AUSTRALIA STAR
Photographer
Frederick Garner Wilkinson
(1901-1975)
Date09 October 1935
Object number00040954
NameGlass plate negative
MediumEmulsion on glass
Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection
DescriptionAUSTRALIA STAR is shown at Brits Buoy Neutral Bay on Wednesday morning 9 September 1935. This image was captured at 7.56am from a vessel travelling between Mosman and Quay, Sydney.HistorySS AUSTRALIA STAR was a twin-screw steamship of 11122 ton. Built by Harland & Wolff Ld at Belfast in 1935. It was owned by Frederick Leyland & Co Ld and registered in the port of Belfast under a British flag. During World War II the vessel was damaged by incendiary bombs on 3 May 1941 while moored at Liverpool. In 1950 AUSTALIA STAR was sold to the Blue Star Line Ltd and in 1964 was scrapped.SignificanceThis photograph 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.
