TSMV MANOORA, Adelaide Steamship Company, badged ashtray

Maker Adelaide Steamship Company Limited (1875 - 1977)

Date1950s

Object number00004399

NameAshtray

MediumStainless steel, enamel

DimensionsOverall: 80 x 120 x 120 mm

ClassificationsTableware and furnishings

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from C Liston

Terms

DescriptionCollected as a souvenir by Harold Edward Liston and his wife Florence Ann Liston who took their annual Christmas holidays on Australian coastal steamships every year from 1950 to 1956. Harold was a very social man and loved the community atmosphere on board.HistoryTSMV MANOORA, 1935 - 1961, was built by A Stephens and Sons of Glasgow. MANOORA immediately entered the Sydney to Fremantle run via Melbourne and Adelaide until 1939 when the vessel was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy for WWII. It joined the China station in 1940 to patrol Malaysian waters; patrolled of the Queensland Coast; acted as an escort vessel; patrolled in the Bay of Bengal; was converted to a landing ship; and was used to bring home Australian troops from India, Dutch East Indies and Japan. MANOORA was released back to the company in 1949 after an extensive and lengthy refit, where it resumed the Fremantle run in the summer and the Cairns run in the winter months. In 1959/60 it cruised to Fiji and New Caledonia. In 1961 MANOORA was purchased by the Indonesian Government for the pilgrim trade from Indonesia to Jeddah. The vessel was sold to Taiwanese ship breakers in 1972, but sank off Luzon in shallow water later that year. The Adelaide Steamship Company was founded in 1857 when a group of businessmen saw the opportunity to capitalise on the Adelaide to Melbourne shipping route. Two ships were ordered from England and the company soon established itself on the coastal shipping scene. Over time, the Adelaide Steamship Company extended its routes around Australia, bought out other companies, expanded its fleet and eventually became one of Australia's most powerful and enduring shipping concerns. The Adelaide Steamship Company sold its shipping interests in 1977 but continued to operate tug services in ports around Australia. The Company now known as Adsteam, expanded and diversified, with large holdings in important Australian and overseas companies. But eventually, because of opposition to its cross-holdings, it was forced to divest itself of all assets except its tugs.