Postboy' Figurehead
1874-01-01/1874-12-31
South Australian Maritime Museum
Port Adelaide, Australia
A single piece, hand carved, wooden bust of a postal service boy from the schooner 'Postboy'. Tunic and cap painted bright red, gold cap band. Bow tie, hair and eyebrows black. White shirt, light blue eyes, pink face. Postboy's figurehead is an evocative relic of one of a fleet of schooners and ketches crucial for transporting cargo between Adelaide and its shallow Gulf ports. Postboy, as the figurehead's name suggests, delivered the mail to these remote ports.
Figureheads, carved wooden sculptures which ornamented the bow of a sailing ship, embodied the 'soul' of the vessel and were believed to offer the crew protection and safe passage on the seas. They were also used to identify a ship, reflecting its function or paying tribute to a person connected with the vessel.
- Title: Postboy' Figurehead
- Date Created: 1874-01-01/1874-12-31
- Location: Port Adelaide, South Australia
- Provenance: Postboy' was a two masted wooden schooner of 62 tons, built in Port Adelaide in 1874 by John Lowen and owned by Messrs. Weman and Morgan. It foundered in Gulf St.Vincent, South Australia in December 1876 on a voyage to Port Adelaide from Port MacDonnell with a cargo of bark and stone ballast. Six lost their lives including the captain, three crewmen and two passengers. The first mate, hung onto a dinghy for several hours, attracting attention by waving a red shirt belonging to a drowned crew member. The yacht 'Hygeia' rescued him. A number of attempts failed to raise Postboy, but in March 1877 the vessel was finally refloated and refitted. Its masts were shortened to avoid another capsize. The Postboy worked on, but was driven ashore while loading wheat at Minlacowie, South Australia, in August 1895. Again, Postboy was refloated and repaired at Port Adelaide, South Australia. It continued its career as a trading vessel before finally grounding at Arno Bay, South Australia, in 1907.
- Rights: History Trust of South Australia, CC-0, photographer: Kylie Macey
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