Figurehead on show.

If this figurehead could talk I'm sure it would have some exciting stories to tell of wild storms, oceans travelled and places seen.
The museum is home to a fine collection of maritime figurines.
This picture shows the detail of just one of these amazing figures.
A carved and painted figurehead of a country girl that once adorned the bow of the Wool Clipper Ship Coonatto, that was eventually wrecked off the coast of Beachy Head, Eastbourne in 1876.
The figurehead was salvaged from the wreck.
On a voyage from Australia to London loaded with copper ingots and wool, she pilled up near Beachy Head in the English Channel on 21 Feb. 1876. Most of her cargo was salvaged but the COONATTO was lost.
The figurehead “Sailors Lass” had resided beside a pond, within the grounds of East Dean Manor House near Seaford for almost 100 years, then was brought to the United States in the very early 1950’s. The figurehead is carved in the style of a country girl in simple dress; her face and hair have been carved with grace and sensitivity.

Nowdays, the debris of Coonatto lies amongst the chalk boulders and gullies at the base of the Seven Sisters Cliffs, Eastbourne and can be reached by clambering along the shore at low tide. Photo by Pete Mason. And as she appears now within the museum.

Ref: Stamps were produced featuring the Coonatto

Coonatto
. Coonatto - an Aboriginal word for a food-bearing tree.
. Description: She had very fine lines, but was a very wet vessel (a vessels which takes much water on board during bad weather at sea.)
. Usage: She was used in the service between the Thames and Australia for her whole life as a cargo vessel.
. Captain: She was mostly under command of Captain Begg, a hard driving captain.
Her best passage was when she sailed from the Thames and after a passage of 66 days.
. Sources: Origins Orient and Oriana by Charles F. Morris. The Colonial Clippers by Basil Lubbock.
. Wreck Site
. Sold: at Auction to and Australian buyer in 2008 and can now be seen in the Lady Denman Museum Huskisson..

Ship type – A Clipper was a very fast sailing ship that had three or more masts and a square rig.
In brief, they had a pronounced bow flare, sleek appearance, generally fine lines and in action, an ability to reach and maintain speeds previously unmatched.

Jervis Bay

Sienna rise.
Another beautiful day to be wondering around the foreshore in the early morning.
Winds were westerly, the sky was varied hue’s of sienna, mixed with blue and gold.

Mini Museum

Here is an original idea that took 35 years to develop.
In my wildest dreams, my home would be filled with amazing relics from our planet’s history. My shelves would be filled with things like dinosaur fossils and lunar rocks, constant inspiration in every room.
Read more.

Big Bird learns to fly.

)

Since we have our own resident “big bird” that cruises the fish pond nearly every morning
We had a follower send us this fun little video showing an abandoned pelican’s first flight.

Huskisson Police Station

Early Days at Huskisson.
This picture shows a very early Huskisson Police Station.
It also served as the State Electoral office and the Government Savings Bank of NSW.
If you have any old pictures of Huskisson or Jervis bay and surrounds we would love to post them here for you.
Email: Your Contributions

Lady Nelson

Further to our story about the Lady Nelson and her exploits we have been sent this fantastic picture showing the beautiful replica of the Lady Nelson from Malcolm Riley, Media and Community Relations Manager, Bureau of Meteorology, Tasmania and Antarctic Region.

The original Lady Nelson like this replica must have made and impressive site under full sail coming into the various harbours and bays during it’s explorations along the coast. Read more of the fascinating story from the log books of the Lady Nelson, especially the reference to it’s time in Jervis Bay and it’s interaction with the local Aboriginals…

Galamban Exhibition

Your opportunity to see the Galamban exhibition is running out fast.
the Exhibition closes on the 23rd of March.
Details on the exhibition page.

Lady Nelson – on this day

The fascinating story of this world famous ship and it’s association with Jervis Bay.

Captain – Lt. James Grant.
The Lady Nelson was an Armed Survey Vessel called a Brig.
52ft 6 in in length, Beam 17ft 6in and a draft of 12ft with the keels lowered.
She carried 17 crew.
Armament, 6 Brass carriage guns 3 and 4 pounders.

She was small at 60 tons but served the colony well between
1800 –1825.She was fitted with three Shank sliding or drop keels (actually removable centreboards). (The Shank keels were the invention of naval architect Captain John Schank.) The fore and aft centreboards were 3 feet long, and the centre one was 6 feet long. With them up the vessel drew only 6–7 feet instead of the 13 feet that would be more usual for vessels her size.
She had been designed to be hauled up into shallow water.

CONTINUE READING

Lady Denman in dock

Another amazing image comes to life.
It’s one of many in the Museum’s collection that needs there story to be recorded.
Continued research is being carried out on the museum’s slide and photographic collection.
If you have any information about this photograph, or what’s in this photograph, please contact us here.
No matter how small of insignificant you think it may be, it may just be the information we need to complete the story. yourcontributions@gmail.com

Hints
1. We have had a little piece of information given to us by an anonymous contributor who seems to think the floating dock the Denman sits in, is the Admiralty dock AFD17, if so this dock has it's own epic story, can anyone confirm this information please.

2. More information has come to light and is being researched by the Museum's Curator Graham Hinton.

Mokau photo

John Kinsey from Sussex Inlet has sent us another fantastic image of the Mokau.
Wrecked on the shore near the entrance to Sussex Inlet in 1922
see the previous story and video of the wreck as it remains today..

No further information is available about this photo at this time.

March Newsletter out now.

