SS BALMORAL CASTLE

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date27 April 1919

Object number00040972

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionSS BALMORAL CASTLE was photographed on 27 April 1919 in Sydney Harbour. The vessel was acting as a troop transport in Australian waters during 1918 and 1919.HistoryBALMORAL CASTLE was a passenger vessel built by Fairfield Govan and registered in London. The steam ship with twin screw engine was launched on 13 November 1909 and built in 1910. It operated on the South African Mail Service run and was ownede by the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company. During World War I it served as a troopship. BALMORAL CASTLE was scrapped in 1939. 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.