When next you are in the museum take notice of the painting on the left wall.
It is of the Acme a wooden topsail schooner, built by Edward Davis. This
painting was donated to BWHS by Beryl Nixon a few years ago.
Edward Davis was born at Wollongong on 10 January 1837, and was
one of the shipbuilding brothers William, Benjamin, Rock, and Thomas.
Another brother George, was a carpenter but would probably have worked
for some of his time in shipbuilding. Edward was the only native born
Australian among the shipbuilding Davis brothers, his siblings having
arrived in NSW from Ireland in 1833, except for Rock who was born during
the voyage.
In 1859 Edward bought two acres of land at Cockle Creek, Davistown but
it was not until some years later that he set up his own shipbuilding yard on
this site.
Edward Davis moved his shipbuilding operations from Davistown to
Point Frederick in 1874 and Acme was built there in 1876. It was 55 tons,
67.5 X 19.3 x 7.0 ft, and had a female bust figure head. It was owned by
Edward Davis and David Capper, both of Brisbane Water. Sadly it was
wrecked at Seal Rock Bay NSW on 16th July 1876, in a heavy gale on her
first trip. The name Davistown evolved because of the number of Davis
family members living along the stretch of Cockle Creek channel. The
Rev. Alfred Glennie of Gosford referred to the area when writing in his
journals between 1855 and 1864 as Davis Village, Davisville, and Davis
Town.
(Ref: Dundon, Gwen. The Shipbuilders of Brisbane Water NSW - Gwen Dundon, 1997)
