Christmas dinner menu from SS TAIPING

Date25 December 1939

Object number00044965

NameMenu

MediumPaper

DimensionsOverall: 164 x 208 mm, taken when postcard is fully opened.
Sight: 164 x 104 mm

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Alfred Easton, father of Warwick Easton

Terms

DescriptionThis Christmas dinner menu appeared on the Australian-Oriental Line's SS TAIPING on 25 December 1939. It features an embossed golden image of a ship at sea.HistorySS TAIPING was built in 1926 for Australian-Oriental Line and was designated the Australia/Hong Kong passenger route. After Japan entered World War II in 1941, TAIPING was requisitioned by the Australian Government, left Hong Kong and for Manila where it picked up women and children for evacuation. It was one of the last vessels to leave the Philippines before the Japanese invaded. When it reached Australia the Royal Australian Navy converted it to a Naval Stores Issuing Ship. Under this new role, TAIPING sailed to various locations including Egypt, Colombo, Malta, South and East Africa and the Persian Gulf. Finally, in 1947, TAIPING was released from its war service and in 1949 it resumed the merchant trade. TAIPING serviced the passenger trade throughout the 1950s before it was broken up in 1961.SignificanceShipboard menus were the most common type of souvenir collected by passengers and crew. This particular menu was on board SS TAIPING before it was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy to aid the war effort in 1941. The menu is a memento of a ship that served on the Australia/Hong Kong passenger trade.