Johnston's Bay, Sydney Harbour from Balmain
Photographer
Harry Brisbane Williams
(1869 - 1959)
Date1906
Object number00017017
NamePostcard
MediumBlack and white photographic print on paper
DimensionsOverall: 88 x 138 mm
ClassificationsPosters and postcards
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Piers Jones
DescriptionThis postcard features a photographic image taken by Harry B Williams. It shows a scene of Johnston's Bay in Sydney, NSW looking toward Glebe Island Bridge. In the centre of the bay is a three-masted square rigged ship at anchor, and a single-funnel single-masted vessel alongside a wharf in the foreground. The sender - Aunt Mag - was most likely a resident of the adjacent East Balmain area from where the postcard was posted in December 1906.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.
