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 Sydney’s 2010 Classic & Wooden Boat Festival
Boat owners are being reminded not to miss this exciting opportunity to showcase their vessel in front of thousands at the Australian National Maritime Museum’s Classic & Wooden Boat Festival.
This year’s festival, on the weekend of 16 and 17 October, will be bigger than ever with a host of family-friendly maritime displays and activities.
Vessel registrations are now open ... sign up and display your vessel to the many interested visitors and boating enthusiasts who come to the festival. This is a fantastic way to network with other classic boat owners including representatives of the NSW Wooden Boat Association and the Halvorsen Club.
And you’re bound to pick up some great tips with the festival theme Old Traditions, New Lives ... where you can find ways to recycle, reuse and restore.
Visitors to the festival will see a diverse range of privately-owned heritage vessels, from graceful yachts and streamlined speedboats to tugs and workboats and tall ships HMB Endeavour and James Craig.
There’ll be plenty to keep visitors entertained with a range of activities including the popular Deckhand’s Line-throwing Competition, together with children’s crafts and demonstrations.
And discover the skills of traditional maritime craftsmen including blacksmiths, rope knotters, caulkers and sail makers. There will be a series of presentations by maritime specialists and opportunities to jump on a heritage vessel for a ride around Cockle Bay. Plus don’t miss the festive marketplace for all things nautical.
Vessel registrations close 10 September 2010 with fees ranging from $50 (ashore) to $75-$150 afloat (depending on vessel size).
For more information on the festival or to register your vessel visit www.anmm.gov.au/cwbf or contact the Festival Coordinator on (02) 9298 3777 or email events@anmm.gov.au.
Loki fires first shot with Sydney Gold Coast win
Loki’s owner/skipper Stephen Ainsworth and primary helmsman, Gordon Maguire, headed back to Sydney from the Southport Yacht Club safe in the knowledge their 2010/11 offshore campaign has started with a bang.
The crew of the Reichel Pugh 63 which was launched just prior to the 2008 Rolex Sydney Hobart fired the first shot in the season’s opening event, the Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race, taking out the coveted IRC overall win.
“It was warm, fun and fast,” said Ainsworth .
“We sailed well and the boat handled the conditions well. We knew if we could hang in with Black Jack and Wild Oats X we were in good company. The reaching and running conditions really suited those canting keelers so it’s very gratifying that we were lined up in a row with them at dawn yesterday.”
Loki, named after the Nordic God of mischief, made its big move around 14th hour, the point at which they led the standings until it was impossible for anyone to steal their crown.
“To use a rugby analogy, we always knew it was going to be a game of two halves,” said Maguire. “The first half we had to get through in good shape so we could play out the second half, which was always going to be light and tactical.”
Bob Oatley’s supermaxi Wild Oats XI took line honours, the boat’s first attempt at the 384nm race coastal race which is celebrating its silver jubilee.
Their official finish time was 19:25:37 on Sunday 1 August, giving them an elapsed time of 1 day 6 hours 25 minutes 37 seconds.
With the lights of the Gold Coast beckoning and the seas relatively calm, the silver and red hulled bullet from the Reichel Pugh design office finished with a beautiful evening nor’west breeze of eight knots.
It was an eventful race for the winning crew, arriving at Southport minus their bowman Tim Wiseman who underwent surgery in Sydney on his injured right hand. According to skipper Mark Richards there is no nerve or bone damage to the index finger and Wiseman is expected to make a full recovery.
After being beaten across the line in last year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, Richards swore their campaign would shift gears dramatically and it has, the two-boat program the first step in the supermaxi’s planned comeback.
Richards acknowledged the crew injury and transfer at Newcastle (which added 3-4hrs to their race time) most likely cost them the longstanding record, but he’s more interested in the lessons learnt.
“Records are tough things to break,” he said.