Click here to see the latest newsletter
MARCH NEWSLETTER HERE.
This month you can read stories about.
.  Antiques Dealer Gordon Brown who is coming to the museum.
. The upcoming Portrait Exhibition.
. A story from the museum curator Graham Hinton, it’s very interesting!
. The ongoing restoration of the Crest.
and more,

Royal Australian Historical Society

Shoalhaven Excursion
Saturday 6 – Sunday 7 April 2013
(RAHS in conjunction with Shoalhaven Historical Society, Shoalhaven Family History Society, Bolong Historical Society and Berry Historical Society)
We have a weekend excursion planned for the weekend after Easter on Saturday-Sunday 6 - 7 April in the Shoalhaven area, in conjunction with local Shoalhaven societies.
Saturday 6th April 2013

Below the decks of the Lady Denman

The romance didn’t match the reality.
Walking the decks of the Lady Denman Ferry, housed safely within the walls of the museum it’s easy to romanticise  about  crisscrossing Sydney Harbour on this grand old lady. She and many other ferries carried passengers to all corners of Sydney.


I doubt if much attention was paid to the hard working crews on these old timber ferries.Above are a couple of pictures from below the decks of the Lady Denman as she stands today within this fantastic museum.
One can imaging the heat and noise churning out of the engine during operations back and forth across the harbour, straining against current and swells.
The engineers and fitters worked in cramped conditions, in these shots you can see the cradle the engine was originally mounted into, without the engine you get a false sense of space which in reality isn’t usually there. The creeking and groaning of the timbers as they moved with the motion of the Ferry, combined with the smells of diesel and oil must have been hard to bear for those below here decks.

Can you help with details about working on the ferry, we would love to hear your story.
You can comment below or contact us here at yourcontributions@gmail.com
become a member of the blog we welcome your input.

Exciting exhibitions later in the year.

The Lady Denman will be hosting around 6 separate and unique exhibitions in 2014,
The Antique Display Fair in October, It will have a huge collection of antiques on display from some of Australia’s best traders and you will be able to bring your own antiques to the exhibition and have them appraised.
Followed by the Floral Art exhibition in December, where you will see some amazing floral art on display.
These type of exhibitions take time to organise and the exhibition team are getting a fantastic response from exhibitors already, so both shows are shaping up to be highlights of the exhibition season at the Museum.

More information as we get closer.




This haunting image is of Harriet Parker daughter of the assistant Cape St George Light House Keeper.In July 1887,  she was accidentally shot dead in by Kate Gibson, the Chief Keeper's daughter. The jury of the ensuing Coronial inquiry stated that Harriet had died "from a gunshot wound accidentally received, and that Kate Gibson was not to blame as they were skylarking ..." Harriet Parker's grave can be found in the nearby Greenpatch Camping Area.

Early panorama of Currambene Creek Huskisson

Husky Triathlon 2014

      
The first leg of the Australian Triathlon Series came to town.
Huskisson plays host to hundreds of competitors and visitors every year for this series.
Unfortunately for the museum the course goes straight past our entrance so access for the public is impossible, causing the closure of the Museum for this weekend.



This year a couple of our volunteers manned a small blue and white stripped tent set up with the organisers blessing right in front of the pub. The ladies have been handing out promotional and tourism information and by all accounts have been very busy.
Here are some pictures of the action from Sunday.

 

Lady Denman Closures

Sat 22nd Feb
Because of the Australian Triathlon being run this weekend, the Museum will be closed all day Saturday and a Half day Sunday
Apologies for any inconvenience.

But you can still go along and say high to a few of our intrepid volunteers that will be manning a small display stand near the pub in Huskisson.
I hope they took their umbrellas.

On this Day Feb 21st 1932

The steamer the Northern Firth wrecked on Brush Island Ulladulla.
1,954 tons gross,
Builders James Patrick and Co. LTD. 1922.

Another small coastal steamers life came to an abrupt end when it ran aground on the eastern side of Brush Island south of Ulladulla on the afternoon of the 21st February 1932.


She was bought from England  to work the Melbourne to Sydney cargo trade.

Captain  Macdonald was asleep at the time with second mate with 14 years experience William Charles Goulding in charge.

A hole was torn in her side and the engine room quickly filled with water. Strong North East winds drove her hard aground.

The captain ordered the crew to abandon her with all the crew getting to shore safely.

A guard had to be placed at the wreck site to stop the pilfering of the cargo of Shoes, clothing and liquor.


1 March 1932 a fair bit of cargo had been salvaged. This included drums of glycerine and white spirit, barrels of syrup used in the manufacture of confectionery, barrels of beer and cases of "spirituous liquor".

Breaking up.
By March the 9th 1932 the hull was split and water was entering the holds, all salvage was abandoned as the vessel was rapidly breaking up.

 A Court of Marine Inquiry was held in Sydney on 14, 15 and 16 March 1932 before John William Malcolm Laidlaw, Chief Stipendary Magistrate of New South Wales. He was assisted by Captains M.M. (?) Osborne and C.B. Mercer. The Director of Navigation, Captain J. Davis, preferred a charge of failure of duty against William Charles Golding, Second Mate. On Wednesday 16 March 1932 the Marine Court found that the charge was not sustained as the ship had hit a submerged object that was not recorded on the Admiralty Chart.



Reference.
Wreck Information
Dive opportunities.
Picture courtesy of Ulladulla divers.





I dived this wreck in 1979, very little remained even back then…It’s in a very exposed location and subject to considerable pounding by any sea, it was mostly small pieces of rusted steel and ballast..
We missed seeing the boiler which is described as a large open cylinder without ends that you can swim through.

Hole in the wall.

Then and now.Even in the early 1900’s the  hole in the wall attracted tourists eager to have their photo taken.
Today is no different, the area still attracts eager photographers and sightseers.
Unfortunately the hole has become a gap. The area is spectacular and well worth the small effort to get there.
The two colour images are from today, 21st Feb 2014..

In a different light.

I hope your enjoying this series of pictures of Huskisson and surrounds.