Crossing the Line ceremony (Note this image contains offensive depictions of First Peoples and may cause trauma for people whose identities are directly impacted)
Date1956
Object number00055349
NamePhotograph
Mediumpaper
DimensionsOverall: 84 × 58 mm
Copyright© Frederika Kelly
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection gift from Frederika Kelly
DescriptionThis photograph depicts the Crossing the Line ceremony on the Skaugen liner SKAUBRYN in 1956.HistoryHans Hermann Bendler (1911–2011) and his wife Inge Johanna Bendler (1922–2000) migrated from Berlin, Germany, to Australia in 1956 with their two children, Friederike (Frederika) (b 1945) and Hans Ulrich (b 1950). They travelled on the Skaugen liner SKAUBRYN, which caught fire and sank on a subsequent voyage to Australia in 1958.
The Bendler family departed Bremerhaven in late February 1956 and stopped at Valletta, Port Said, Colombo, Fremantle and Melbourne. After arrival in Australia they were taken to the Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre in Wodonga, where they stayed for two weeks. They were then transferred to the Villawood Migrant Hostel in Sydney, where they spent the next two years. The Bendler family eventually settled in the nearby suburb of Carramar, in a house built by Mr Bendler.SignificanceThis is part of a collection of photographs that illustrates a successful migrant voyage from Germany to Australia on the Skaugen liner SKAUBRYN in 1956. Just two years later, the Norwegian migrant ship became the only vessel to be lost at sea during the era of post-war migration to Australia, when it caught fire and sank in the Indian Ocean.
