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Model of kayak SONNENSCHIEN

Oskar Speck1941 – 1942

Australian National Maritime Museum

Australian National Maritime Museum
Sydney, Australia

From 1932 to 1939 Oskar Speck paddled and sailed a small folding canvas kayak (folbot) more than 50,000 kilometres from Ulm on the Danube River in Germany to Saibai Island in the Torres Strait. SONNENSCHIEN, his two-seater kayak, was converted into a one-seater to make space for provisions.

From 1939 to 1943 Speck was interned under the Enemy Aliens Act at the Tatura Internment Camps in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley. A fellow German internee made this model for him out of copper as a reminder of his confiscated kayak. The maker has misspelt the kayak’s name SUNNSCHIEN.

Details

  • Title: Model of kayak SONNENSCHIEN
  • Creator: Oskar Speck
  • Date: 1941 – 1942
  • Location: Tatura
  • Type: Model
  • Significance: This model of SUNNSCHIEN relates to the remarkable story of Oskar Speck, who undertook an epic seven-year, 50,000 km voyage from Germany to Australia in his five-and-half metre collapsible kayak.
  • See institution's online collections: http://www.anmm.gov.au/collections
  • Medium: Copper
  • Dimensions: 170 x 53 x 345 mm
  • Credit line: ANMM Collection Nancy Jean Steele Bequest

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