WANGANELLA

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date17 June 1933

Object number00040949

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionWANGANELLA is shown leaving Sydney Harbour for New Zealand on Saturday 17 June 1933, with Fort Dennison visible on the left. This image was captured at 2.50pm from a vessel travelling from Mosman to Circular Quay. WANGANELLA was used on the passenger trade route between Australia and Britain.HistoryWANGANELLA was ordered in 1928 for Harland & Wolff, of Belfast by the elder Dempster Line and originally called MV ACHIMOTA. It was purchased by Huddart Parker in 1932 and renamed MV WANGANELLA. It was refitted to accommodate 304 first-class and 104 second-class passengers. WANGANELLA started operating on the New Zealand run in 1933 and then traded in the South Pacific. During World War II WANGANELLA was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy and fitted out as a hospital ship to conduct service in the Middle East and the Pacific Islands. After repatriating prisoners-of war the vessel was released back into commercial service in 1946. It remained in service until Mcilwraith Mceacharn took over the company in 1961. It was purchased by new owners from Hong Kong in 1962 and used as a floating hotel. In 1963 it was sold again to Utah Constructions and used to accommodate Hydro-electric workers in south west New Zealand. In 1970 WANGANELLA was bought by the Australian Pacific Shipping Co and sold for scrapping when it was decided it was uneconomical to restore for commercial service.SignificanceThis photograph represents WANGANELLA's role in passenger transportation to Australia in the first half of the 20th century.

It 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 gradual decline of the coastal trade, and in a period which was probably the peak reached by commercial shipping in Australia. The backgrounds also reveal the changing face of the city and harbour foreshores.