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Image Not Available for Christmas dinner crew menu from MV MATTHEW FLINDERS II
Christmas dinner crew menu from MV MATTHEW FLINDERS II
Image Not Available for Christmas dinner crew menu from MV MATTHEW FLINDERS II

Christmas dinner crew menu from MV MATTHEW FLINDERS II

Maker (1956 - 1998)
Date1972
Object number00004294
NameMenu
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsOverall: 185 x 105 mm
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from ANL Container Line Pty Ltd
DescriptionThis handmade Christmas dinner menu, which was on board the Australian National Line’s merchant vessel MATTHEW FLINDERS II in 1972, features a green and blue design on a white background.HistoryIn 1970, Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd in Japan built MATTHEW FLINDERS for The Flinders Shipping Company Ltd. It functioned as a roll-on/roll-off cargo vessel, servicing routes to Japan, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. It was sold to the Australian National Line in 1975 and was renamed AUSTRALIAN EXPLORER. The ship was to continue servicing the Japan, Australia route until it was withdrawn and dismantled in Taiwan in 1987. There are a large number of shipboard menus in the museum’s collection and a vast majority of these menus appeared in passenger liners. This shipboard menu offers a rare glimpse into the social life of crew members on board a merchant vessel. The menu would have served as a decorative keepsake for crew members travelling across Australia’s coastal waters on en route to Japan.SignificanceShipboard menus were the most common type of souvenir collected by passengers. This particular menu was collected by a crew member of MATTHEW FLINDERS. It illustrates how key social or cultural occasions, such as Christmas dinner, were celebrated amongst the crew, which in this case, was a colourful memento featuring a 1970s pattern.