Museum volunteers win Sydney Harbour award THREE ANMM volunteers – Alfred Knight, Paul Maile and Vivian Balmer – were nominated for awards in the Community Division of the 2008 Sydney Harbour Awards announced last February on board the 1874 barque James Craig moored at the museum’s Wharf 7 Maritime Heritage Centre. The awards, hosted and supported by the state waterways authority NSW Maritime and announced by its CEO Chris Oxenbould, recognise those who encourage the caring and sharing of Sydney Harbour by informing, educating or engaging the community.
Three other nominations for the same category came from the Sydney Heritage Fleet (restorer and operator of James Craig) for Bernie Norington, Hilary Hansen and Bruce Hitchman. The judges found it impossible to pull one winner out of the six nominations since each one of them had made an enormous contribution to Sydney Harbour’s rich cultural heritage in their own way. It was therefore decided to give two awards to both organisations for their exceptional volunteer programs – and to the six volunteers in particular.
The man behind Sydney’s first marine biology institute, Professor Frank Talbot, won the Sydney Harbour Week Award for Lifetime Achievement. His Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS) at Chowder Bay promotes collaboration and research in urban marine ecology. Other awards recognised a host of achievers in the arts, environment, heritage and tourism. They included the ‘No Frills Divers’ team who discovered the missing World War II Japanese midget submarine M24, and Alexandria Park Community School for an indigenous boat building project.
L to R: Volunteer guide Alfred Knight holding his award; registration volunteers Paul Maile and Vivian Balmer. Photographers B Richards, J Mellefont ANMM
Judy Gibson (née Worrad) was a special guest at the opening of the exhibition Summers Past: Golden Days in the Sun 1950–1970, a National Archives touring exhibition of images taken by the Australian News and Information Bureau. And that’s Judy at the right of the 1952 photograph of Miss Pacific finalists Mary Clifton, Pamela Jansen and her younger self, Judy Worrad, on Bondi Beach, Sydney. Contemporary photograph B Richards/ANMM; 1952 photograph courtesy of National Archives of Australia.
SIGNALS 83 June–August 2008
Page 45