SS PAKEHA and Sydney Harbour Bridge, 25 December 1930

Date1930

Object number00028210

NamePostcard

MediumPaper

DimensionsOverall: 88 x 138 mm, 3.89 g

ClassificationsPosters and postcards

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from HM Hignett

Terms

Sydney Harbour Bridge

DescriptionThis black and white postcard depicts the Shaw Savill & Albion Line vessel SS PAKEHA beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge.HistoryThe Shaw Savill & Albion Line was formed in 1882 through the merging of Shaw Saville & Co (founded in London in 1858) and the Albion Line (founded in Glasgow in 1856). The Shaw Savill & Albion Line operated a joint service to New Zealand with the White Star Line from 1884 to 1933. SS PAKEHA was built by Harland and Wolff in 1910, specifically for the Shaw Savill & Albion Line's Australian and New Zealand emigrant trade. PAKEHA is the Maori word for 'white man.' PAKEHA sailed via the Cape of Good Hope, returning to England with refrigerated meat. It operated on the Liverpool-Fremantle-Wellington route from 1911, before being requisitioned as a troopship during World War I. In 1939 PAKEHA was sold to the Admiralty and renamed HMS REVENGE. It was later transferred to the Ministry of War Transport, renamed EMPIRE PAKEHA and operated as a refrigerated cargo vessel. In 1946 EMPIRE PAKEHA was repurchased by the Shaw Savill & Albion Line and reverted to its original name PAKEHA. The donor Captain Harry Hignett spent a couple of days on PAKEHA in 1950 (shortly before it was scrapped), when it anchored in the Thames Estuary with a load of frozen meat bound for London warehouses, which were full at the time.SignificanceThe postcard is a souvenir of a Shaw Savill & Albion Line passenger ship that operated between Britain, Australia and New Zealand in the first half of the 20th century. The postcard is of particular historical interest, depicting the vessel passing beneath the yet to be completed Sydney Harbour Bridge on Christmas Day 1930.