Bailey, getting his paws into curating. Image: Andrew Frolows / ANMM.
Hi there!
When I first came to the museum, people kept calling me a ‘salty sea dog’. I thought they meant it literally, as I sometimes fall in the harbour when I chase seagulls too enthusiastically – but no! A salty sea dog, it turns out, is someone who spends a lot of time on the water, not in it.
Photographer Sam Hood knew all about salty sea dogs of all species. In the first half of last century he went aboard hundreds of ships in Sydney Harbour and took portraits of the crews and, sometimes, their pets. I was very excited to be asked to curate an exhibition of some of these photos. After I chose the images, one of my human colleagues helped me to write some captions (as my typing is, frankly, a bit rubbish).
I hope you’ll come along and let me know what you think!
Cheerio,
Bailey
Explore more vintage photographs from the Samuel Hood collection through our online collection.
