Foundation achievements

The acquisition of Au Karem Ira Lamar Lu - Ghost Nets of the Ocean was made possible through the generosity of Ms Christine Sadler, Sea Swift Pty Ltd, Mr Peter Dexter AM and The Hon Justice Anthe Philippides.

Donations to the Foundation have made possible the purchase of a major sculpture, Au Karem Ira Lamar Lu - Ghost Nets of the Ocean that is on display in the museum’s foyer. Made by artists from the Erub Arts Centre on Darnley Island in Torres Strait, it depicts the sea creatures that inhabit their waters and traditional fishing practices. Brightly coloured works have been crafted using ‘ghost nets’, the nets and lines abandoned by commercial fishing operations that cause considerable environmental damage.

Au Karem Ira Lamar Lu is a reminder of the importance of the sea to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and the need for us to be more aware of the risks posed by environmental damage.

Helen Tiernan is a contemporary painter who explores the interpretation of Aboriginal identity and history, drawing on personal documentation and oral material as well as wider historical sources.

Born in Gippsland Victoria in 1952 of Irish-Aboriginal descent, Tiernan graduated from the Australian National University’s Canberra School of Art. Her work is held in private corporate collections in Australia, the USA, United Kingdom and Australia and in public collections including at Parliament House, Canberra, the Australian National University and the National Museum of Australia as well as the Australian National Maritime Museum.

Based on the conventions and elements of early European sea charts, ‘Colonial Wallpapers - Pacific Encounters’ takes as its starting point the panoramic French wallpaper design produced in 1805, Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique, which illustrated Captain James Cook’s voyages around the Pacific. It brings together images from these voyages with the mythical, romantic and ridiculous. This vast panorama questions the depiction of the Pacific that explorers brought back to Europe during the ‘Age of Discovery’.

Colonial Wallpapers - Pacific Encounters is a significant example of a modern re-interpretation of Pacific history from an Indigenous perspective.

Purchased through the Australian National Maritime Foundation in 2017, it is now on display in the Navigators exhibition.

See more of Helen Tiernan’s work in our collection

AE1 was Australia’s first submarine.

The loss of AE1 and the loss of the entire compliment of 35 officers and crew in the first months of World War One was the Royal Australian Navy’s first major tragedy.

On 14 September 1914, AE1 disappeared without trace off the coast of Papua New Guinea. Despite numerous searches over many years, its location remained unknown.

On 21 December 2017 the Australian Government announced that Australia’s longest-running naval mystery had been solved after 103 years, with the assistance of donors to the Australian National Maritime Foundation.

After thirteen previous search missions over many years, a search using the vessel Fugro Equator located the wreck of AE1 in 300 metres of water off Duke of York Island in Papua New Guinea.

Defence minister Marise Payne stated that “this is one of the most significant discoveries in Australia’s naval maritime history.”

AE1 was found through the combined efforts of the Foundation, the Silentworld Foundation, Find AE1 Ltd (an organisation comprised of the team that preserved AE2), the Royal Australian Navy, the Submarine Institute of Australia and Fugro.

Now that the vessel’s location is known, the museum’s focus will shift to the preservation of the wreck, and understanding what happened to the AE1, and why.

The successful search for HMAS AE1 was made possible through the support of the Department of Defence and generous donations made from the following individuals and corporations:

• News Corp
• John and Jacqui Mullen
• The Commonwealth Bank
• Fugro
• The Goodman Group
• The Tzaneros Family
• The Macquarie Group and Directors
• The Macquarie Group Foundation
• Goldman Sachs Gives on behalf of Christian Johnston
• Australian Capital Equity
• Navantia Australia
• Qantas Airways Limited
• Malcolm Broomhead
• Peter Dexter
• The Janes Family
• Guy and Debbie Templeton
• Rob Sindel

In 2017 the Foundation launched a fundraising campaign to support the acquisition and conservation of this important ship model.

Gifts to the Foundation have enabled us to conserve this important builder’s model of the SS Orontes. Launched in 1929, it was one of the longest serving liners on the England to Australia route, carrying tens of thousands of British and European migrants to new lives in Australia.

The model was built for presentation to the owner and for many years sat in the Orient Line’s office window in Spring Street, Sydney, promoting the style and comfort of these inter-war passenger liners. As SS Orontes was sold for scrap in 1963, this model is now the only detailed record of the ship’s remarkable contribution to Australia’s history.

In 1959, a 23-year-old Ben Lexcen (then known as Bob Miller) designed and built Taipan, a revolutionary lightweight 18-foot skiff that changed the shape of racing skiffs in Australia forever.

Taipan launched a successful design career for Lexcen, culminating in the design of the America’s Cup-winning yacht Australia II in 1983.

A completely new concept for the class, Taipan was designed with a lightweight, vee-shaped hull built from plywood, with overlapping headsails and minimal decking, for only 3 crew. This was almost the complete opposite to the existing fleet of heavy craft with 5 or 6 man crews. It changed lumbering behemoths into the harbour speedsters of today.

