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SIRIUS pictured when it was on display suspended over the main foyer of the museum entry in the…
Sirius
SIRIUS pictured when it was on display suspended over the main foyer of the museum entry in the…
SIRIUS pictured when it was on display suspended over the main foyer of the museum entry in the 1990s
Photographer Andrew Frolows ANMM collection

Sirius

Vessel numberHV000098
Previous owner (Australian, founded 1913)
Date1940
DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 4.27 m x 1.73 m (14 ft x 5.68 ft)
DescriptionSIRIUS had two roles in the Royal Australian Navy as a training vessel. It was constructed by navy apprentice shipwrights and gave them valuable experience in typical wooden boat construction and wooden boatbuilding techniques. The finished craft were used by the navy as sail training and recreational craft for use in harbours and enclosed waters. They were issued to larger ships before and during the early years of World War II. The number 40 engraved in the stem indicates it was made in 1940.

The robust construction meant they were relatively heavy craft, but their strength added to their longevity and made them useful craft for the navy over a long period. When the navy disposed of some of the 14-Foot Island Class dinghies Bruce Stannard acquired SIRIUS as a private recreational dinghy. In 1987 he donated the craft to the Australian National Maritime Museum, where it is held as part of the National Maritime Collection.
SignificanceSIRIUS is a wooden open sailing boat built in Sydney in 1940. It is one of the 14 foot Island Class dinghies built and used by the Royal Australian Navy as a sail training craft in the 1940s.
National Maritime Collection vessel link
Motor Whaler 2703  aboard HMAS DIAMANTINA in 2010 at the Queensland Maritime Museum
Naval Dockyard Garden Island
1961
MB 172 repainted in its original color scheme in 2011
Naval Dockyard Garden Island
1937
MONTY sailing in the Huon Valley
Royal Australian Navy
1953
MB 168 at Spectacle Island
Naval Dockyard Garden Island
1937
SIRIUS on Sydney Harbour in the 1930s or 1940s
J D Thistlethwaite
1935
KRAIT restored for the 75th Anniversary event on 26th September 2018 at the ANMM wharves.
c 1934
HMAS Vampire
Cockatoo Island Dockyard
1956
SY ENA at the ANMM March 2014
WM Ford Boatbuilders
1900
Derwent Hunter in the Whitsundays
Walter Wilson
1946
JOHN OXLEY in Cowan Creek, Hawkesbury River, 1972.
Bow, McLachlan and Co.
1927