Meanwhile in PHS Division 1, Nick Athineos and Rick Christian’s modified Steinmann 66, The Stick, formerly a two-time round the world Open 60, surfed into first place.
“The boat loved the conditions,” said Christian, the skipper for the 384 nautical mile coastal sprint north from Sydney Harbour.
“Saturday night we were a little ambitious, we blew out one kite and copped a few waves over the bow up to the mast.
“We had the entire crew at the stern to get the weight aft and we hit a top speed of 25.5 knots, which was pretty exciting on board for those relatively new to big boat racing.”
Geoff and Pip Lavis’s Inglis/Murray 50, UBS Wild Thing, finished PHS division 1 runner up second year on the trot ahead of Cruising Yacht Club of Australia club mate Rod Skellet and his Pogo 40 Krakatoa II in third.
PHS division 2 winner was Ian Sanford and Barrie King’s Northshore 38 Tartan flying the Greenwich Flying Squadron burgee.
The crew, many of them Parramatta River skiff sailors, have had four attempts at the silverware, this time coming away with the spoils.
Second in PHS division 2 was Kerry Burke and Robert Carr’s Northshore 370 Mortgage Choice Rumba (MHYC) and third was Bruce Dover’s Warwick 44 EZ Street (SASC).
The arrival of Tony Purkiss and his five Newcastle and Lake Macquarie mates on the Swanson 36 Mister Christian built in 1982 as a one-off by one of the shipwrights working for Swanson Bros, signalled the end of the 25th Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race.
Their finish time off Main Beach was 3.52pm on Tuesday, during the trophy presentation for the silver jubilee race at Southport Yacht Club.
During proceedings MC and recently elected SYC Commodore Rob Mundle took a moment to acknowledge the efforts of the one remaining boat still at sea.
“It’s a pity it’s over as soon as it was,” remarked Purkiss at the marina.
Seventy one yachts from a fleet of 75 successfully completed the race.
Griffin defends his Club Marine NSW Youth Match Racing Championship title
Jay Griffin and his crew of Ted Hackney and Will Parker, representing the host club, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia have successfully defended their Club Marine NSW Youth Match Racing Championship title after a very close day’s match racing.
With the course again laid in the vicinity of Rushcutters Bay and a light 5-7 knot sou’westerly breeze, the final flights of Stage Two were completed. Griffin suffered his first defeat of the regatta in the final flight of stage two at the hands of Jordan Reece (RSYS).
From a leeward position, Reece locked Griffin out of the start line near the Committee vessel. Reece got away with a clear start, while Griffin trailed by nearly 30 seconds, Griffin immediately tacked to head right with Reece tacking to cover him. Reece remained ahead on the downwind leg, but Griffin closed the margin bringing breeze down the course with him from the right hand side.
After rounding the mark, Griffin took a gamble and headed left to try to recoup some ground from Reece, but he had Griffin covered him. Reece extended his lead slightly, rounding the top mark ahead of Griffin; defeating him by 15 secs.
This win gave Reece the advantage to choose his opponent for the semi-final match and he elected to sail against young up-and-coming CYCA skipper Tim Forbes-Smith.
With nothing to lose and everything to gain Forbes-Smith took to Reece from the beginning of their semi-final match up. Reece trailed Forbes-Smith on the first upwind leg, with Forbes-Smith leading Reece as the breeze completely died out. Reece hoisted a kite on the upwind leg, as the breeze changed to a meek nor’wester, in a desperate attempt to regain the lead. The gamble didn’t pay off and Forbes-Smith registered another upset of the semi-finals.
In the other semi-final Ashlen Rooklyn handed Griffin his second loss of the day and in the sail-off for fifth and sixth place Keats Thomson (CYCA) defeated Jaidan Stevens (RSYS).
All skippers in the first match of the semi-finals and sail-off for fifth and sixth position sought redress on the basis that racing was unfair due to the drop in the wind. Given the changes in conditions and the impending time limit, the Race Committee decided that the petit-finals and finals would be a best of three race format and all skippers agreed to this change.
