Saloon chair from the SOBRAON

Date1891-1911

Object number00055129

NameChair

MediumWood, iron, paint

DimensionsOverall: 810 × 485 × 420 mm

ClassificationsTableware and furnishings

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Dianne Stewart

Terms

DescriptionTimber and iron saloon chair reportedly from the Scottish-built clipper ship SOBRAON, which was later converted into the Nautical School Ship (NSS) SOBRAON (1891-1911) and Royal Australian Navy training ship HMAS TINGIRA (1911-1927). The chair was acquired at the time SOBRAON/TINGIRA was broken up at Berrys Bay (Sydney Harbour) in the early 1940s.HistoryThe saloon chair is reportedly from the clipper SOBRAON, which transported passengers and goods between London and Sydney between 1866 and 1871, and then operated between London and Melbourne until 1891. It was one of the most luxurious and highly-regarded passenger ships operating between Great Britain and Australia at the time It was also one of the fastest. SOBRAON was later purchased by the New South Wales colonial government and converted into a floating reformatory and training vessel. It operated as the Nautical School Ship (NSS) SOBRAON until 1911, when it was transferred to Commonwealth government control and converted into the Royal Australian Navy's first training ship, HMAS TINGIRA. It served in this capacity until 1927, when it was decommissioned. The ship was broken up in the early 1940s, and it is around this time that the chair appears to have come into the possession of Arthur Robert Bell. Bell was an instructor aboard either NSS SOBRAON or HMAS TINGIRA, and assumed command of the coastal trading vessel SS BOMBO in 1930. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve (Seagoing) in 1941 and given command of the guard ship HMAS WONGALA - the wartime name of the polar exploration vessel WYATT EARP (later HMAS WYATT EARP). At the close of hostilities, Bell resumed command of BOMBO, and was in command of the steamer when it foundered off the New South Wales south coast during a gale on 22 February 1949. Bell was among 12 officers and crew who perished in what is considered one of Australia's worst maritime tragedies.SignificanceThe chair's significance stems from its association with the Scottish-built clipper ship SOBRAON, and its later iterations, the Nautical School Ship (NSS) SOBRAON and HMAS Tingira. SOBRAON was a luxury passenger vessel that transited between England and Australia during the latter half of the nineteenth century, and is recognised as the world's largest ever composite-hulled (iron frames and timber planking) sailing vessel. The ship was later converted into a reformatory vessel for the New South Wales colonial government, and subsequently became the Royal Australian Navy's first training ship (under the name HMAS TINGIRA).

The chair also has an affiliation with Captain Arthur Robert Bell, a mariner directly associated with SOBRAON/TINGIRA, as well as the auxilliary Royal Australian Navy vessel HMAS WONGALA/WYATT EARP, which particpated in the Second World War and later the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition. Bell is also associated with the loss of SS BOMBO, a coastal steamer and a familiar presence among the coastal ports of eastern Australia during the 1930s and 1940s. Its loss--with Bell in command--is considered one of Australia's worst maritime tragedies.