Menu from TSS NAIRANA
Maker
Huddart Parker Limited
(1876 - 1961)
Datec 1938
Object number00029963
NameMenu
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsOverall: 385 x 210 mm, 0.006 kg
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Captain Richard Burgess
DescriptionThis menu, was created for Tasmanian Steamers Pty Ltd’s TSS NAIRANA. It is a typewritten daily menu for the crew and is divided into days of the week. The menu is printed on the back of ‘Huddart Parker Limited, Wine Sheet’, listing the available alcoholicHistoryTSS NAIRANA was built in 1915 by Wm Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton for Huddart Parker Limited. After an early stint as a seaplane carrier for the Royal Navy during World War I, NAIRANA was rebuilt according to its original plans. NAIRANA was finally handed back to Huddart Parker in 1921 for the Bass Strait passenger service. In the same year, Huddart Parker negotiated with Union Line to form Tasmanian Steamers Pty Ltd.
NAIRANA operated on the Bass Strait service for the next 27 years. In 1936, NAIRANA was hit by a large wave which almost capsized the vessel. Three passengers drowned, with another crushed to death by the force of the wave. In 1946, Tasmanian Steamers decided not to undergo repairs on the vessel so in 1948, NAIRANA was laid up in Melbourne. In 1951, the ship was sold to Wm Mussell Pty Ltd but early in the same year, NAIRANA broke away from the dock during a storm. There were attempts to refloat NAIRANA, but between 1953 and 1954 it was broken up as it lay.
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 commercial vessel.SignificanceShipboard menus were the most common type of souvenir collected by passengers and crew. This particular menu is unlike other passenger liner menus because it was designed for crew members on board TSS NAIRANA. It therefore deviates from elaborate illustrations of Australian wildlife designed for international passengers. The menu provides an insight into the diet and overall employment conditions of the crew of TSS NAIRANA.
