JULY 2021
Unfortunately this event is CANCELLED due to COVID restrictions. We will try and reschedule it later in the year.
AUGUST 2021
2.00 PM Saturday, 14th August
"THE TASMAN MAP - The Biography of a Map"
Speaker: Ian Burnet
Did you think that Captain Cook was the first European to map Australia and Matthew Flinders the first to circumnavigate? No Way! Learn more!
The Dufken replica
Abel Tasman, the Dutch East India Company and the first Dutch discoveries of Australia.
Every visitor who passes through the vestibule of the Mitchell Library stops to admire the magnificent marble mosaic of the Tasman Map which fills the entire vestibule floor. This story of the first Dutch voyages to discover Australia is set against the background of the struggle of the newly formed Dutch Republic to gain its independence from the Kingdom of Spain and the struggle of the Dutch East India Company for trade supremacy in the East Indies against its Portuguese, Spanish and English rivals. Abel Tasman was the first European to circumnavigate Australia despite the fact that for much of his travels he was not in sight of land. Historian and author Ian Burnet tells fascinating stories from this little known part of Australian history.
Come along and hear the full story.
Bookings not required. Covid conditions will be observed.
Venue: Henry Carmichael Theatre,
Sydney Mechanics School of Arts
280 Pitt Street, Sydney
Admission: Members - $5 Visitors - $10
SEPTEMBER 2021
2.00 PM Saturday, 11th September
"The mighty Sunderland Flying Boat - in War and Peace"
Speaker: Denis Smith
In 1939 10 Squadron went to England to collect nine brand new Sunderland flying boats and to fly them back to Australia. War broke out just as they arrived in England so Australia loaned the nine flying boats and all their crews to RAF Coastal command. They spent the whole war chasing and sinking U Boats in the South Atlantic. Dennis will show actual film footage of the crew arriving in England flying Sunderlands and sinking Uboats.
In peace time flying boats operated from Rose Bay. A trans-Tasman flying boat service began in April 1940 which at its peak, saw a fleet of four Sandringhams servicing the route and making the seven hour crossing to Auckland. Services to Lord Howe Island, Fiji and Tahiti were introduced using Sandringhams, Hythes, Solents, Sunderlands and Catalinas. The final commercial flight from Rose Bay, an Ansett service to Lord Howe Island, left on 10th September 1974, closing a brief but important chapter in Australia's aviation history. The site of the Rose Bay flying boat terminal is today used by a company offering joy rides in a float plane.
Bookings not required. Covid conditions will be observed.
Venue: Henry Carmichael Theatre,
Sydney Mechanics School of Arts
280 Pitt Street, Sydney
Admission: Members - $5 Visitors - $10
