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Collection of 23 documents relating to the career of Captain Robert McKilliam

Date1883-1934

Object numberANMS0240

NameArchive series

MediumPaper

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Stephen, Robert D, Robert Laurence and Helen McKilliam, Jean Chambers and Gwynned Peh

Terms

DescriptionThis collection of 23 documents relates to the career of Captain Robert Basil Vincent McKilliam with the Aberdeen White Star Line. The series consists of one passengers address book for SS SALAMIS; one booklet for the Aberdeen line of steamers; one wage document; one poster for SS DAMASCUS; one notebook containing entries of statistical summaries of voyages; seven logbooks; one set of Morse code signals; three voyage accounts; two ships newspapers; one postcard featuring portraits of Captain McKilliam and twelve of the crew of SS SALMIS; two letterbooks; one copy of the poem written on Henry Lawson's departure for England on the SS DAMSASCUS; and one Meteorological form. The collection spans the period 1884 – 1908.HistoryScottish-born Captain Robert Basil Vincent McKilliam served in the Aberdeen White Star Line between 1876 and 1908. A native of Aberdeen, he was apprenticed at 14. He served under famous clipper captains like Robert Kemball and on famous clippers like THERMOPYLAE and SALAMIS, mostly in the Britain-to-Australia service. He also served in the modern steamers of the day. After 32 years he retired from the sea and soon after, in 1910, he married. In 1913 he brought his family to live in Sydney. Appointed Assistant Manager of Darling Island Wharf, he worked as a superintendent stevedore in Sydney from World War One up to the Great Depression. He died at his home in North Sydney in 1934.