Whispers almost went down with the HMS Titanic and we're rather pleased. There is a fascinating new exhibition of over 360 Titanic artefacts on display at the Byron Kennedy Hall at Fox Studios.
The promoter of the show Tom Zaller is pictured above on the Titanic's Grand Staircase. Actually that's not the real staircase, it's the one that was created for the film staring Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Zaller is actually one of the very few people who has been down to view the wreck of the Titanic in one of those tiny submarine thingys and it inspired him to create this exhibition which premiered in Moscow, has been to Perth and is now in Sydney. Everything else on display are original mementos from The White Star Line. Visitors are led through various rooms to view a first class cabin, nice, and then middle class (oh dear) and lower class where ten people shared one bunk (just kidding). The exhibition culminates in the Memorial Gallery, where visitors learn the passenger’s fate on the cold early morning of April 15, 1912. There is a complete list of the unfortunate passengers who didn't survive and a list of those who did in each of the boats. And..there is a Real Iceberg ! Yes a real one.
Visitors are given a Boarding Pass with a passenger's name and you can check whether you live or die ! Whispers was in the name of Mme Léontine Pauline Aubart (left) from Paris, and fortunately she survived in Lifeboat 9 with her maid Emma Sägesser.# Léontine Pauline Aubart was a 25 year old singer and the mistress of millionaire Benjamin Guggenheim who was also on board but did not survive. Apparently she went on to become a society hostess in Paris holding wild parties!
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| Compare the First Class Cabin with Second Class- 4 beds in a tiny room, and Third Class...shudder..we dare not show you (nothing has changed) |
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| China gets less grand as you go downmarket to Third Class. At least they gave you a plate and some cutlery |
