A silver gelatin dry plate glass negative in landscape format.

Country Always

Caring for Country

A Corner of the Empire

The Garden Palace

Sepia photograph of the Technological Museum and a cow in the foreground

The Holding Pen

The Agricultural Hall

Sepia photograph of the Technological College and Museum in Broken Hill

Regional Networks

Across New South Wales

A Museum of Doing

Technological Museum

Black and white photograph of man walking through eucalyptus plantation

Expanding Stories

Evolution of the Castle Hill site from botanical research station to Museum Discovery Centre

Colour photograph of red corrugated iron building from a high vantage point

Transforming the Tramsheds

Powerhouse Stage 1 and the Harwood Building

A Symbol in Time

Sydney Observatory

Powerhouse Museum, Stage 2 exterior from high angle, city skyline in background

Ongoing Transformations

Powerhouse Ultimo

Silver plane exhibited in a large gallery space.
Blurred image from film with museum object number

Applied Arts and Sciences

Defining the terms in the 21st century

Powerhouse Renewal

Artist Xin Liu floating with arm outstretched against a black background. She wears a full-length grey body suit with long sleeves with bare feet and hands.

Sydney Science Festival

Across Sydney10—17 Aug
Shadows cast by the Powerhouse Parramatta exoskeleton on concrete

Exoskeleton

Powerhouse Parramatta

A woman stands on stage in front of a large audience. She has her left hand raised in the air and a microphone in her right hand. The audience are holding their phones up recording the woman.

Blak Powerhouse

Powerhouse x We Are Warriors

Slider thumb2022
Silver plane exhibited in a large gallery space.
Program

Catalina

Tag iconExhibition
when
Ended 4 Feb 2024
where
Ultimo

One of the most iconic objects in the Powerhouse Collection, the Catalina flying boat Frigate Bird II features in a new exhibition of previously unseen collection objects and archival material documenting its pioneering flight from Australia to Chile.

The exhibition highlights the scale of the aircraft and allows its impressive engineering to be examined up close.

‘I was fortunate enough to be able to fly with my father aboard the Frigate Bird II, a Sunderland flying boat, a few years after his South Pacific crossing with Frigate Bird II. Travelling in a flying boat of that kind, with its comfort and space, was such an incredible experience compared to air travel today.’
Sue Arnott, daughter of Taylor

Men from 1941 standing facing the camera, some wearing uniforms
1/3
Object No. 85/112-45
Photograph of Catalina flying boat crew, 1941
Typewritten letter from Captain Sir P G Taylor to E Crome.
The Catalina is a twin-engined high-winged monoplane flying boat with retractable wing tip floats.

In 1951 the Catalina piloted by Sir P G Taylor made history by completing the first flight across the South Pacific Ocean and the first return flight from Australia to South America.

Departing from Sydney’s Rose Bay, Frigate Bird II made many stops on the way to Chile, including at the Pacific Islands of Noumea, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands, Tahiti, Mangareva, French Polynesia and Easter Island.

Taylor was a pioneer of early aviation in Australia, captaining several first ocean crossings by aircraft alongside aviators Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith and Charles Ulm, who made the first flight across the Pacific Ocean in 1928. Taylor gained a heroic reputation after saving the lives of his crew on the failed Southern Cross flight from Australia to New Zealand in 1935.

The exhibition includes new acquisitions from the Taylor family, including a selection of photographic images from the Australia-Chile flight, a navigation instrument set, a handcrafted photograph album presented to the crew in Chile, flags flown by the Catalina in Australia and Chile, the remnants of a uniform cap destroyed by the aircraft’s propeller during wild conditions departing Easter Island on the outward journey, and a Thermos flask used by Taylor to transfer oil to the failing engine of Southern Cross during its doomed 1935 flight.

Gallery

Pilot in uniform sits in a cockpit of a plane wearing headphones. The photograph is black and white.
Silver plane exhibited in a large gallery space.
A black and white photograph of a man in a suit and a man in a pilot’s uniform standing on a podium and shaking hands. There is an audience of people behind them. Silver plane visible in the background.
Nose and left propeller of silver plane Catalina Frigate Bird II suspended above the floor.
The Catalina flies above the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Black and white photograph.
Aerial view of nose and wingspan of silver plane, Catalina Frigate Bird II
Silver Catalina flying boat is on the water. Two men are standing on the wing cleaning it. Black and white photograph.
Registration code text ‘VH-ASA’ on the tail of silver plane.
Pilot in cockpit of silver plane. The text Frigate Bird II is painted over metal rivets on the side of the aircraft.
Partial aerial view of silver plane. Two people are standing close to the underneath of the wing.
Sliver plane sits on a boat ramp. Two men are attaching ropes to it. Black and white photograph.
An exterior view of the cockpit of the Catalina flying boat Frigate Bird II.
The Catalina is on the water. Four men stand atop it. Black and white photograph.
Front view of silver plane Catalina flying boat Frigate Bird II. The underside of the boat and two aircraft propellers are visible.