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Pine trees surrounding a small white church, Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Pine trees surrounding a small white church, Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Pine trees surrounding a small white church, Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Photographer (1875 - 1956)
Date1935 - 1937
Object number00014930
NameNitrate negative
MediumCellulose nitrate negative, black and white
DimensionsOverall: 91 x 60 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Mr and Mrs Nossiter
HistoryHarold Nossiter (senior) was a noted Sydney sailor in the 1920s and 30s who became the first Australian to skipper a yacht around the world under an Australian flag from 1935 - 1937. Nossiter worked for Corio whisky, a Sydney company marketing Australian whiskey. Just before retirement, Harold ordered the construction of a 53 foot (metres) staysail schooner in order to fulfil a lifelong dream of sailing around the globe. He named his new schooner SIRIUS and on 14 July 1935, two days after his retirement, left Sydney Harbour with the two eldest of his four sons, Harold Junior and Richard (Dick). Clive Russell, the son of a friend, also sailed on the voyage for part of the way, leaving the schooner in New Guinea. Harold Senior was skipper, Harold Junior the cook and Dick was the navigator, having undertaken a course in ocean navigation in preparation for the trip. The voyage took them to New Guinea, Bali, Singapore, Langkawi, Colombo, through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean and thence to Plymouth, England on 2 June 1936. During their three month stint in the UK, Harold Nossiter wrote his first book documenting the voyage Northward Ho, completing his second book, Southward Ho on the voyage home. The crew sailed out of Cowes, England on 17 September 1936 for the return voyage to Australia. This voyage took them through the North Atlantic and the Panama Canal into the Pacific Ocean. They sailed to Cocos, the Galapagos Archipelago, the Marquesas, the Tuamotu Archipelago, Tahiti, Bora Bora, the Cook and Tongan Islands before arriving back in Sydney on 20 May 1937. They had spent nearly two years away, and the most of it at sea.SignificanceThis collection of nitrate negatives was taken by Harold Nossiter and his son Harold Nossiter Junior in the 1920s and 30s and provides an interesting, and personal record of sailing in Harold Nossiter’s yachts UTIEKAH II, on the NSW coast, and SIRIUS, on the world cruise from 1935 - 1937. It shows a range of subjects from pleasure cruising with family and friends, times on board the world cruise, the activities of the crew, and their visits to then exotic ports of call. They provide a wonderful, lively record of the increasing popularity of cruising as a sport in the 1920s and 30s and the first world cruise by an Australian yacht.