Landfall dinner menu for SS ARAMAC featuring a colour illustration of the Baku, a Japanese mythical creature.
Designer
Mark Severin
(1906 - 1987)
Illustrator
Mark Severin
(1906 - 1987)
Date30 October 1967
Object numberANMS1353[003]
NameMenu
MediumPaper
DimensionsOverall: 254 x 356 mm
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from the family of Burnham Walker Dun
DescriptionThis menu is one in a series designed by artist Mark Severin for P&O that depicts creatures from Japanese mythology. This particular menu also contains the signatures of six passengers and the captain of the vessel, Burnham Walker Dun.
HistoryBurnham Walker Dun (1905-1992) began his apprenticeship with the Australasian Steam Navigation Company in 1921. After four years in the coastal ships of AUSN he joined the Eastern & Australian Steamship Company (E&A) as Fourth Officer on TANDA and served for 43 years with this company.
His career, like many others, was interrupted by World War II and in 1942 when he was Chief Officer on NANKIN, the ship was captured by the German raider THOR. Captain Dun and his surviving crew were handed over to the Japanese in August of 1942 and subsequently spent the rest of the war as a POWs. Dun returned to Australia in very poor health, however his wartime employment on a ship that was British owned and registered meant that he had to struggle for compensation.
Captain Dun went back to sea with E&A in 1946, had his first permanent command in 1947 on the second NANKIN, and served in the company until he retired in 1967. During this time he carried cargo regularly to Japan, where he reconnected and established friendly relationships with his former captors. Throughout his career Dun made a number of rescues at sea and survived several severe typhoons. On retirement, he became a Nautical Assessor and took part in marine Courts of Enquiry, including the enquiry into the collapse of the Tasman Bridge, caused by the cargo ship LAKE ILLAWARRA striking one of the bridge's piers.
The Eastern and Australian Mail Steamship Company was established in 1873 and was originally contracted to carry mail between Australia and the far eastern ports including Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, Hong Kong and Japan. The Eastern & Australasian Steam Navigation Company (E&A), as it later became known, went on to concentrate on the Australia to Hong Kong route, mainly carrying passengers and cargo. During World War II the company was reduced in size to only three passenger/cargo liners, NANKIN, NELLORE and TANDA. NANKIN was captured in 1942, and the other two ships lost to enemy action. Despite this, the company opened again after the war and was fully acquired by P&O in 1966.SignificanceThis autographed menu was collected by Burnham Walker Dun who captained SS ARAMAC. It was most likely collected as a souvenir of his extensive career, as his retirement came late in 1967, soon after the date recorded on the menu. Shipboard menus were often collected as souvenirs by passengers and crew as a memento of their travels. The Australian National Maritime Museum holds a varied collection of menus representing the different journeys of the individuals who collected them and the shipping companies who produced them.