Summary

Black and white photograph adhered to album page 18, of a Crossing the Equator Ceremony onboard the MS Skaubryn, taken by Walter Lischke during his migrant voyage on 18 December, 1955. Also refer to family's Crossing the Equator certificates, record numbers HT39777, HT39778 and HT39779.

The inscription, handwritten by Walter Lischke in German, reads: '18.12. Wir passieren den Äquator. Neptun mit Gefolge nach der Arbeit: 'Äquatortaufe.' (Translation: '18.12. We pass the equator. Neptune with his entourage after work: 'Crossing the equator' ceremony').

This photograph is one of a series of forty black and white photographs adhered to pages within a small album. The photographs were taken by Walter Lischke, before, during and just after his migrant voyage to Australia with his wife and four children on the MS Skaubryn in November-December 1955. Walter put the photos in the album after arriving, entitled 'Our Australian Trip 20.11 - 31.12.1955...Our dear grandmother', and sent it back to his wife Gerda's mother in Germany. After she died three years later, the album came back to the family in Australia.

The album, with each photograph annotated in German, commences in Bremerhaven from where the family departed Germany, and follows their journey to Australia. Also refer to record HT53880, the camera with which Walter Lischke took all the photographs.

Description of Content

Large group of people in costume including men dressed as Neptune, pirate and sea-monster costumes, three people in naval uniform playing musical instruments. Two children look on.

Physical Description

Black and white photograph

Significance

Statement of Historical Significance:
This collection provides an evocative insight into one family's post World War II migrant journey, from processing and transport from Bremerhaven, Germany through the ship voyage, ports, arrival and processing at Station Pier, Bonegilla and their early settlement. The photo album compliments other diaries and photo journals in the Museum's collection and demonstrates the importance to migrants of documenting their journey and creating an enduring record of this seminal human experience. The camera with which the photographs were taken is also part of the collection, providing an often rare tangible link between the technology and what it produced and the technological era represented.

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