HMAS AUSTRALIA in Neutral Bay
Photographer
Frederick Garner Wilkinson
(1901-1975)
Date1 December 1934
Object number00037668
NameGlass plate negative
MediumEmulsion on glass
DimensionsOverall: 82 x 103 mm, 2 mm, 0.04 kg
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection Purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds
DescriptionHMAS AUSTRALIA (II) is depicted moored in Neutral Bay on 1 December 1934. The ship was photographed by Frederick Wilkinson while travelling on a ferry from Circular Quay to Cremorne, Sydney. In December 1934 HMAS AUSTRALIA was carrying the Duke of Gloucester back to England at the end of his visit where he took part in Victoria's centenary celebrations.
HistoryHMAS AUSTRALIA (II) was a County class heavy cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy launched on 17 March 1927. During WWII AUSTRALIA conducted operations in the Indian and South Atlantic Oceans acting as a convoy escort and protecting shipping routes. The ship also served in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Guadalcanal invasion, the Battle of Leyte Gulf and allied landings at Lingayen Gulf.
AUSTRALIA suffered damage from Japanese kamikaze attacks during the closing years of the war. The cruiser was used as a training ship after 1945 and was sold for scrap in January 1955. The cruiser was broken up at Barrow-in-Furness, UK in 1956.SignificanceThis photograph is representative of HMAS AUSTRALIA (II) a County class heavy cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy that saw action during World War II. The print is part of the F G Wilkinson Photograph Collection, comprising more than 700 glass plate negatives of ships in Sydney Harbour between 1919 and 1936. The collection provides an extensive and well-documented coverage of the changing styles of shipping in the port of Sydney before the decline of the coastal trade. The backgrounds also reveal the changing face of the city and harbour foreshores.
