Sydney Harbour looking east to Garden Island from Dawes Point

• About Phil Belbin

  Phil Belbin was interested in art from a young age and a prolific drawer. He is said to have produced his first comic book at the age of eleven and had his first published work, a calendar for a metallurgist, at the age of thirteen. He studied art for two years at East Sydney Technical College. In 1942 Belbin had further training for one year at Sydney's The Sun newspaper as an intern in the art department.

  In 1943 Belbin enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force and served as an armourer in the Pacific Islands. Following his demobilisation in March 1946, Belbin found work at Frank Johnson Publications as an illustrator. In 1947 Belbin went to work for K.G. Murray Publishing Company. He created cartoons, comic strips and artwork for the company over the next 30 years.

  Throughout his time at the publishing house Belbin also worked as a freelance illustrator for other publications and illustrated campaigns for advertising agencies and numerous private commissions. Belbin's list of commercial art clients grew to include local and international engineering, aerospace, and transportation companies.

  In 1974 Belbin was awarded a 'Citation of Merit' by the New York Society of Illustrator and in 1984 he was elected as a fellow by the Royal Society of Arts, London.

  Throughout his life Belbin had maintained a keen interest in steam transport - ships and trains. In addition to his print illustrations, Belbin also painted scenes of shipping and steam trains whose accurate details were highly regarded.

  Belbin was asked to illustrate the book “The Royal Australian Navy: the first seventy-five years”. This book contains twenty-six outstanding ship paintings and several drawings by Phil Belbin. The text was by Ross Gillett. It was published by Child & Henry in 1989.

  Phil Belbin passed away in 1993, succumbing to motor neurone disease.

  More paintings by Phil Belbin
• About Ships and aircraft in company

  In this section a wide variety of artworks with more than one ship, submarine or aircraft are featured. When two or more naval vessels are operating together they are said to be ‘in company’.

  The diverse nature of activities, exercises and deployments undertaken by ships, submarines and aircraft of the Royal Australian Navy means that a ship may spend long periods conducting single ship operations or periodically join with large numbers of other ships for such events as a naval review or fleet entry to a port. These latter events are generally scheduled to commemorate a particular event.  During such events a prominent or royal figure will review the fleet as part of the ceremony. Throughout its history ships of the RAN have participated in major fleet entries and reviews both in Australian waters and overseas.

   

  Details of Ships in the First Fleet

  Name	Class	Commission Dates
  HMAS Australia	Indefatigable Class	21 Jun 1913 – 12 Dec 1921
  HMAS Melbourne	Town Class Light Cruiser	18 Jan 1913 – 23 Apr 1928
  HMAS Sydney	Town Class Light Cruiser	26 Jun 1913 – 8 May 1928
  HMAS Encounter	Challenger Class Light Cruiser	1 Jul 1912 – 1 Jan 1923
  HMAS Warrego	River Class	1 Jun 1912 – 22 Jul 1919
  HMAS Parramatta	River Class	10 Sep 1910 – 22 Jul 1919
  HMAS Yarra	River Class	10 Sep 1910 –  30 Sep 1929

More reading

• Additional resources for Phil Belbin
  • Phil Belbin, Australian National Maritime Museum (sea.museum)
  • Phil Belbin, Wikipedia
  • AustLit: Discover Australian Stories
• Additional resources for Ships and aircraft in company
  • Australian Fleet Reviews 1788 to 1914
  • Occasional Paper 162: Port Phillip’s Fleet Review 1920
  • The Royal Australian Navy fleet entry of 1913 (awm.gov.au)
  • Occasional Paper 17: Fleet arrival in Sydney – 4 October 1913
  • 1913 RAN Fleet Entry (Youtube)