Port Lincoln's tribute to Finnish mariners: the Axel Stenross Maritime Museum

Two Finnish seamen, Axel Stenross and Frank Laakso, arrived in Australia in 1927 on the windjammer s.v. Olivebank as it entered Port Lincoln, South Australia. They stayed in Port Lincoln for the rest of their lives.

Frank died in 1975 and Axel died in 1980. Following their deaths, friends raised money to preserve their work by establishing the Axel Stenross Maritime Museum. On the coast, a short walk from Port Lincoln city centre, are the boat sheds and museum. The boat shed is where Axel and Frank built large and small boats – some of which are on display. Boatmaking tools and equipment used by Axel Stenross are laid out in the blacksmith shop. The winch room was used to hoist boats up onto the slipway located outside the room. Still there is the old winch and car engine used before the electric winch was installed.

The small living quarters (from 1942) with Axel and Frank’s personal items show their sparse lifestyle. The sofa is from the sailing vessel, Buffalo, which brought the first settlers to South Australia. The kitchen has a wood stove, meat safe, ice chest, coal irons and cast iron pots. Water was collected from the nearby spring.

Outside is a range of boats. Hecla, built in 1903, was a trading vessel, and Nabilla – the first tugboat to operate full time in Port Lincoln – was built in 1945. Axel was the inaugural Vice-Commodore of the Port Lincoln Yacht Club, and Rio Rita, built by Stenross in 1936 for his own use was also used as a rescue boat during races.

http://www.axelstenross.com.au

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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