Harry Francis Knight Naval portrait
Date1940s
Object number00056027
NamePhotograph
MediumPaper
DimensionsOverall (Photograph): 145 × 99 mm
Overall (mount): 165 × 108 mm
Overall (mount): 165 × 108 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection Gift from Heather Andrews
Collections
As a Chief Petty Officer and telegraphist aboard HMAS Perth, Knight survived the Battle of Sunda Strait, endured a subsequent lengthy journey in a lifeboat to central Java, before becoming a prisoner of war in three separate camps and then returning to Australia. This involved a period working on the Thai-Burmese railway, and a journey to Japan on one of the infamous 'hell ships' of the Imperial Japanese Navy. His story of survival greatly enhances the significance of the otherwise standard issue naval portrait shot, and group photo with other senior officers at the Acropolis, Athens.
The story of HMAS Perth has previously been unpacked via museum panel exhibitions, Guardians of Sunda Strait, programming, War and Peace in the Pacific 75, and through maritime archaeology research projects on the wreck of HMAS Perth. Harry Knight's photos hold unique potential as a contribution of the Perth narrative to the museum collection.
The primary focus of WRAN material in the NMC collection falls post 1951, after the service was re-established. Taken in 1945, Peg Trevor's photographs showing day to day life at HMAS Penguin act as rare early visual documents of WRAN training and duties, during a period when the WRANS served as an auxiliary service. Documentation of recreation and social activities further add an informal tone to the works, aiding in an understanding of what it was like to live, and work, at the base in Balmoral. For a period of time in 1934, Knight was also stationed at HMAS Penguin.
Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK)
1833