ENDEAVOUR DISPLAY
The Builder
This model of HMS Endeavour was built and assembled by Francisco Antonio Coelho a very proud Australian citizen who passed away on 7th September 2023 at the age of 99.
Francisco was a master carpenter who learned his basic carpentry skills at Sao Pedro de Solis, a small village in the south of Portugal where he was born on the 8th March 1924. Seeking opportunities abroad, he and his wife Antonia Pereira Coelho, migrated to Angola in 1949 and set up a successful retail business. This was at the time when Angola was part of Portuguese Africa. In 1961 when the African wars of independence broke out and started to spread, they left Angola with their two sons, who were born there and moved back to Portugal. The economic situation in Portugal proved difficult for the family and after the failure of a small business in Lisbon, Francisco’s wife encouraged him to seek a job in his own in South Africa, which he did. She and the two boys moved from Lisbon to Faro in the south of Portugal where together with relatives they set up a successful boarding and secondary education business taking in country students.
Francisco arrived in Cape Town in 1962 to do carpentry work and established a reputation for excellence that, for example, led to him being recommended to carry out work for the Royal Family of Swaziland. In 1964 he accepted a position in Sydney, Australia for a company doing shop fitting for Woolworth’s stores. Within a couple of years of working hard he had saved enough to buy a terrace in Paddington. Then, in 1966 he was able to bring the family to Sydney to share with him a new and exciting future in Australia.
In 1973 after an employer’s recommendation Francisco started work for the Royal Australian Navy at Garden Island in Sydney and remained there until his retirement in 1989. During this time he received numerous accolades acknowledging the merit of his work such as the one on display at the City of Canada Bay Historical Society Museum.
The Vessel
HMAS Endeavour was a famous British Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australian on his first voyage of discovery from 1768 – 1771. In April 1770 Endeavour was the first European ship to reach the east coast of Australia, with Cook going ashore at what is now known as Botany Bay. Sir Joseph Banks, the famous English naturalist, accompanied Cook on the voyage.
The Australian Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour in Sydney has a full size, sea going Australian built replica of the Endeavour.
The model on display at the CCBHS Museum was donated By Manuel Coelho, Francisco Antonia Coelho’s son.
Doug Davis
