Sons of Sindbad – Alan Villiers focuses on the maritime Middle East

by Australian National Maritime Museum on 23 Jun 2010 The beauty and traditions of sailing the Arabian Sea in the 1930s are beautifully captured in an exhibition of photographs by Alan Villiers opening at the Australian National Maritime Museum on 24 June.

Sons of Sindbad – the photographs by Alan Villiers features 45 black and white images by this renowned Australian photojournalist and maritime adventurer.

Villiers (1903-1982) decided to travel to Arabia in 1938 to record what he believed were the last days of merchant sailing. His photographs take us on an amazing journey through Kuwait’s unique maritime past at a time before modernisation and oil.

The exhibition begins with images from a voyage aboard the Sheikh Mansur, a Yemeni zarook (cargo vessel) which took Villiers from Aden to Jizan on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast.

Villiers then joins the crew of the Triumph of Righteousness which saw him sail from Aden to Mombassa and Zanzibar then back to Kuwait with a cargo of salt, rice, sugar, canned milk and other goods. The Triumph was a large long-distance cargo dhow which traded along the East African coast and the Gulf.

Sons of Sindbad also features Villiers’ photographs of Kuwait following his nine month voyage on the Triumph. These show his fascination with every aspect of life in Kuwait, from life on the waterfront and the captains and sailors enjoying their break before the next sailing season, to the labourers and apprentices hard at work, and the women and merchants doing business and socialising.

Born in Melbourne, Allan Villiers devoted his life to the sea and merchant sailing ships. He quickly built a reputation as a maritime adventurer in the 1920s and 30s, capturing his amazing travels in both photography and film.

His photographs of his Arabian voyage are a stunning account of the old Arabian sailing traditions and coastal trade routes.

Of the thousands of photographs he took, a selection was published in his story of the voyage Sons of Sindbad, 1940. Villiers donated his entire collection of photographs to the National Maritime Museum, UK.

Sons of Sindbad – the photographs by Alan Villiers is an Australian National Maritime Museum travelling exhibition produced in collaboration with the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich UK.

The exhibition will remain on view, admission free, at the National Maritime Museum until 17 October 2010. The museum, at Darling Harbour, is open daily from 9.30 am to 5 pm. All inquiries, (02) 9298 3777 or visit www.anmm.gov.au.