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Boy from Altona on a Big Trip

Subject or historical figure Oskar Speck (1907 - 1993)

Date1933 - 1939

Object numberANMS1249[039]

NameNewspaper clipping

MediumInk on paper

DimensionsOverall: 195 x 90 mm

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from John Ferguson

Terms

DescriptionGerman newspaper article, likely from the Altona News, about Oskar Speck's voyage with reference to Madras and Colombo.HistoryArticle reads; Altona Boy from Altona on a Big Trip “Big trip” really doesn’t say anywhere near enough. 28-year-old Oskar Speck from Altona Ottensen has set himself an absolutely mammoth task. One would hardly be willing or able to believe that a person would go through with this undertaking were it not for the fact that already half of the journey has just recently been completed… A little while ago we reported on a German man arriving at Mangalore in the Indian region of Madras in a folding boat. He had been en route for three years and was going to continue paddling until he arrived in Australia – in another three years. The man concerned is a boy from Altona, a student of the Ottensen Middle School, an electrician by profession. Back in May 1932, when his business was not going anywhere, Oskar Speck took to the waters in a folding boat and paddled away into the world. His aim was Colombo, Ceylon. Why he wanted to go there of all places he himself was probably not entirely sure at the time, but in any case he wanted to travel and achieve a sporting feat along the way. It is likely nobody apart from himself believed he could ever get as far as India in his yacht made of canvas. In time, however, the doubters fell increasingly silent and in just a few days he will arrive on the island of Ceylon! His decision to continue his journey all the way to Australia must have been a big surprise for his friends and family, but it shows the unfailing courage of this folding boat captain. On Sunday I asked the sister of our world traveller what could be deduced from the reports on his general health and well-being. She said her brother didn’t always have an easy time. His means were always limited, and often it was a question of battling on more than anything else. It was only when he reached Karachi last December that things started to look up. He received invitation after invitation from his German compatriots there, news of his arrival runs ahead of him, the press shows huge interest, and there are opportunities to hold lectures everywhere. Just in recent weeks Speck was battling a fever, but his intention to suddenly set his goal so far away makes us assume that he has regained his health by now to the point where he is able to continue his paddling “always along the coast”. The “Altona News” salutes the boy from Altona out there and wishes him a safe journey.SignificanceThe remarkable story of Oskar Speck is one of extraordinary endurance. He undertook an epic seven-year, 50,000 km voyage from Germany to Australia in the 1930s in a five-and-half metre collapsible kayak SUNNSCHIEN. It is also a story of the hostilities of WWII and of those who made Australia their new home.