With the course re-set, racing in the remaining two flights of the semi finals re-started with Griffin taking the lead early and dominating Rooklyn; Reece defeated Forbes-Smith and Thomson defeated Stevens.
It would only take two matches of the finals race to determine the Club Marine NSW Youth Match Racing Champion for 2010 – Jay Griffin. In both matches Griffin faced tough competition from Forbes-Smith but it was the skills and match racing tactics displayed by Griffin that gave him the edge over Forbes-Smith.
Jordan Reece finished third after defeating Ashlen Rooklyn in two tight matches.
Griffin receives automatic entry into the Australian Youth Match Racing Championships and is hoping to go one better than last year and take the national title. The Championships will be sailed on Blazer 23s and hosted by Southport Yacht Club from 2-6 September.
Mandate will motor Recreational Boaties toward bigger costs
The owners of Queensland’s 232,000 recreational boats could be facing serious cost issues if a proposed ethanol mandate is given the go ahead by the Queensland Government.
Under the proposed mandate, five percent of all regular unleaded petrol sold in Queensland must be ethanol blended by January 2011.
Don Jones from Marine Queensland which is a member of the Against Ethanol Mandates Alliance, believes a mandate will lead to regular petrol being phased out and force more boat owners to use ethanol blended fuel which is impractical for water based activity.
“Federal Government statistics reinforce the validity of such concerns with 34% less regular petrol sold in the state since the Government announced the mandate in August 2006.
“Boating is the wrong environment for ethanol blended fuel,” Mr Jones said.
“If the slightest amount of water comes in contact with ethanol blended fuel the alcohol will separate and what enters the motor will cause damage.
“Condensation build up in a portable fuel tank, or water spray when changing tanks, can be enough for the fuel to become ineffective and cause a lot of damage.
Mr Jones said the industry has already reported an increase in the number of motors damaged from using ethanol fuel.
“With the cost of an outboard motor being between $5,000 and $70,000, the damage could prove very expensive for Queensland, even putting the family boating trip at risk.”
More costly to produce than petrol, ethanol also requires purpose built storage, distribution and transport infrastructure upgrades.
Mr Jones said expensive fuel distributor and marine service station infrastructure upgrade costs will be passed on to consumers through higher fuel prices.
Although 94 percent of recreational boats are less than eight metres long, owners of the larger boats with inboard motors will not escape damage.
“Inboard motors are traditionally fuelled by diesel but we are also seeing problems with biodiesel,” Mr Jones said.
Slocum Spray Society
The Slocum Spray Society, held the first NSW get together for 2010 at the Kirribilli Club on Sunday 15 August. The Society promotes cruising whether single-handed or crewed. Membership is open to everyone interested in cruising. You do not have to be a Spray owner to be a member. Fun social events are held in both Queensland and NSW. The next NSW event will be in November.
See http://www.slocumspraysociety.asn.au/news.htm
Merchant Navy Day Memorial Service
A Remembrance Service to honour those men and women who sacrificed their lives in the service of their county will be held at 11.00am on Friday 3rd September at Mosman War Memorial, Myahgah Road, Mosman adjacent to the Allan Border Oval behind the Council Chambers at Spit Junction.
 During World War II it is estimated that approximately 11,700 merchant ships were lost worldwide. The Australian DVA Nominal Rolls record at least 3,500 Australian Merchant Seamen in World War II and 270 during the Vietnam War lost their lives.
The guest speaker Mr Terry Hales is an ex-British MN, former Cutter Master with the Sydney Pilot Service and Secretary of the NSW TS Vindicatrix Association.
All are welcome to lay a wreath/tribute following the official wreath laying.
Contact Mosman RSL tel: 9969 2815 or www.merchant-navy-ships.com.
