Lucinda steam yacht scale model

Blueprint for a nation

One corner of Trevor Kennedy’s private museum was dedicated to Federation. It was dominated by the scale model of the Queensland Government steam yacht, the Lucinda.

During the National Australasian Convention of 1891, the Queensland Government steam yacht Lucinda cruised up the Hawkesbury River and around Pittwater in Sydney.

In the stateroom, Queensland Premier Sir Samuel Griffith would have been in deep discussion with other members of the Constitutional Committee, including Charles Kingston and Edmund Barton.

Their Easter weekend was spent on board the impressive and richly appointed vessel, drafting and redrafting the document that would eventually become the Australian Constitution.