THISTLEBRAE

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date21 May 1933

Object number00041608

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionTHISTLEBRAE is shown at No 4 Athol Bight on Sunday 21 May 1933. This photograph was captured from the 10.45am ferry travelling between Circular Quay and Taronga Park, Sydney.HistoryTHISTLEBRAE was a British cargo ship of 4,747 tons built in 1928 by Thompson J L at North Sands. In 1940 it was captured by German forces and renamed ALTKIRCH and then in 1944, INSTER. On 3 May 1945 it was damaged during an allied air raid and sunk.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.