Quiet Little Drink for Youth Sailing Academy and Hobart Awards
This annual affair has been going for many years. Back from the time it started in 1993, their efforts have been particularly directed to the YSA.
Many will know that the simple concept is for as many as possible to attend a get together, pay $25 entrance for the privilege and get nothing for it! The QLD therefore get 100% revenue (having virtually zero expenses) to be donated to various YSA projects.
In 2007, the QLD presented ‘Youth Academy Hobart Awards’ to each of the youngsters from the YSA who completed their first Hobart. There have been some 16 presented so far, which is testimony to the value of the YSA to ocean racing crew development. This year, two sailors from the 2009 Hobart, Andrea Green (More Witchcraft) and Keiran Searle (Flirt) will receive their presentations on the night.
Bruce Gould will be honoured with his ‘40’ plaque. Receiving ‘25’ plaques will be Robert Case, Peter Hopkins, Anthony Kirby and Greg Prescott
Mothy Jarvin or Peter Shipway have again agreed to be MC for the night on Friday 10th Sept.
Tony Cable
Maritime responds to coroner’s report
NSW Maritime have released its response to the Deputy State Coroner’s recommendations following the collision between the ferry Pam Burridge and the private motor cruiser Merinda on 28 March, 2007.
The Deputy State Coroner made 24 recommendations, of which 15 were specific to NSW Maritime. According to the response, 11 of those recommendations have been given in principle support, and a further four are under review.
Ports and Waterways Minister, Paul McLeay said the response emphasises the NSW Government position that a combination of skills, knowledge and awareness are the key to safe boating.
The response to the Coroner’s report includes: A major upgrade to the licensing system, which now includes:
• A compulsory safety education course
• A tougher test process
• A practical boating component.
• Considerable work into navigation light compliance and education, with on-water compliance rates for lighting increasing to more than 95%
Eleven recommendations have been given in principle support, for which NSW Maritime has developed an implementation program. These relate to practical steps that can be taken to improve boating safety.
Four recommendations remain under review, and will be subject to further consultation with key boating industry stakeholders. They are: Extending licensing; Practical skills test/night training; Compulsory land-based navigation light check, and making the ‘50 point’ safety check compulsory.
NSW Maritime will continue to work with key boating industry stakeholders to promote safe boating on the harbour, and review the final four recommendations.
For full details on the response to the Office of the State Coroner of NSW: www.maritime.nsw.gov.au
Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Yacht Race
The 4th Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Yacht Race, hosted by Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, has wrapped up for another year with Wild Oats X taking out the overall IRC result and claiming the Club Marine Cup.
 The race started on Friday 6 August just east of Green Island on Brisbane’s Moreton Bay.
Peter Millard and his crew on the 98ft maxi Lahana set a new race record of 27 hours, 11 minutes and 22 seconds. Lahana and Wild Oats X, skippered by Mark Richards, crossed the finish line just 22 seconds apart after a challenging 348nm battle up the tropical Queensland coast.
Lahana also placed second on IRC in the overall and Division 1. Bill Wild and his Hugh Welbourne 42 Wedgetail crew placed third both overall and Division 1. Brisbane sailor Lew Perrins and his Farr 30 Italian Job took out IRC Division 2.
 “I couldn’t believe it when I heard the results,” said Lew. “We just sailed as hard as we could but really had no idea that we had won.”
Sydney sailor Darryl Hodgkinson and his Beneteau 45 crew on Victoire finished second in IRC 2 with Gilbert Ford sailing the Hick Schooner Ceilidh Lass to third.
In PHS, Peter Mosely and his enthusiastic crew on board Local Hero were delighted to have won the overall and Division 1.
“We had a beautiful sail up the coast and enjoyed the live video skyping with the race committee. We had the laptop on deck so they could check out our sailing,” said Mosely.
