Menu from SS COOMA
Date21 May 1907
Object number00037482
NameMenu
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsOverall: 155 x 120 mm, 0.01 kg
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Wesfarmers Limited
DescriptionThis menu appeared in the passenger saloon on Howard Smith Company Limited’s SS COOMA on 21 May 1907. It features a ship’s porthole with an image of SS COOMA at sea. Underneath the company’s name is the text, ‘(Capt. J D. Joy) / Brisbane / 21st May, 1907’.HistorySS COOMA was built in 1907 by Alexander Stephen and Sons, Glasgow for Howard Smith Company Limited. It was built for the Melbourne to North Queensland passenger run. COOMA provided a steady and popular service throughout the 1920s during Australia’s boom in coastal trade. In July 1926, however, COOMA was wrecked around North Reef, Queensland. All 200 passengers and 84 crew members were evacuated and transferred to SS BURWAH. In 1927, a fire broke out which almost completely destroyed COOMA. To this day, the vessel’s boiler rests on the beach close to the North Reef Lighthouse.SignificanceShipboard menus were the most common type of souvenir collected by passengers and crew. This particular menu illustrates the boom of the Australian coastal trade and how it was promoted to passengers. It displays a sense of adventure with its depiction of a ship’s porthole and the SS COOMA in view under steam at sea.
April - May 1954
October - December 1966