Museum Metadata Exchange

Names

Name PrimaryShip model collection

IDs

ID LocalSAMM 2

ID Urihttp://maritime.historysa.com.au/collections/ship-model-collection

Descriptions

Brief DescriptionThis collection comprises over 180 ship models including builders' half models, sailor-made models, shipping agency models, construction models, working models, exhibition models, and model ships in bottles. The collection, which includes contemporary models, dates from the mid-nineteenth century.

Full DescriptionThis extensive collection of ship models was acquired by the Museum through a number of means. The large majority come from the Port Adelaide Institute, established in 1876, later the Port Adelaide Nautical Museum. Others significant models come from the private collections of model makers Herbert Croker and John Tulloch and maritime enthusiast and collector Keith Le Leu. The collection also comprises donations from Port Adelaide boat builder AJ McFarlane and other private donors. The earliest model, Micmac, dates from approximately 1844 while the most recent models date from the 1990s. A comprehensive survey of the model collection was conducted by Robert Sexton, a retired engineer and model maker, in 1997.

SignificanceThe collection showcases the craft of model making and includes models from some of South Australia's finest model makers including Herbert Croker who specialised in working steam models, seaman John Tulloch, and Jack McFarlane whose family owned boat building yards in South Australia from 1869 until the present. The builders' half models donated by boat building families provide insights into the now rare trade of wooden boat building and illustrate how models were intrinsic to vessel construction. Many of the models were created by seafarers and are fine examples of traditional sailors' crafts. They also reflect their makers' intimate knowledge of and attachment to, the vessels they sailed on. Most of the models represented in the collection either voyaged to South Australia or worked in its waters. Steamships, clippers, windjammers, ketches and whalers have been superseded by other vessels and these finely detailed models accurately capture the configuration and operation of these historic vessels.

AccessA South Australian Maritime Museum collection. Access to collection items held in Museum Stores is by appointment only.

Subjects

person_orgAJ McFarlane; Herbert Croker; John Tulloch; Keith Le Leu; Port Adelaide Institute; Port Adelaide Nautical Museum; Robert Sexton; South Australian Maritime Museum

aptCraft working; Model ships; Models

pontDesign models; Small scale models

localHalf model; Henry Croker; McFarlane; Model making; Ship model; South Australia

scotModel ships; Scale models

Coverage Spatial

TextSouth Australia, Australia

Coverage Temporal

From1844

To1990

Related Collections

Dates

Date Record Updated2012-12-12 16:40

Date Created in MME2011-03-23 14:54