Exhibition shows Titanic more than just a love story

An exhibition focusing on the people of the doomed vessel is currently on at the Entertainment Quarter in Sydney, while some of the treasured artefacts made their way through Wollongong on Wednesday – first stop the Illawarra Mercury office.

General Manager of the exhibition said they have curated more than 300 pieces including those from some of the 700 survivors of the ship, to costumes from the movie, to fixtures made for its identical sister ship the Olympic.

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“They were built side by side and the only difference between the two ships – apart from their launch date and their career … – is that they were numbered 400 and 401,” Ms Vaughan she said.

A commemorative egg cup produced especially for first class passengers never made it onto the Titanic, instead pocketed by a retrenched maid and eventually into the hands of a collector.

A black memorial teddy bear with red eyes sits among the pieces. Ms Vaughan said it was created as a fundraising bear for the children of the Titanic, its eyes red as it cries for those who were lost.

While the famous “sinking jacket” worn by Winslett in the movie is on display, purposefully made two sizes too big so she would seem “vulnerable”.

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