Adelaide Steamship Company office Adelaide
Artist
John Charles Goodchild
(1898 - 1980)
Datec 1960
Object number00047673
NamePainting
MediumWatercolour, wooden frame
DimensionsOverall (frame): 660 x 725 x 30 mm
Sight: 410 x 490 mm
Sight: 410 x 490 mm
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Inchcape Shipping Services
DescriptionA watercolour painting by John C Goodchild, depicting the Adelaide Steamship Company's office in Currie Street Adelaide.HistoryJohn Charles Goodchild (1898-1980), emigrated with his family from England to South Australia in 1913. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1917 and served on the Western Front. While in hospital in France in 1918, he sent sketches to the Digger newspaper and was later commissioned to contribute pen-drawings for 'Where Australians Rest', published in 1920.
After World War I, Goodchild attended the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts, and produced 'Adelaide in Pen and Ink Drawings' in 1920. He became a commercial artist and taught etching at the School of Arts and Crafts. In 1926 he married Doreen Rowley and they moved to London where they attended the Central School—Doreen studying clay-modeling, John engraving and lithography. Early in 1929 they established a studio in Adelaide and John began exhibiting his water colours with the Royal South Australian Society of Arts, of which he was president from 1937 to 1940.
Goodchild painted traditional landscapes, street scenes and architectural views. He also produced furniture, panels in bas-relief and he painted, in oils, a series depicting the Australian offices of Elder, Smith & Co. Ltd. He believed that 'accurate draughtsmanship' was the basis of good art. His work is held by major Australian galleries, the Library of Congress, Washington, and the British Museum, London.
In March 1945 the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, commissioned him as an official war artist. Attached to the Royal Australian Air Force, on 2 September 1945 he was present at, and took a cinefilm of, the signing of the Japanese surrender aboard the American battleship, MISSOURI, in Tokyo Bay. In 1946 he was cartoonist for the Adelaide News.
The Adelaide Steamship Company was formed in 1875 to conduct passenger runs between Adelaide and Melbourne. They then expanded into the cargo trade to build one of Australia's most well established shipping companies. They continued to operate up until 1975.
The Adelaide Steamship offices were built by the company at 17 Currie Street in Adelaide in 1902 and used until 1973, and have since been demolished. The specially built premises at 17 Currie Street Adelaide were named the Steamship Buildings and the Company's head office operated here from 1902 until 1973.SignificanceThis is a good example of the work of Australian artist John Charles Goodchild and shows the now demolished offices of the Adelaide Steamship Company.
