BRISBANE MARU

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date29 January 1933

Object number00041595

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionThe Japanese cargo ship BRISBANE MARU is shown anchored off Cremorne Point on Sunday morning 29 January 1933. This image was captured from the 10.55am ferry travelling from Taronga to Circular Quay, Sydney.HistoryBRISBANE MARU was a Japanese cargo ship of 5,425 tons built in 1930 by Yokohama Dock at Yokohama. It was owned by Osaka Shosen Kaisha K and used for conducting trade between Australia and Japan. In 1942 during World War II BRISBANE MARU was bombed by United States planes in Guadalcanal and sank. At the time it was being used as a troop transport for Japan.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.