Tony Kinsman on the Beneteau First 40.7 Blunderbuss placed second both overall and in Division 2. Rod Jones and his new weapon the GP42 Alegria IV, finished third overall and first in Division 1. Behind Alegria IV was Wedgetail. Crew member Peter Elkington said that he couldn’t believe how fast the new GP42 was.
“That thing just trucks along at an awesome pace,” said Elkington.
Third in PHS Division 2 was the Sydney 41 Southern Cross Yachting skippered by Michael Job.
The Farr 40 Division was based on elapsed time with Bribie Star skippered by Ken Down being the first to cross the line at Keppel Bay.
“We reached our goal of being the first one home but it wasn’t an easy race,” said Ken’s son and fellow crew member Lucas.
The crew on the Sydney 36 Gauntlet won the Navigators prize. While the final boat to cross the finishing line was the Hunter 45CC Tiara skippered by Randolph Ingram.
Rob Mundle elected Commodore of Southport Yacht Club
Prominent sailor, journalist and author, Rob Mundle, has been elected unopposed as Commodore of Southport Yacht Club, on the Gold Coast.
After serving two terms with the club’s Board of Directors he replaces Neale Hollier in the top post.
Mundle moved to the Gold Coast from Sydney eight years ago and became actively involved with SYC soon after. He was responsible for the introduction of the Laser and J24 sailboat classes to Australia; was a television and newspaper reporter for seven America’s Cups, four Olympics and more than 30 Sydney-Hobart races. He has written 10 books, including the international bestseller, Fatal Storm. He is also the only Australian member of the America’s Cup Hall of Fame Selection Committee.
The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club will host the 30th Anniversary Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Race in early January 2011 with a 100 strong fleet expected.
The inaugural race in 1981 started with just 14 boats and was won by Keith Le Compte’s Kaufman 37 White Pointer.
“We had a desire to go north rather than south. I remember there was a big welcoming party when we crossed the finish line at Coffs. The locals were right behind it, it was great! We received a big bunch of bananas and a case of beer,” said Le Compte.
Fast forward 10 years when a record 108 boats competed in the 10th anniversary race as yachties found the ‘warm water’ option hard to resist. The winning boat was Southern Cross Advertising. Roll on another decade to 2001 and it was Xena who took line honours in the 104 boat fleet.
The 226nm Cat 2 Pittwater to Coffs Harbour race takes about 40 hours for the bulk of the fleet to arrive. The record is held by Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats IX set in 2003 in 18hrs 29mins 14secs. Following the ocean race there are a number of races in Coffs over consecutive days to make up the five race series, providing the opportunity for competitors and their families to join in the party and enjoy a holiday.
With Coffs Harbour an easy six-hour drive from Sydney, RPAYC Marketing & Publicity Manager Damian Devine said, “it’s a family event so a huge social calendar is planned. On top of the racing there will plenty of onshore activity for families.”
 The first entry received was from Pretty Woman, a Farr 45 racing under the RPAYC burgee. Owned by the syndicate of Commodore Russell Murphy, Richard Hudson and Michael Lockley, this will be her 8th Coffs race. Skipper Hudson is one of the veterans of the race and will be celebrating his 25th race to Coffs.
The NOR and application for entry and an online entry system are available from www.pittwatertocoffs.com.au.
Goldfinger got the gun in Race Five of the Melbourne Winter Series (MWS) to add to her first a fortnight ago, while the Reichel-Pugh, Gienah, took out Division Two, which also raced the approximately 21nm passage-race course.
It may have been a day of a gale warnings, but the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria’s Race Management team had been examining the information for the preceding few days and with the assistance of information from our friends at PredictWind, it became apparent that the real blow would be during the small hours of the night, before a second front came through. This left the gap in the middle that models showed to be around the 15-20kn mark.
One boat very happy with the day was Wicked, the Beneteau First 40 that was second overall in the 2009 Sydney-Hobart. She currently leads the series in both IRC and AMS.
