Collection of ten documents relating to Captain Robert McKilliam
Date1899 - 1919
Object numberANMS0246
NameArchive series
MediumPaper based material
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Helen and Robert D McKilliam
DescriptionThese ten documents were collected by Captain Robert Basil Vincent McKilliam during his maritime career. They consist of one program and ticket for the forty-second annual meeting of the Royal Shipwreck Relief and Humane Society of New South Wales; one short story entitled ‘In Ballast a legend of evil’; two blank postcards; one tribute poem; one ship newspaper for the SS WILLOCHRA; one magazine featuring the SALAMIS; one envelope from The Adelaide Steamship Company, Limited; one chart and one leaflet advertising Spencer, Simpson & Mann, printers. The documents span the period 1899 – 1928.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.
c 1934