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Image Not Available for Dinner menu from MV JOHAN VAN OLDENBARNEVELT
Dinner menu from MV JOHAN VAN OLDENBARNEVELT
Image Not Available for Dinner menu from MV JOHAN VAN OLDENBARNEVELT

Dinner menu from MV JOHAN VAN OLDENBARNEVELT

Date29 May 1962
Object number00000810
NameMenu
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsOverall: 250 x 184 mm
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from M L Breaden
DescriptionThis dinner menu from the Dutch ocean liner, MV JOHAN VAN OLDENBARNEVELT, depicts two Grey-chested Birds of Paradise which are native to Fergusson Island, Papua New Guinea.HistoryMV JOHAN VAN OLDENBARNEVELT was the largest motor-ship to be built in Holland at the time of its launch in Amsterdam by Nederland Shipbuilding Company, in 1929. It originally served on trade routes between the Netherlands and the East Indies, however, throughout World War II, it was requisitioned by Britain as a troop transport. In the years between 1950 and 1958, MV JOHAN VAN OLDENBARNEVELT carried Dutch and European immigrants wanting to escape their war-torn countries to Australia. The ship served as a passenger vessel until the Dutch migrant-transport charter expired in 1958. Nederland Line transformed the ship into a luxury cruise liner in 1959 and it toured from Amsterdam to England, Australia, New Zealand, South America and North America. There are a large number of these colourful menus in the museum’s collection. This series of menus feature a selection of prints by renowned ornithologist and artist John Gould. The prints consist of native animals from various destinations included in the ship’s voyage around the world. This particular illustration reproduces Gould’s illustration of the Grey-chested Birds of Paradise, found in Birds of New Guinea and the Adjacent Papuan Islands, 1875-1888, volume I, plate 27.SignificanceDuring the early 1960s, MV JOHAN VAN OLDENBARNEVELT was employed as a round-the-world cruise ship which included stops in Fremantle, Sydney and Melbourne. Shipboard menus were the most common type of souvenir collected by passengers and these colourful examples illustrate how the Asia-Pacific region was promoted to international visitors travelling on this luxury cruise liner.
Ship passenger list from JOHAN VAN OLDENBARNEVELT
Nederland Line [Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland]
1952
Nederland Line [Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland]
31 January 1955
Nederland Line [Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland]
26 March 1955