Cyril L. Hume oral history interview by Bronte Moules

MLOH 13

fonds

1981

Nonmusical Sound Recordings, Oral Histories

411662

Digitised

1 audiocassette (31 min.) - 10 × 7 cm, 4 mm tape

Cyril L. Hume, ca.1900-1984, was a noted Australian ship-modeller and maritime historian who specialised in the clipper ship era. Hume was trained as a fitter and turner and was unemployed during the Depression of the 1930s. At that time he began visiting the Public Library, where he found a book on ship-modelling. His models of 'Cutty Sark' and 'Thermopylae' are in the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, and another model of 'Thermopylae' is in the Science Museum of Victoria. He is recognised for his meticulous research and the precise detail of his models.
The interviewer, Bronte Moules, is the daughter of Brian Moules, a friend of Cyril Hume.

MLOH 13 (31 min.):
Cyril L. Hume talks of life during the 1930's Depression. He tells of his living conditions on an open veranda protected only by a canvas awning, of having to use dole coupons, and of his unremitting efforts to find work. During this period, he visited the Public Library of New South Wales where he read a book on ship modelling. He bought a piece of wood for two shillings and made his first model, the 'Cutty Sark'. With this model he won a prize of two pounds and then sold the model to the Powerhouse Museum.

In copyright:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy copyright holder.

The description of this material has been supplied from the Oral History Digitisation Program, undertaken 2014 to 2017, of the Library's oral history collections.

MLOH 13/1 Side A: Interviewer has been edited out.

MLOH 13/1 Side B: (Blank)
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Interviewer: Moules, Bronte
Interviewee: Hume, Cyril L.