World Maritime Day

Commemorating our Working Harbour

A record crowd celebrated Maritime Day in Sydney on September 24, with MUA National Councillors all joining union veterans from Port Kembla, Newcastle and Sydney on the march to the memorial anchor.

Speakers were Mary-Louise Williams, Director, Australian National Maritime Museum, Martin Ferguson, Shadow Transport Minister, Shirley Fitzgerald, City of Sydney Historian, Simone Ferrier, TT Line Public Relation and, Padraig Crumlin, National Secretary, Maritime Union of Australia.

Wreaths were laid for seafarers who lost their lives at war and those victims of globalisation -- Third World workers who die on ships of shame. A special wreath and poem was also laid in memory of former union leader Tas Bull.

A special feature of this Maritime Day was the opening of the latest National Maritime Museum exhibition - Working Harbour.

Seafarers stitching sails, wharf labourer's 'necking' bags of wheat and an oral history outlining the role of unions on the Sydney waterfront by former Seamen's Union Secretary Pat Geraghty are highlights of the exhibition.

Photos and artwork by William Bradley, an officer on the First Fleet, Samuel Hood, Mark Strizic and Max Dupain record the hey day of Sydney Harbour when waterside workers and seafarers made it their home and place of work.

The exhibition sponsored by Sydney Ports Corporation focuses on changes on the harbour, its impact on the communities along the shoreline and the recent shift from commodity to service industries that has led to the gentrification of harbourside suburbs.

Sydney Harbour has been recorded by painters, print makers, photographers, and by oral histories of those who have made their lives on its shores.

Alongside the working harbour exhibition are relics of our once vibrant coastal shipping trade. Howard Smith Company memorabilia has been donated to the museum, showing the activities of shipping spanning the 1870s to the 1970s.

Captain William Howard Smith launched his first ship, the Melbourne Geelong Express freight and passenger service, in 1854 during the Gold Rush. The line went from sail to steam with more than 170 ships and many hundreds of Australian seafarers.

Among the memorabilia is the large bridge telescope from the SS Edina steam ship of 1854, a brass ship's bell and an oil painting of SS Bombala, one of the fastest vessels trading on the coast, menus, baggage labels, timetables and tickets.

Howard Smith sold its towage business to Adsteam Marine in 2001.

World Maritime Day

Commemorating our Working Harbour

A record crowd celebrated Maritime Day in Sydney on September 24, with MUA National Councillors all joining union veterans from Port Kembla, Newcastle and Sydney on the march to the memorial anchor.

Speakers were Mary-Louise Williams, Director, Australian National Maritime Museum, Martin Ferguson, Shadow Transport Minister, Shirley Fitzgerald, City of Sydney Historian, Simone Ferrier, TT Line Public Relation and, Padraig Crumlin, National Secretary, Maritime Union of Australia.

Wreaths were laid for seafarers who lost their lives at war and those victims of globalisation -- Third World workers who die on ships of shame. A special wreath and poem was also laid in memory of former union leader Tas Bull.

A special feature of this Maritime Day was the opening of the latest National Maritime Museum exhibition - Working Harbour.

Seafarers stitching sails, wharf labourer's 'necking' bags of wheat and an oral history outlining the role of unions on the Sydney waterfront by former Seamen's Union Secretary Pat Geraghty are highlights of the exhibition.

Photos and artwork by William Bradley, an officer on the First Fleet, Samuel Hood, Mark Strizic and Max Dupain record the hey day of Sydney Harbour when waterside workers and seafarers made it their home and place of work.

The exhibition sponsored by Sydney Ports Corporation focuses on changes on the harbour, its impact on the communities along the shoreline and the recent shift from commodity to service industries that has led to the gentrification of harbourside suburbs.

Sydney Harbour has been recorded by painters, print makers, photographers, and by oral histories of those who have made their lives on its shores.

Alongside the working harbour exhibition are relics of our once vibrant coastal shipping trade. Howard Smith Company memorabilia has been donated to the museum, showing the activities of shipping spanning the 1870s to the 1970s.

Captain William Howard Smith launched his first ship, the Melbourne Geelong Express freight and passenger service, in 1854 during the Gold Rush. The line went from sail to steam with more than 170 ships and many hundreds of Australian seafarers.

Among the memorabilia is the large bridge telescope from the SS Edina steam ship of 1854, a brass ship's bell and an oil painting of SS Bombala, one of the fastest vessels trading on the coast, menus, baggage labels, timetables and tickets.

Howard Smith sold its towage business to Adsteam Marine in 2001.