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).

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Apes go to the movies - and remember the scenes

Apes remember major events in movies, even after a single viewing. That’s the findings of primate research in Japan (New Scientist, September 17, 2015). Researchers at the Kyoto University in Japan conducted experiments with two species of apes – chimpanzees and bonobo primates – to test their memory and recall. Instead of using food to test memory, they used films. The researchers made two short movies to show to the apes. Fumihiro Kano and his colleague, Satoshi Hirata, starred in the films with another person dressed as an ape. They wanted to have strong dramatic scenes to see if the apes remembered them. In the first 30-second movie the character ape bursts through a door on the right hand side (there is also a door on the left hand side) and attacks the two researchers (characters) 18 seconds after the start. After 24 seconds a human character choses one of two weapons next to each other and launched a revenge attack on the ape. In the second 30-second movie t...

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), 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 Suda...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog