SS STRATHEDEN sailor doll

Maker P&O (British, founded 1837)

Date1950s

Object number00045826

NameDoll

MediumTextile

DimensionsOverall: 220 x 160 x 65 mm, 50 g

ClassificationsToys, games and souvenirs

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Mrs Erika Peile

Terms

DescriptionA souvneir sailor doll from the SS STRATHEDEN. The cloth sailor doll was acquired as souvenir on a passenger voyage between London and Australian in the 1950s.HistoryThese dolls were popular souvenirs on European passenger liners from the 1930s-1960s. They were available through the purser's office along with playing cards and miniature lifebuoys, and were often purchased by parents as mementos for their children. Erika Peile nee Hamilton (born 1928) visited England in 1953 for the coronation. She worked for eleven months in London as an invoice typist before hitch hiking around Europe for eight weeks with a group of friends. She returned to Australia on the SS STATHEDEN in November 1953 and purchased these dolls as souvenirs. Her mother Monty visited her in the UK and returned on the SS SOUTHERN CROSS in 1955. The Peninsular Steam Navigation Company was founded in 1837 with the awarding of the British Government contract to carry the mails from the UK to Spain and Portugal. In 1840 the company was awarded a second contract for the Egyptian mails and became known as the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O). Additional mail contracts extended the company’s operations further east to India in 1842 and Ceylon, Penang, Singapore and Hong Kong in 1845. P&O’s first mail service from the UK to Australia commenced in 1852 on the paddle steamer CHUSAN. The early decades of the 20th century marked a period of rapid expansion for P&O, as it acquired companies such as the Blue Anchor Line, New Zealand Shipping Company and Union Steam Ship Company, as well as a majority share in the Orient Line (which would later form the P&O-Orient Line in 1960). In 1932 P&O pioneered cruising from Australia with a Christmas cruise from Sydney to Norfolk Island on the mail steamer STRATHAIRD. Prior to this cruising in Australia had been the preserve of coastal steamship companies. P&O ships were requisitioned for service during both World Wars. After the wars they carried thousands of British migrants, including Ten Pound Poms, to new lives in Australia. The increasing popularity of air travel from the 1960s saw many P&O ships transferred to the cruising schedule. Since the 1970s P&O operations have diversified to include ferries, containers, cargo handling and ports worldwide. In 2000 P&O’s cruising operations were demerged from P&O to create P&O Princess Cruises, which was acquired by Carnival Corporation in 2003. P&O was acquired by DP World in 2006. SignificanceThis souvenir cloth doll from the SS STRATHEDEN Stratheden are charming souvenirs from the era of passenger liner travel and were popular and cheap ship mementos.