Neptune’s Wooden Angels

The South Australian Maritime Museum holds eighteen ship’s figureheads—the largest collection in the Southern Hemisphere.

The collection was sourced and acquired by Vernon Smith, Honorary Curator of the Port Adelaide Nautical Museum over a period of fifty years. Many figureheads were salvaged from shipwrecks along the southern coast and displayed in gardens before finding their final home at the Port Adelaide Nautical Museum. Most have excellent provenance and well documented chain of ownership, including photographs of the figureheads displayed in the places where Smith discovered them.

‘They lead only as the carved wooden figurehead leads the ship’ — Laurence J. Peter

The South Australian Maritime Museum holds eighteen ship’s figureheads—the largest collection in the Southern Hemisphere.

Figureheads —the carved wooden sculptures which ornamented the bow of a sailing vessel— are an ancient and highly specialised form of maritime art. They date back to Phoenician times (500 BC) and were created to protect vessels and their crew.

In the 19th century, figureheads embodied a mixture of symbolism, superstition and the ship owners’ status. Some reflected the function of the ship, some paid tribute to powerful contemporary figures, while others honoured the owner or captain’s loved ones.

The collection was acquired by Vernon Smith, Honorary Curator of the Port Adelaide Nautical Museum over a period of fifty years. Many figureheads were salvaged from wrecks along the southern coast and displayed in gardens before finding their final home at the Port Adelaide Nautical Museum. Relentless in his pursuit, Vernon recalled it ‘still required some courage to walk in and ask for the figurehead standing on a gentleman’s lawn.’

Most have excellent provenance and well documented chain of ownership, including photographs of the figureheads displayed in the places Smith retrieved them from. These figureheads comprise part of the Port Adelaide Nautical Museum Collection, believed to be the oldest maritime collection in Australia.