The Taipan story captures key elements of the life of its creative designer. Miller was always ready to experiment with new and original ideas, and not only was the whole concept revolutionary in the class, he also continued his experiments with endplates on the rudder and centreboard.

Taipan leads directly to the winged keel concept of the victorious 12 metre design Australia II, winner of the America's Cup in 1983. This win is considered one of Australia’s most important sporting achievements.

Taipan was donated to the museum in 1986.

In 2007, the Australian sailing community, led by Lexcen's friend, Carl Ryves, contributed pooled funds for the museum to research and restore this design masterpiece.

In mid-October 2007 Taipan sailed again, and looked just as it did when it created a furore in 1960. Taipan is now on permanent display in the museum at Wharf 7.

In 2012, the great-grandchildren of Captain James Fairweather enabled the museum to purchase this painting of SY Aurora that he had commissioned in 1884. Built in 1876 in Glasgow, Scotland, for the Dundee Seal and Whale Fishing Company, it was specifically designed to withstand ice. Fairweather captained the vessel in the Arctic for five years from 1883.

In 1910, Aurora was purchased by Douglas Mawson for the Australasian Antarctic Expedition and was later used to rescue the explorer from Cape Denison. In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton acquired the vessel for his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition to carry his supply party to Ross Island. After the Endurance was trapped in the ice and crushed, Aurora rescued the marooned crew in January 1917. Later that year the vessel disappeared without trace whilst transporting a cargo of coal from Newcastle, Australia, to Chile, with the loss of all on board.

Mr Ashak Nathwani AM designed a new air-conditioning system for HMAS Onslow which will enable the Museum to keep the vessel open to the public on hot summer days and also provide a higher standard of air quality. A donation by the Nathwani family, made in honour of the late Mrs Samim Nathwani, covered the costs of this important work.

The Museum is home to one of Australia’s Cold War remnants, the Oberon class submarine HMAS Onslow. It was given to the museum in 1999 and is a major drawcard for museum visitors. Issues arise in the heat and humidity of a Sydney summer, however, when the museum has been forced to close the vessel to the public as conditions inside become uncomfortable.

Onslow’s existing ventilation system comprised only an axial fan, which delivered unfiltered and unconditioned air through the conning tower into the occupied areas of the submarine. This led to temperatures inside the vessel reaching 4–5°C higher than outside.

Enter Ashak Nathwani AM, Researcher and Senior Lecturer in HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) at the University of Sydney. Ashak knew the museum well, having been a designer of its original air-conditioning system in 1991 as a director of leading HVAC consultants Norman, Disney and Young. Ashak was at the museum discussing all things COVID-19 and air conditioning with museum management when he heard about the continual environmental problems with Onslow. Learning that the early closures affected children during school visits and school holidays, he was inspired to design and cover the costs of a new system on behalf of the Nathwani family, in honour of his late wife, Samim.

Samim Nathwani was an early childhood development expert with two Masters degrees, who tragically succumbed to the insidious motor neurone disease (MND) in November 2019. Samim always advocated that children learn through experience and would not have been happy knowing that children were missing out,’ said Ashak. ‘It struck me that I could provide a solution through my expertise in air conditioning and the family could provide the funds to make it happen. It seemed like a fitting tribute to her passion.’

Designing and installing the system posed numerous challenges. It had to be custom-made due to size constraints, with options limited due to heritage considerations. In addition, the condensing unit had to be brought in on a barge and craned into the chamber below the main cabins. Getting the fan coil unit into the sub required many trips up and down service ladders and through a tight passageway. The fan coil unit was then connected with a large flexible duct, which was woven through the support structure within the conning tower, across to the air intake shaft for final connection. Supply air needed to be filtered with MERV-13 air filters (to meet COVID requirements). Conditioned air now flows down the air intake shaft, feeds fore and aft right through the submarine, then is exhausted at each end of the vessel. The new system has resulted in temperatures of 4–5°C lower than the ambient temperature, allowing Onslow to open fully with happy visitors, volunteers and staff.

We thank Ashak, Amyn and Rehana Nathwani for their generosity and this wonderful tribute to their wife and mother, Samim.’ 

This 1924 watercolour by noted artist Cyril Farey is the first artistic depiction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge as it was intended to be built. The tender to construct John Bradfield’s design had just been awarded to the English firm of Dorman Long & Co and it would be another six years before construction would be completed and the two shores of Sydney Harbour linked by this road, tram and rail bridge. The support of the Foundation enabled the Museum to purchase this rare watercolour at auction in England in 2022. 

In 2019, the Foundation supported the acquisition of this beautifully executed Japanned tea tray which was painted by Edward Bird to show the death of Captain Cook. In the 1850s, the tray was acquired by John Bagshaw, who was building a collection devoted to the explorer for display at his home Stewart Park, on the site of Captain Cook’s birthplace. 

2021 was the Bicentenary of the commencement of the Greek War of Independence. To mark the occasion, and to honour the Greek migrants who chose Australia as their home, the Museum partnered with the community to raise funds to support their inclusion on the National Monument to Migration. The success of the campaign led to a further 62 names being added to the Monument.