Sailing model boats at Johnston's Bay off Pyrmont Point

Photographer Harry Brisbane Williams (1869 - 1959)

Date1904-1920

Object number00017043

NamePhotograph

MediumSilver gelatin print on paper

DimensionsOverall: 110 x 155 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Piers Jones

Terms

DescriptionUntitled photograph depicting the start of a model sailing boat race on Johnston's Bay off Pyrmont Point in Sydney. The owners are in the dinghies at the starting line, the model skiffs have sailed off.HistoryThe Harry Brisbane Williams photographic collection provides an interesting record of a range of activities on Sydney Harbour from the 1890s into the 1920s. An enthusiastic amateur boater and photographer, Williams’ photographs capture a range of subjects – pleasure cruising on his motor launch on the Lane Cove River, yachting on Sydney Harbour, foreshore social activities, surf lifesaving, cargo ships, battle cruisers of the United States fleet, model yachting and the shipbuilding industry. In particular, they are a wonderful personal record of the new phenomenon of leisure motor boating in the early twentieth century. He also photographed a range of ship building activities, dry docks, slip ways and waterfront construction.