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Incredible journey - alone in a cockleshell kayak he crossed the world challenging sea and storm with his life as a prize
Incredible journey - alone in a cockleshell kayak he crossed the world challenging sea and storm with his life as a prize

Incredible journey - alone in a cockleshell kayak he crossed the world challenging sea and storm with his life as a prize

Author (1907 - 1993)
Publisher (Australian, 1864 - 2002)
Date6 December 1956
Object numberANMS0542[011]
NameNewspaper clipping
MediumInk on paper
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection Nancy Jean Steele Bequest
DescriptionNewspaper article as told by Oskar Speck about his journey including his capture and internment on reaching Sabai Island in 1939: "...Seven years later, in September 1939, he coaxed his kayak through the surf and on to the beach at Saibai, an island 60 or 70 miles north from Thursday Island. Officially, Saibai is Australia proper. At his bow, often smothered in the flying surf, fluttered the tiny Swastika which he had brought from Germany with him. Three Australian police were waiting for him to berth his kayak. If this was the German invasion, these cops could handle it. "Well done, feller!'' they said, shaking his hand warmly. "You've made it — Germany to Australia in THAT. But now we've got a piece of bad news for you. You are an enemy alien. We are going to intern you...." The article contains three images of Speck, one of him surfing in his kayak, another lying in kayak pulled onto sand, and third a portrait of him smiling. It also has a map outlining his route.