Different Sections of the Vessel NEPTUNIA

After World War II many displaced persons and migrants from Europe travelled to Australia on board passenger ships. In 1956 the Sinozich family fled their Croatian homeland and travelled by boat to Melbourne, Australia to start a new life. This painting, by Gina Sinozich, depicts a cross section of the steamship NEPTUNIA showing its deck, dining room, cabins and dormitories. While first and second class cabins were for paying passengers, refugees such as Gina and her family slept in segregated dormitories beneath the cabins. In this painting the beds of the Sinozich family have been identified with the initials G, M J.