Australian Art for Australian Cruise Ships

Two Australian artists have been chosen to represent their country by providing artworks for P&O’s Australian cruise ships.

Olympian Cathy Freeman, former track and field athletics star, served as the godmother of P&O’s Pacific Dawn which was launched from its new home-port of Brisbane on 19th December. And the ship, along with Pacific Jewel and Pacific Sun, is carrying art from Warren Salter and Raelean Hall, both professional artists. They may also have the chance to have their work displayed on other P&O cruise ships. The Pacific Dawn (formerly known as Regal Princess) carries 2,050 passengers in 795 cabins and 696 crew. Built in 1991, she received a multi-million-dollar refurbishment in Singapore in 2007 before beginning to operate from Australia to South Pacific destinations. She is the first ship of the P&O Cruises Australia fleet with an all-white hull, inspired by the shape of a dolphin according to the ship’s designer, to mark P&O's 75th anniversary in Australia. On Friday, Carnival Australia CEO Ann Sherry said she was delighted to finally be basing a super-liner in Brisbane.

The launch, at one time, looked a little dubious, as the gang plank that was meant to take passengers to the first deck, was not in operation even though the dock developers had over a year to install the necessary facilities. Right up until launch day, everybody had to use the ship gangway, which is usually reserved for crew and supplies.