Recently, our CEO Alec Cole had the pleasure of meeting the Walton family (pictured ___) for the endowment of their treasured family heirloom to the WA Museum collection; an original painting of the Helena Mena ship that sailed from London to Fremantle in 1891.

The wooden framed painting shows the barque under full sail on a high sea, and has been treasured by Storry Walton and his family after it was gifted to their grandfather David Storry Walton 130 years prior, while he was on board the ship. 

During his journey in 1891, David Storry befriended 17-year-old John Archibald Rupert-Jones who was serving on the ship at the time. John painted the Helena Mena using ship paints and canvas, and gifted it to Storry as a token of their friendship and lasting memento of the voyage.

“The cousins of my generation, scattered across the world and in Perth,  unanimously agreed that our heirloom, which has been in my keeping, should be donated to the Museum,” Storry said.

The ship itself was initially built in 1876 for Sir George Shenton, first Mayor of Perth, and John Monger, important names in early WA commercial history. It has a strong historic connection to WA; built for the London-Fremantle trade, it carried more than 700 passengers between 1876 and 1897. 

The painting has hung in the homes of Storry’s descendants for the past 130 years, and they have graciously donated this piece of local history to be preserved in the WA museum collection. We extend our gratitude to the Storry family for allowing us to add this piece of WA history to our collection here at the museum.