“Despite the cold and sometimes wet conditions, we had another great race today, with yet more close racing with Challenge and Chutzpah38 around the track,” one of her owners, Mark Welsh said. “With the ordinary and changing forecast, we may have been a little too conservative again today, in going again with our ocean main. We did not want to make it another ‘CVD’ (Commercially Viable Day) for the sailmakers!”
Peter Blake and Kate Mitchell’s Goldfinger led the fleet around the course, got the gun, first in IRC and third in PHS. Wicked and Lou Abraham’s Challenge got the minor IRC placings. While Wicked leads the field in the race for the series win, the DK46 Extasea is still in the hunt. Challenge and Goldfinger can still factor in for a podium spot.
PHS may not be talked about as much, but it is hotly contested. Jazz Player, Goldfinger, XLR8, Ninety Seven and Extasea make sure of it. The 2010 MWS also has a special division for the Sydney 38s. The Ullman Sails S38 category has Challenge with a handy lead, but Audacious, Clockwork and the rapidly improving Chutzpah38 are going to make it an interesting preparation for their National Title.
Gienah may have got the Division Two gun today, but Alibi and INXS placed higher than her in IRC. Those latter two and Hush are always about to spoil any party, which is why Division Two remains such a strong contest. Another boat that joins the regulars’ list in both AMS and PHS, is Nutcracker and she also did well. PHS actually goes all the way down to about position number seven, with Spirit of Freya, Beyond Outrageous and Fade 2 Grey all keen to scramble onto the leader board.
There have now been five races in the 2010 Melbourne Winter Series, with the next one the final set of windward/returns before the final race to Geelong on 11 September.
John Curnow
Exhibition of Marine Art at the unique Southern Sydney Museum
by John McIntyre
The old saying that timing is everything was never truer than in the case of the French seaman and navigator Captain Jean-Francois de Galaup, Comte de la Perouse (1741-1788). His appearance aboard his ship La Boussole, in company with the l’Astrolabe at Botany Bay on January 24, 1788, presumably caused some consternation in the small British fleet under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip RN.
Whether Captain de Galaup, who had added the location of the family estates to his name to be usually known as Captain la Perouse, had intentions to claim part of the colony for France will never be known with any certainty. In any event the presence of the First Fleet would have put paid to any such idea. Captain Phillip quickly moved to Sydney Cove and formally established the colony on January 26, 1788.
The visit by the French vessels and the commander is the subject of a new exhibition of marine art titled ‘Windows on History’ by members of the Australian Society of Marine Artists (ASMA) at the Laperouse* Museum, end of Anzac Parade, La Perouse, Sydney.
Captain la Perouse had led an adventurous life since entering the French Navy at age 15 from the family estates near Albi. He fought the British off North America in the Seven Years’ War and later served in North America, India and the West Indies. He came to the attention of the senior ranks of the Navy with his capture of two British forts on the coast of Hudson Bay in what became known as Canada. Along the way, he was captured by the British and was a prisoner-of-war for a year and a half, time he spent learning to speak fluent English.
King Louis XVI of France conceived a plan to establish French colonies in the South Pacific. The ships left the port of Brest in August 1785 and sailed down the Atlantic Ocean, around Cape Horn and into the Pacific Ocean, provisioning at Concepcion in Chile.
After two years surveying the coast of Alaska and searching for the fabled North West Passage, the expedition set sail for Botany Bay via Norfolk Island, arriving several days after Phillip’s ships. They built new boats to replace those previously lost in Samoa and after 43 days, on March 10, 1788, the ships set sail for further discoveries in the South Pacific. Before leaving, La Perouse entrusted his journals to Captain Phillip for despatch to the Admiralty in Paris. This was duly done.
Nothing was heard of the expedition nor its vessels for 38 years despite several French groups sent out to search for them. In 1826, Captain Dillon the Irish captain of the vessel merchant vessel St Francis found traces of the expedition in the vicinity of Vanikoro Island in the Santa Cruz Group. In the 20th century, divers discovered the ruins of the ships’ hulls on the sea bed near the Island.
