A silver gelatin dry plate glass negative in landscape format.

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The Garden Palace

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

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Two people standing next to a cow in a field of cows.

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Pop art collage with many bright colours and overlapping graphics.

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Shadows cast by the Powerhouse Parramatta exoskeleton on concrete

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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.

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Slider thumb2022
Silver plane exhibited in a large gallery space.

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

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.