This model is a part of the A. A. Stewart collection of ship, mechanical, and railway models acquired by the Powerhouse Museum over nearly 30 years from 1938 to 1963. Albyn A. Stewart was a trained engineer fascinated by engineering models and he constructed some of those in the collection. Others however were brought from amateur and commercial modellers at great expense to Stewart who travelled regularly to England to seek out models. In January 1938, Percival Marshall, the editor of 'The Model Engineer' England's premiere modelling magazine devoted editorial space to the collection where he stated that "Mr. Stewart has been fortunate in acquiring some excellent examples of both screw and paddle marine engines of considerable value as records of real prototype practice."

In April of the same year he expanded his comments on the collection by saying, "As a trained engineer himself, his judgement of the technical merits of a model is very sound, and I should imagine that his collection is now the finest of its kind in Australia, in private hands. Many of the models are undoubtedly worthy of careful preservation, and I hope that they will eventually find a suitable resting place in one or other of the Australian national museums."

Stewart was first contacted by the Technological Museum, as the Powerhouse Museum was then known, in 1933. The then Director/Curator A. R. Penfold immediately recognised the importance of the engineering models and in 1935 began to loan items for display. Penfold expanded the area available for displaying the models as they were seen as instructive for students at the adjacent Technical College as they were for the general public.

In early 1938 Stewart's company 'Lymdale Ltd.' which owned most of the models was approached about the purchase of a large part of the collection. Stewart was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Museum and in July 1938 it began to purchase the models it had loaned as well as the best examples in the rest of the collection. The cost of this was estimated at over 3000.00 pounds. By 1943 the museum was still acquiring material from the collection and the Advisory Committee made a special appropriation request to the Minister of Education. "In view of the advantage of retaining a collection intact, and the national asset which the museum possesses, the committee recommends the purchase of the remainder of the Stewart collection offered at approximately 2,400. This sum was approved and between 1943 and 1945 around 80 more models were purchased. Apart from the monetary limitations the acquisition was spread over a number of years because some of Stewart's models needed to be finished before they could be sold.

The high costs reflected the quality of the models. Many of the working steam engines are one-off examples hand crafted by amateur modellers over the course of years. The same is true of some of the ship and locomotive models many of which are made to exact scale and include working parts. The models were carefully collected by Stewart who collected as much for posterity as he did for personal interest. Once contacted by the museum he deliberately sought models which would fill historical and technological gaps and as a result the collection is one of the most significant in still extant in Australia. A. A. Stewart died in 1961.

This model of a straight sided, flat bottomed, Thames spritsail barge, was purchased by the museum in 1943.

Geoff Barker, March, 2007

References
Marshall, Percival, 'The Model Engineer ', London, April 29, 1937
Marshall, Percival, 'The Model Engineer ', London, May, 27, 1937
Marshall, Percival, 'The Model Engineer ', London, January, 27, 1938
Marshall, Percival, 'The Model Engineer ', London, April, 14, 1938
Chalmers, A. Mar, 'The Model Engineer in Australia and New Zealand, Melbourne, January, 1939
Davison, G., Webber, K., 'Yesterday's Tomorrows; the Powerhouse Museum and its precursors 1880-2005', Powerhouse Publishing, 2005
Lavery, B. and Stephens, S., 'Ship Models; their purpose and development from 1650 to the present', Zwemmer, London, 1995

Model maker unknown

The Thames sailing barges were perhaps the best known craft of the Thames estuary. Their origins can be traced at least to the seventeenth century. They were flat bottomed so that they could sit upright even sitting in mud at low tide. They could carry a maximum load drawing a minimum draft of water. The large flat area also enabled them to sail without ballast when empty. The Thames barge could be found all along the English east coast and Channel seaboard, from Hull around to Weymouth. Thames barges fitted with port and starboard leeboards could tack even in constricted waters.

Ship model, Thames spritsail barge, [1930s]. A straight-sided flat bottomed vessel with masts, rigging and whitesails rig, comprising: mizzen mast, mizzen sprit, mizzen boom and mizzen sail; mainmast, sprit and mainsail; topmast and topsail, staysail; foresail and bowsprit. Deck details include octagonal shaped windlass, cleats, bollards, two water bags, scuttle, ship's wheel, cabin top with skylights, forehatch, main hatch with two oars and mizzen gaff, ship's boat in davits with thwarts and bottomboards, mast case to support and position mast, rudder, leeboards.

Hull construction is planking on frame, plywood deck. Lower hull keel and rudder white; hull to waterline red-brown, leeboards red-brown lower, black upper, hull above water line black. Deck light brown. Model on wooden stand.

Made: 1930 - 1939

B875

1930 - 1939

1720 mm