Entry to the museum and the exhibition is $5.50 Adults, $3.30 Concession, $13.20 Family (2 Adults & 2 Children).
* The Sydney suburb is ‘La Perouse’, but the French community uses ‘Laperouse’ which ASMA had adopted for use at the exhibition.
Science’s drawn out search for Earth’s shifty south pole
Scientists and explorers have been racing to reach Earth’s South Magnetic Pole … and still haven’t quite got there. They’ve got exceedingly close recently, with Australians leading the way to a point within a couple of kilometres of the goal.
Problem is, the pole keeps moving … sometimes leaping more than 200km a day.
The exhibition Quest for the South Magnetic Pole at Australian National Maritime Museum traces one of the longest and most curious pursuits in exploration history.
Earth’s magnetic poles – the points where a free-moving compass needle stands exactly vertical to Earth’s surface (pointing down at the North Magnetic Pole, up at the South Magnetic Pole) – have lured explorers for centuries.
In 1600 the English physician William Gilbert deduced that Earth itself acts as one great magnet, governing the movement of man-made compasses.
Since then scientists have discovered that Earth’s magnetic field is caused by molten iron sluicing around in the planet’s core. The molten iron flow patterns change constantly in response to Earth’s rotation and other influences, with the result that Earth’s magnetic field changes slowly and the magnetic poles drift gradually across the globe’s surface.
In the past 100 years, the South Magnetic Pole (SMP) has drifted 1,140km in a north-westerly direction at an average rate of 11km a year, taking it across the Antarctic continent and out to sea. If it continues in this direction, some say in about 300 years it could reach Adelaide.
The first successful overland attempt to find the SMP came during Ernest Shackleton’s expedition of 1907-09. A party comprising T.W.E. David and Douglas Mawson (Australians) and Alistair Mackay (a Scot) got to within 130km of the pole. They were the first to accurately determine the position of the pole from close proximity and are credited with having ‘discovered’ it.
The exhibition traces other expeditions through to that of Australian geomagnetist Dr Charles Barton in 2000. By then the SMP had moved some 240km out to sea, and Barton was able to conduct his search on a manoeuvrable ice-ship.
For several days the pole moved faster than the ship but then, luckily, the weather conditions changed … SMP slowed down and remained almost stationary for several hours (an extremely rare occurrence). Barton took a reading just 1.6km from his prey.
This is still the closest measured approach to the SMP that anyone has ever achieved, and it may be the closest anyone can hope to get.
Featured in the exhibition will be the special fluxgate magnetometer (aka Charlie’s Angel) that Barton assembled for his waterborne search. This is an electronic 3-dimensional compass that measures vertical dip as well as horizontal direction. Nearby will be Barton’s notebooks, equipment and even clothing from his expedition.
Elsewhere there will be models of the ships that took earlier expeditions to Antarctica, a wealth of material from Mawson’s expeditions including clothing, maps, man-hauling harnesses, scientific instruments and a variety of compasses, cooking equipment, books and charts.
The exhibition also includes a gallery of outstanding works by the renowned Australian Antarctic photographer Frank Hurley (1885-1962) and the British photographer Herbert Ponting (1870 – 1935). h
Admission to Quest for the South Magnetic Pole, which closes on 18 October, is free. ANMM phone (02) 9298 3777, or visit www.anmm.gov.au.
Sunset and Evening Star
Saltwater journalism was in his veins
Max Thomson
15 September 1924 — 21 June 2010
A prolific writer and diligent researcher Max Thomson was a stalwart contributor to Afloat, contributing over 140 articles between May 1992 and December 2003.
Max began his career as a journalist with the Bendigo Advertiser under the benign eye of his father who was Chief of Staff. It was interrupted by four years in the Royal Australian Navy during World War II.
