Orient Line SS OMRAH berthed at East Circular Quay

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date1910-1918

Object number00040957

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionOMRAH is depicted in Sydney Harbour. The vessel was active on the passenger trade route between Britain and Australia prior to serving as a troopship during World War I.HistoryOMRAH was a passenger liner of 8130 ton built at Fairfield shipyard in Glasgow for the Orient Line in 1899. It could accommodate 175 first-class, 175 second-class and 500 third-class passengers. OMRAH was requisitioned during World War I by the Australian Commonwealth government to carry troops until February 1915 when it was given back to the Orient Line. Once again in June 1917 the vessel was taken over by the government for war services. On 10 May 1918 it was torpedoed and sunk near Cape Spartivento.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.