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Motor Ship Model - HMAS Wyatt Earp
Reg. No: ST 024422
- Summary:
- Built as a wooden herring fishing vessel in Norway as the 'Fanefjord' (402 GRT) in 1919, this ship was purchased and modified by American polar explorer Lincoln Ellsworth for his 1933 Antarctic expedition and renamed as the 'Wyatt Earp' after the well-known American lawman of the wild west. Ellsworth used the ship until 1939 when it was purchased by the Australian government to be used by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) as the fleet auxiliary 'Wongala'.
After just one voyage from Sydney to Darwin, the vessel was laid up and then commissioned as a port examination vessel HMAS Wongala in 1940. She was stationed at Adelaide and Whyalla between 1940 and 1944, after which the vessel was used for sea
cadet training. In 1947 it was surveyed and found fit for use as an Antarctic research ship. She was renamed 'Wyatt Earp' under Commander Karl Oom RAN, an experienced naval surveyor and hydrographer. A RAAF Vought Kingfisher floatplane was loaded on the cargo hatch. After delays due to storm damage which required the vessel to return to Melbourne for repairs, 'Wyatt Earp' reached the pack ice off Adelie Land in March 1948 but could not force a way through to the coast of Antarctica. After completing cosmic ray research and surveying work to correct naval charts, she left for Macquarie Island then returned to Melbourne via Hobart. After this voyage the 'Wyatt' Earp' was considered unsuitable for future Antarctic exploration work and was sold to the Arga Shipping Company in 1951. Renamed 'Wongala' she was used in the Bass Strait trade between Tasmania and Victoria. In 1956 she was purchased by the Ulverstone Shipping Company and renamed 'Natone'. The vessel ran aground at Mudlow/Mudlo Rocks near Fraser Island in January 1959 and foundered.
This scale model of HMAS Wyatt Earp was made by John B. Walker, a professional ship model-maker and former employee of the ship construction branch of the Department of the Navy. It was purchased by the Museum in 1958. The Museum also holds the ship's clock used on the Antarctic voyage.
| Discipline: | Technology |
| Dimensions: | 470 mm (Height), 270 mm (Width), 970 mm (Length) |
More information
| Tagged with: | antarctic exploration, naval vessels, ships |
| Themes this item is part of: | Antarctica Collection, Science & Measurement Collection, Transport Collection |
| Primary Classification: | WATER TRANSPORT |
| Secondary Classification: | Internal Combustion Power - Motor Vessels |
| Tertiary Classification: | model motor vessels - exploration |
| Dimension Comment: | Hull width is 180mm, height from waterline to deck is 30mm, hull length is 940mm, hull length at waterline is 850mm. |
| User of Item Modelled: | Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australia, 1939-1951 |
| Modelmaker: | Mr John Walker, Australia, 1958 |
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