DEVON
Photographer
Frederick Garner Wilkinson
(1901-1975)
Date16 April 1933
Object number00041604
NameGlass plate negative
MediumEmulsion on glass
Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection
DescriptionThe British cargo vessel DEVON was photographed at No 4 Athol Bight on Easter Sunday morning 16 April 1933. This image was captured from the 11.15am ferry travelling between Circular Quay and Clifton via Taronga, Sydney. The ship was operating for the Federal Steam Navigation Company at the time. The company's house logo is displayed on DEVON's funnel.HistoryDEVON was a 9,661 ton cargo ship and the second to be named after the English county Devon. It was built in 1915 and operated for the Federal Steam Navigation Company until 1934 when it was purchased by the British India Steam Navigation Company. In 1941 it was captured by the German raider KOMET and sunk in the South Pacific Ocean.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.