He served first on a navy patrol vessel in New Guinea chasing Japanese barge traffic along the New Guinea coast before joining General MacArthur’s first beach-head invasion with the AIF at Lae.
His patrol vessel was heavily bombed on the eve of the Lae invasion. Badly damaged with its hull twisted, engines thrown out of alignment and with 41 holes in its hull it had to be towed all the way back to Sydney for extensive repairs.
Max was then posted to the frigate HMAS Hawkesbury and went back up north where he was involved with a Task Force of the United States 7th Fleet in Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. His ship helped escort the AIF invasion forces to Borneo at Tarakan then Labuan and had a role at Balikpapan.
At war’s end, Hawkesbury was raced to Singapore with the relief liner Duntroon and was there the day Mountbatten accepted the surrender of Singapore from the Japanese.
He spent his 21st birthday in Singapore before his ship gave protection to the transports that brought home so many of the Changi and Burma Railway prisoners of war after their three and a half years of incarceration. Then followed a big surrender ceremony in Timor and a remarkable two months surveillance through the vastness of the old Dutch East Indies with about 14 local surrender ceremonies, dumping of enemy supplies and re-instatement of civil administration.
During the war and within the confines of wartime censorship, Max wrote all sorts of stories and articles for newspaper, magazines, and publications of the Australian War Memorial and in the Official History of the RAN.
Max was born in Bendigo in 1924. His forebears were extremely early arrivals having come out in 1824 to the Office of the Commissariat and Solicitor-General in van Dieman’s land, then to Sydney handling land deals then via New Zealand to Bendigo in 1857 – just six years after gold was discovered in Bendigo.
Max returned to the Bendigo Advertiser after war service and in 1948 he married Joyce in Bendigo. They moved to Melbourne where he took up a position in a new Publicity Bureau being established by Mobil Oil Australia where he was to stay for 31 years.
He was Editor of a whole range of Mobil magazines but also did the publicity for such promotions as the famous 10,000-mile around Australia car reliability trials of the 1950s and the great Chinese archaeological exhibition Mobil brought to Australia
Max toured Australia with the Royal Silver Jubilee Exhibition Train in the late 1970s displaying 700 years of British History from the Royal Palaces, Museums and stately homes of Great Britain. He went back to New Guinea on Mobil projects at Lae, Goroka and in the Highlands at Mount Hagen and he was in Fiji three or four times when Mobil sponsored such things there as the South Pacific Games.
He used naval stories as a break from Oil Company publicity then in retirement stepped up his output of wartime naval history. Many of his stories are now framed in RSL and Navy Clubs throughout Australia.
Max left a wonderful legacy in his collection of over 400 feature stories published in newspapers and magazines all over Australia on a wide range of subjects.
He was one of four wartime navy men chosen with 38 veterans for the Australia Remembers pilgrimage under the auspices of the Australian Government to Jakarta, Borneo, Eastern Malaysia and Singapore – visiting the wartime locations and war cemeteries where some 14 ceremonial services were held with the help of a tri-service ceremonial guard and the band of the Royal Australian Navy.
In particular, Max was also very busy fulfilling requests to address RSL clubs, Probus, Navy Groups and Historical Societies. He was an Honorary Life Member of the Naval Historical Society of Australia, a long-standing member of the RSL at Bendigo, Caulfield-Central, Beaumaris and Cheltenham and of the South-East Naval Association. He served as President and a Founder of the HMAS Hawkesbury National Association, which had marvellous reunions at locations all around Australia over the decades.
Max and Joyce enjoyed a wonderful 62 years together. He is survived by wife Joyce, sons Noel and Bryan, grandchildren Brett, Tanya, Christopher and Michael, and great grand-daughter Mirabelle.
Bryan Thomson
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- January '12 issue - 5 December
- February '12 issue - 9 January
- March '12 issue - 13 February
- April '12 issue - 12 March
- May '12 issue - 10 April
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