AWATEA broadcast September 1936 - Australian Prime Minister Joseph Lyons

Photographer Samuel J Hood Studio (Australian, 1899 - 1953)

Date1936

Object number00022637

NameNitrate negative

MediumEmulsion on nitrate film.

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

Sydney

HistoryAdvocate, Burnie (Tasmania) Wednesday 16 September 1936, page 12: Awatea Broadcast. The Australian Broadcasting Commission has arranged a broadcast, to be relayed through all national and regional stations on Saturday, at 9pm, of a radio telephone conversation between the Prime Minister (Mr J.A. Lyons and the master of the Union Steamship Co.'s new liner AWATEA (Capt. A.H. Davey). At the conclusion of the conversation various officers on the ship will describe interesting points of the construction and fittings. The Age (Melbourne), Monday 21 September 1936, page 14 LINER'S MAIDEN TRIP. Wireless Talk With Awatea. Captain A. H. Davey on Saturday evening spoke to radio listeners all over the Australian continent from the new 14,000-ton. liner Awatea on its maiden voyage from Wellington to Sydney. From this vessel in the Tasman Sea and 3LO Melbourne, a radio telephonic conversation was maintained for a quarter of an hour. The Prime Minister (Mr. Lyons) congratulated the Union S.S. Co. on building such a fine answer to American subsidised shipping, and recalled how in the period that elapsed since Captain Cook first sailed these seas in the Endeavor it had been made possible for such a conversation to take place. The Prime Minister was followed by officers of the Awatea, who explained to listeners everything about the ship from the automatic egg boilers to the mighty turbines which are capable of driving it at a speed equivalent to over twenty-seven land miles per hour. The Argus (Melbourne) Monday 21 September 1936, page 10 SHIP WELCOMED 300 MILES AT SEA. Fast Link Across Tasman In a wireless telephone conversation on Saturday night, the Prime Minister (Mr. Lyons) spoke to the captain of the Union Steam Ship Co.'s new vessel Awatea, which was 300 miles from the coast on her malden voyage from New Zealand, and welcomed the vessel to Australia. The Awatea will reach Sydney today. The voices of the crew and even the sounds of the ship's siren and bridge telegraph were heard clearly by wireless listeners from 3LO, where Mr. Lyons was speaking, at about 10.30 p.m. "It is wonderful to think that radio science has made it possible for this talk to take place," said Mr. Lyons. "I wonder what Captain Cook would have said had he been told of it more than 150 years ago. It is splendid to think that the time between Australia and New Zealand will be reduced to two and a half days. The closer we are to our New Zealand friends the better it will be for both countries. It is only a stretch of water that divides us. We are not divided in the basic principles that govern our national lives." Mr. Lyons congratulated the Union Steam Ship Co. on its enterprise in placing the vessel in the service. "The day has gone when anything will do for ocean travellers," he said. "Fast, up-to-date ships are necessary if the British mercantile marine is to maintain its supremacy." Captain Davey, commander of the Awatea, described his vessel, which is the most modern in the service, and introduced several members of the crew. The chief engineer, the purser, the chief steward, and the wireless operator described their departments. The broad cast occupied 15 minutes. SignificanceThe Samuel J Hood photographic collection records an extensive range of maritime activity on Sydney Harbour, including sail and steam ships, crew portraits, crews at work, ship interiors, stevedores loading and unloading cargo, port scenes, pleasure boats and harbourside social activities from the 1890s through to the 1950s. They are also highly competent artistic studies and views - Hood was regarded as an important figure in early Australian photojournalism. Hood’s maritime photographs are one of the most significant collections of such work in Australia.