Menu The Blue Funnel Line SS NESTOR Friday 3 August 1923

Maker Alfred Holt & Company [Blue Funnel Line] (1866 - 1988)

Date1923

Object number00045541

NameMenu

MediumPaper

DimensionsOverall (Measurement taken while menu open): 114 x 134 mm

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionThis dinner menu appeared on board The Blue Funnel Line's SS NESTOR on 3 August 1923. It features the company logo on the cover with a menu list on the inside. It forms part of the collection of memorabilia collected by the family of the prominent shipping figure, Captain William Collin.HistorySS NESTOR was built in for Blue Funnel Line. It served the passenger trade between England and Australia. On 30 June 1913, The Argus in Melbourne reported the visit of SS NESTOR claiming it was 'the largest merchant liner that has ever visited the Commonwealth.' The ship's arrival also 'created a stir' and a 'large number of people visited Port Melbourne'. It is described as a superior cruise liner, with various facilities for passengers including a barber shop, library, photographic dark-room, nursery and laundry. NESTOR served as a troopship for the Australian Expeditionary Force in World War I. In World War II, the vessel acted as a transport for British children being evacuated to Australia. NESTOR made its last voyage to Australia in 1950 before it went to shipbreakers. Captain William Collin is regarded as a pioneer of Queensland coastal and river trade, from the 1860s until the 1910s. He was well known for his skill in marine salvage of ships off the dangerous Queensland coast. His most notable achievement was marking the passage through Torres Strait with buoys, for the Queensland Government. He recorded his colourful life in memoirs published in 1914, which are regarded as an important source of information on Queensland's early social and commercial life.SignificanceShipboard menus were the most common type of souvenir collected by passengers and crew. This particular menu was on board SS NESTOR during the interwar years. The menu is a memento of a much loved British liner that serviced the passenger trade between England and Australia.