Mr. Mark Fort

Mr. Chris WILLIAMS Mr. Mike SOBYRA

Mr. Matthew ROWE Mr. Peter SCANNELL

Mr. David ROLLINS

For Your Diary Date 2015 14th to 16th January 2015 7th February 18th-20th February 2015 28th February

18th April 25th April

Event

Venue

Mariners Days - For children aged 8 to 12 years Annual Members Lunch

QMM

2015 AMMC Goolwa Conference QLD Cement and Lime – “When coral was King” history of the fleets used to recover the coral from Morton Bay – presented by Keith Boulton. Great Sea Mysteries-presented by Russell Twomey. ANZAC Day Dusk service And Barbeque.

Maritime Manifest Autumn / Summer 2014

The Shore Restaurant, Southbank. Goolwa SA QMM

QMM QMM

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