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Image Not Available for Ship painter at work (Frank Amato ex Morts Dock)
Ship painter at work (Frank Amato ex Morts Dock)
Image Not Available for Ship painter at work (Frank Amato ex Morts Dock)

Ship painter at work (Frank Amato ex Morts Dock)

Artist
Date1930-1970
Object number00009399
NamePainting
MediumOil on canvas, wooden frame
DimensionsOverall: 449 x 350 mm, 0.85 kg
Display Dimensions: 445 x 348 x 15 mm
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from the Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union of Australia
DescriptionA painting depicting the interior of a shed where a man wearing an apron stirs over a large drum. Another man is sillouetted in the doorway with a large crane visible in the distance. The painting is signed 'LOH' in the lower left hand corner but the artist is yet to be identified. The frame bears a label reading 'Frank Amato, ex-Morts dock. See back for other information' (there is no other information on the back). Part of a collection donated by the Ship Painters and Dockers Union.HistoryMort's Dock was the first dry dock of its size in Australia - opening one year before Cockatoo Island – and was the largest shipyard and engineering workshop in the colony in the latter half of the 19th century, and for many years the Colony’s largest private enterprise. The site has an historical association with Thomas Rowntree and Thomas Sutcliffe Mort who formed the Mort’s Dock & Engineering Company in 1853. The company was significant in the development of the union movement with the Ship Painters and Dockers Union established on site in 1872, and that the Balmain site was the birthplace of what was to become the Australian Labour Party in 1891. SignificanceMort's Dock was the largest shipyard and engineering workshop in Australia in the latter half of the 19th century. The site developed into the colony's largest private enterprise and in many ways helped establish the colony and Sydney as Australia's premier maritime port.