Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Painting - Paintings - set of three, Beni Carr Glyn Burnett, 1933
Beni Carr Glyn Burnett (also known as B. C. G. Burnett or Beni Burnett) was born in 1889 to missionary parents in Mongolia. When he was 15 years old he began training as an architect with a firm in Shanghai. He worked in Singapore, Japan and China before moving to Australia around 1933. In 1937 he was appointed as the Commonwealth principal architect in the Northern Territory. He went on to design a series of houses for senior public servants and military personnel which became very popular as they were specifically designed for the tropics - incorporating louvres, high ceilings and good ventilation. When Darwin was bombed in February 1942, he was evacuated to Alice Springs where he continued to work as an architect. He also became a Magistrate and Coroner in Alice Springs. In later life he was well known for sketching clientele in public bars. He died in 1955.
Beni Burnett was living in Sydney in 1933 when he produced these three artworks.
There were several photography firms operating in Sydney at this time who specialised in photographing ships and the shipping trade (e.g. Samuel J. Hood and William James Hall) and whose photographs were used by artists to produce ship portraits. Both of these photographers took photographs of the two ships in B. C. G. Burnett's watercolours.
The "Magdalene Vinnen" was photographed by Samuel J Hood in a series of photos taken in March 1933. It was a 4 masted steel barque, built in 1921 in Kiel, Germany and for almost 80 years was the largest traditional sailing ship in operation. It was used extensively as a cargo ship. It sailed into Sydney Harbour on 27th Feb 1933, loaded with almost 16,000 bales of wool destined for Falmouth, England. In March 1933 (whilst in Sydney) the German Republic flag (on orders from Adolph Hitler) was lowered and replaced with the old monarchist flag which was then to be the official flag and beside it the Nazi flag was to be flown on all ceremonial occasions. It visited Australia again in 1935 with its cargo being wheat from Port Broughton, S. A. In 1936 it was renamed "Kommodore Johnsen" and in 1945 (after WW2) the ship was awarded to the Soviet Union as war compensation and renamed "STS Sedov".
The "Winterhude" (originally called "Mabel Rickmers) was a three masted Finnish barque built in 1898 by Rickers - Werft Bremerhaven for use on the East India rice trade and later the South American nitrate trade. After WW1 it came under French control as war compensation. It was also sold several times and at one stage was called "Selma Hemsoth" but in 1925 it was bought by Gustaf Erikson who restored the name "Winterhude" and the vessel became a regular transport in the Australian wheat trade. In 1944 it was sold to the German navy before being taken over by the British at the end of WW2. It was photographed in Sydney by William James Hall in 1931 on its way to Port Lincoln, South Australia to load wheat for Europe.
The third ship depicted by B. C. G. Burnett is a pen and wash sketch labelled "The White Ship" and exactly matches a photograph pasted into his personal scrapbook which is in the "Library and Archives N. T.". The name of the ship is unknown and B. C. G. Burnett may have taken some artistic licence with the colouring as in the original photograph, the ship had a dark hull.This set of three small artworks is significant as examples of shipping (particularly the use of sailing ships) that were still being used as late as the 1930's in Australia. They are also important because their creator (B. C. G. Burnett) went on to become a well-known public figure in the Northern Territory in the late 1930's due to his innovative approach to designing homes for the tropical climate.A set of three artworks by B. C. G. Burnett of sailing ships in Sydney Harbour. They are all on rectangular watercolour paper with small diagonal edges at each corner.
Painting 1 is a watercolour painting of a sailing ship called "Magdalene Vinnen". It shows a 4 masted barque with a blue and red steel hull in full sail heading towards the viewer. The painter's name (B. C. G. Burnett) and date (1933) are written on the bottom left-hand corner of the painting.
Painting 2 is a watercolour painting of a sailing ship called "Winterhude". It shows a 3-masted barque with a blue and red steel hull in full sail heading away from the viewer. A small figure can be seen at the wheel at the rear of the ship. The painter's name (B. C. G. Burnett) and date (1933) are written on the bottom left-hand corner of the painting.
Sketch 3 is an ink sketch of an unknown sailing ship moored to a dock. There are several small boats tied up near the sailing ship and a large steel freighter can be seen in the background. There is a faint wash of colour on parts of the sketch - the bottom of the ship, the masts and booms and the water at the end of the pier. The title (The White Ship) and the artist's name (B. C. G. Burnett) are written in ink in the top left corner. 1 (front) - "B. C. G. BURNETT. 1933
2 (front) - "B. C. G. BURNETT. 1933"
3 (front) - "THE WHITE SHIP / B. C. G. BURNETT"flagstaff hill maritime museum and village, warrnambool, great ocean road, sailing ships, ships, barque, magdalene vinnen, winterhude, beni carr glyn burnett, b. c. g. burnett, beni burnett, painting, watercolour painting, sketch, ink sketch, sydney harbour, architect, darwin, burnett house, photography, samuel j. hood, william james hall, sedov, kommodore johnsen, mabel rickmers
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village