THE TIMEBALL QUEST. Kimberley Dunstan, and one man's search to find out where this HMAS SYDNEY [I] photo was taken.

3969 When we reproduced this image from the official Royal Australian Navy photo site here on Flickr last year, we made the point that it was both a wonderful portrait of the ship, and also the waterfront scene beside it.

 

The latter was just full of character : family groups, a tethered horse and large ceremonial flagpole ; the marvelous old vernacular hotel, and, behind that, a Florentine dome with a timeball on top of it. Wonderful - but where was it ?

 

Obsessions are our game here, on the Unofficial RAN 1911-2011 Protstream. But not for one moment did we suspect that posing that simple question would set Contributor Kim Dunstan off on a 6-months globe-reaching tour to find an answer through the timeball. We're going to give the answer shortly, but, a little bemused, we've first asked Kim to tell us how he found it.

 

THE TIMEBALL QUEST: Kim's story:

 

'Well, at first I thought the location was Newcastle NSW and contacted the historic research librarian at the University of Newcastle. She was unable to help but referred me to the Newcastle Maritime Museum which has a group of historic experts. Unfortunately the secretary was ill, so there was a delay of a couple of months in receiving a reply. A check of the historic photos of Newcastle waterfront revealed little except a lovely shot of their Timeball building, now a deluxe hotel. Finally the Maritime Museum's answer came:'Sorry, no, it's not Newcastle.'

 

In the meantime I had contacted the Victorian branch of the World Shipping Society , asking them to circulate the photo to Timeball experts on their mailing list, which included several long-time sea captains. They were unable to make a definitive identification - but one suggested that it could be Port Adelaide.

 

With this lead I took to the internet and checked all the historic photos of Port Adelaide and Timeball machines in the area. This included the Semaphore Timeball and the Port Authority building Timeball. The photo I saw of the Port Authority building, though, didn't jell with the Timeball in the HMAS SYDNEY photo at all. Besides that, a modern photo of a Timeball on a small tower on the dock left me with the impression the Port Authority Building was irrelevant. The docks had been redeveloped, and a further Timeball further downstream confused the issue. Despite that, the look of the water [placid and milky] and the aspect of the late afternoon sun, and the warm clothing, gave me pause for thought. This looked too cool for Adelaide. I decided to look elsewhere.

 

A search of the hundreds of photos on the internet of the Brisbane waterfront yielded nothing - and of course the old windmill was the official Timeball in Brisbane, so this was a fruitless time. Further searches of ports on the Queensland and NSW coasts drew blanks. By similar processes I was also able to eliminate other ports around Tasmania and mainland Australia.

 

As the question of location was open I decided to check Timeball devices in New Zealand via historic photographs, all on the internet, and finally sought the assistance of the Lylttelton Timeball Station office. Unfortunately the Christchurch earthquake, which damaged the Timeball building, meant my request got lost. I did however, get a referral to a 'Timeball buff' and maritime expert in New Zealand, but he was unable to help.

 

I then turned my mind to South Africa as a distant yet possible location as they had a surprising number of Timeball machines in operation around their extensive coastline - and SYDNEY may have called there on return to Australia. It was a busy time looking at all of those SA locations on 'the net,' trying to picture what redeveloped ports might have looked like previously, where their Timeballs might have been, and other tell-tale factors. The result was to increase my knowledge of South Africa, but I was no nearer to a solution.

 

By this time I had become familiar with just about every Timeball site on the internet - and the world - of which there are many. Trawling these sites I came across the name of Dr Roger Kinns. This gentleman, who lives in Scotland, has considerable knowledge of Timeball devices around the world, and is also the author of several authoritative, academic papers on Timeball devices in Australia. Dr Kinns was most helpful with my enquiry, but did not have the answer. In an exchange of emails he expressed a real interest in discovering more about the location - highlighting the unusually low [if not unique] elevation of the Timeball in the photograph, and its elegant octagonal construction. One of the papers Dr Kinns had done was on Adelaide's Semaphore Timeball - a great read for anyone interested in the subject. Unfortunately his research and visit to Adelaide did not include Port Adelaide - he now plans to visit in the future.

 

In the meantime, as I was aware the photo of HMAS SYDNEY [I] was from the official RAN historic website, I made contact with them and received a very courteous reply, saying they were unable to provide any information, but that they would pass the request to the official RAN historian for advice.The Historian was away, but eventually a reply came that no information was available and because the original photo was not available the request was to be referred to the Catalogue & Legacy Drawings Royal Australian Navy Heritage Collection, Spectacle Island. Again holidays and leave delayed a response, but this section did respond and were keen to assist, mindful that their collection often did not provide details owing to censorship issues and sources such as private photos or newspapers which did not always include dates, facts or locations.

 

Anyhow, following a Kookaburra suggestion to contact Graeme Andrews I emailed him. Graeme's suggestion was Port Adelaide. As it happened, I'd been to Port Adelaide on HMAS MELBOURNE , but I had lingering doubts - mainly because I wasunaware of the redevelopment of the wharf area, and my scepticism about the Port Authority Building. Well, why not go to the experts I thought! Just email the Port Adelaide Historic Society [I cant understand why I hadn't done that long ago - but then I'd have missed all the fun]. Well - bingo - by return email I had the answer from Lawrie Shields, which you can now see below.

 

THE ANSWER

Kim,

 

This photograph was taken at Port Adelaide when HMAS SYDNEY was moored at Queen's Wharf. The identifying features are the Flagstaff that stood near the Harbors Department Building [out of the photograph to the right] which was removed on August 5, 1932; the large building behind the flagmast was the Exchange Hotel, 1 Commercial Road [licensed 1857 later the Lighthouse Inn now Ales And Sails] demolished in 1933 and moved further east to accommodate wharf expansion. The dome behind the hotel was on the Harbor's Board building on the corner of Lipson Street and carried a time ball from 1920 until 1932 when the practice was discontinued [the building frontage was later demolished and refaced when wharf improvements were undertaken]. Obviously taken prior to 1928 when the ship was paid off. There were two time ball towers in the Port Adelaide district, the other being at Semaphore which was built in 1875 and discontinued on February 1, 1932. That stone tower still stands and was restored and returned to operation at the turn of the century but has not operated for some time. As regards dress, it can be very cool in Adelaide particularly standing on the wharf at the Port!

 

Hopefully this answers most of the queries and our volunteer Society is glad to be of assistance. As this photo is not in our collection we would appreciate a good copy together with any others that may be of Port Adelaide. We can supply copies of photographs of both time ball towers, the flagstaff and the original Exchange Hotel.

 

Lawrie Shields

Secretary, Port Adelaide Historical Society.

 

HIGHLY SATISFACTORY OUTCOME - THE MORAL OF THE TIMEBALL.

 

Kim writes: 'The long and short of it is - I knew there was an answer. And like a good terrier, I just kept at it. '

 

Well done Kim! Handsomely done! So it's HMAS SYDNEY in Port Adelaide, just down from the timeball on the Harbours Board building on the corner of Lipson Street, some time in the 1920s. Thank you Kim, thank you Mr Shields, thank you all. Now ... let's all enjoy the photo again, our appreciation all the richer, for knowing where it is.

 

What's a timeball, by the way?

 

Photo: Royal Australian Navy Heritage Collection, as shown on the RAN's official site on Flickr.

Done