Flying fish visiting MV MULIAMA [30 August 1952]
Artist
Brett Hilder
(1911-1981)
Date1952
Object number00027084
NamePainting
MediumWatercolour on paper
DimensionsOverall: 191 x 264 mm, 0.05 kg
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionThis watercolour of a flying fish was painted by amateur artist and professional seaman Brett Hilder on the MV MULIAMA in 1952.
HistoryBrett Hilder born in 1911 was the youngest son of renowned watercolourist Jesse Jewhurst Hilder. In 1927 he became a crewmember for ships owned by Burns Philp & Co. He traveled extensively to the Dutch East Indies and South Pacific Islands, and eventually became a ship's master. During WWII he taught navigation to Australian air crew and attained the rank of Wing Commander. He flew on Catalina flying boats for the Royal Australian Air Force. After the war Hilder resumed his career as a merchant sea-captain.
During the war Hilder started painting watercolours depicting landscapes, details and portraits of the people and places he visited. He also wrote extensively about navigation and his travels for magazines such as 'Walkabout'. Hilder is the author of numerous books on his own experiences and in 1966 published 'The Heritage of JJ Hilder' a book about his father's art career. This accompanied a national touring exhibition of his father's work organised by the Queensland Art Gallery. Brett Hilder passed away in April 1981.
Hilder was promoted to Master on board MV MULIAMA, the smallest vessel of the Burns Philp Company's fleet. In 'Navigators of the South Seas', Hilder describes the MULIAMA as a 'very seaworthy vessel for its size, very buoyant and very manoeuvrable with a tendency to roll most enthusiastically in the open ocean'. It was built in Hong Kong in 1937 for the company and operated by Burns Philp until 1957.SignificanceThis painting is representative of the work by prolific amateur painter Brett Hilder, a seaman with Burns Philp and Company. His work offers a valuable and comprehensive record of the experiences of mariners working on commercial vessels between Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Melanesia from the 1930s through to the 1960s.