The South Australian Maritime Museum preserves the oldest nautical collection in Australia. In 1872 the Port Adelaide Institute began a museum collection to complement its library and its educational and social programs. That collection grew over the following century reflecting the seafarers and the ships that visited Port Adelaide. It is now held in trust at the South Australian Maritime Museum.

The Maritime Museum’s collections ranges from the Port Adelaide Lighthouse that was first lit in 1869 to a plaque that explorer Matthew Flinders left at Memory Cove in 1802 to mark the loss of eight seafarers. It includes figureheads, nautical instruments, bathing costumes, shipwreck artefacts, paintings, models and vessels.

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Ink Blotter

An advertisement on ink blotter for the Gulf Trip aboard the popular vessel MV Moonta (1936-1937). It incorporates an illustration of couples dancing in the ship's ballroom.

The Gulf Trip was a fixture of South Australian tourism during the first half of the 20th century and carried many generations of honeymooners, holiday makers and tourists around the Spencer Gulf over 6 days for only £6.

Creator: Adelaide Steamship Company

Associated locations: Spencer Gulf, Port Adelaide, Port Lincoln, South Australia

Caption: Ink Blotter

AccessionNo: HT 1990.0170

Type:
overall mm

Width: 210 mm

Height: 130 mm

Material: Paper

Date Created: c. 1936

Physical Description:
An ink blotter produced for The Adelaide Steamship Co. as an advertisement for the Gulf Trips aboard the popular vessel MV ‘Moonta’ (1936-1937). Paper printed with an advertisement. The advertisement includes a rhyme which reads ‘We look pleased and so would you, with this delightful trip in view. Next week we sail, with many who, will make this ship their rendezvous’. It contains a sketch of men and women dancing in the ballroom of the Gulf Trip vessel. . Embossed on the front is ‘IT IS ALL ARRANGED DEAR,WE LEAVE NEXT SATURDAY FOR THE GULF TRIP’.

Significance:
An example of emphemera from the Gulf Trip cruises run by the Adelaide Steamship company. This advertisement captures the essence of the famous Gulf Trip. It also reflects the cult of souvenirs associated with passenger vessels. Presents a view of South Australia’s and Port Adelaide’s shipping history that is not exclusively linked with trade, industry, mariners and waterside workers – passenger travel was just as important to the maritime identity of the Port and the State although the Adelaide Steamship Company, one of the largest shipping companies in the world, is a fixture of Port Adelaide shipping and industrial identity. Suggests the relative success of the Adelaide Steamship Company as more that just a local Port Adelaide business, as the advertisement gives details of their Melbourne offices – indicative of the broader interstate appeal of the Gulf Trips and the national success of the Adelaide Steamship Company.

Provenance:
The Donor of the ink blotter collected it on a voyage aboard the MV ‘Moonta’. The Gulf Trip was a fixture of South Australian tourism during the first half of the 20th century and carried many generations of honeymooners, holiday makers and tourists around the Spencer Gulf over 6 days for only £6. The Gulf Trip was South Australia’s affordable version of the modern cruise ship holiday; leisure on board the ships was a priority with organised deck games, music, sing-alongs, and writing rooms for sending postcards to loved ones. It also had a somewhat salacious reputation as a place where men and women could fraternise with relative ease. Gulf Trip vessels were stocked with a large range of souvenirs for sale to passengers to remember the cruise of a life time.