Photograph album of merchant and navy ships
Compiled by
Henry Roderick Dundas Stewart
(Died 1946)
Date1890 - 1940
Object numberANMS0806
NameArchive series
MediumPaper
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection Transfer from the Australian War Memorial
DescriptionThis photograph album consisting of 181 black and white photographs of merchant and navy ships was compiled by Mr Henry Stewart. It was one of seven photograph albums compiled by Stewart during his career with McIlwraith McEacharn LimitedHistoryThis series consists of 181 black and white photographs of the following vessels: HMAS ADELAIDE, HMS DART, HMS HERMES, MV BALOERAN, MV CRUX, MV DURHAM, MV FALSTRIA, MV GULDBORG, MV HANDICAP, MV HEMLAND, MV INDIA, MV KORYU MARU, MV LAURITS SWENSON, MV OTAIO, MV REINA DEL PACIFICO, MV ROYAL STAR, MV TRIENZA, MV YNGAREN, MV ZEALANDIC, PS LA MARGUERITE, RMS ALBANIA, RMS BALLAARAT, RMS BELGENLAND, RMS BRITANNIC, RMS CARMANIA, RMS DRUMMOND CASTLE, RMS EMPRESS OF BRITAIN, RMS IBERIA, RMS LUSITANIA [I], RMS MASSILIA, RMS MOOLTAN [I], RMS MOOLTAN [II], RMS NIAGARA, RMS OPHIR, RMS ORMUZ [II], RMS ORONSAY, RMS SONOMA, RMS VALETTA, RMS VICTORIA, SS ALDINGA, SS AUGUST, SS AUTOMODEN, SS BAHIA CASTILLO, SS BALLARAT, SS BANKOKU MARU, SS BARRABOOL, SS BAYERN, SS BERRIMA, SS BERWICKSHIRE, SS BILOELA, SS BOONAH, SS BULIMBA, SS BUNGAREE, SS BURWAH [I], SS CAMIRA, SS CAPTAIN COOK [II], SS CEDRIC, SS CEPHEE, SS CITY OF ATLANTA, SS CLAN GRAHAM, SS CLAN MACAULAY, SS CLAN MACKINLAY, SS CLAN MACTAGGART, SS CLAN MONROE, SS COLONIAL, SS COOGEE, SS CORINNA, SS DENTON GRANGE, SS DEROCHE, SS DERWENT, SS DOONHOLM, SS DRAKE, SS DUCKENFIELD, SS DUKE OF WESTMINSTER, SS DURENDA, SS EASBY, SS EASTERN, SS EASTERN SEA, SS ECHUCA, SS ELMSHORN, SS ERIDAN, SS EUMERELLA, SS FEDERAL, SS FLANDRIA, SS FLINDERS, SS FUKUYO MARU, SS GELRIA, SS GOULBURN, SS GRAINTON, SS GREAT BRITAIN, SS HIMALAYA MARU, SS INDARRA, SS INNAMINCKA, SS IRATE, SS IRON PRINCE, SS JASON, SS JULIA PERCY, SS JW ALEXANDER, SS KALFARLIE, SS KANOWNA, SS KARONGA, SS KAROOLA, SS KEENUM, SS KOLN, SS KOMURA, SS KONIG FRIEDRICH AUGUST, SS KOONYA, SS KYOGLE, SS LARGS BAY, SS LEVUKA, SS LIUSE HEMSOTH, SS MALABAR, SS MARSULA, SS MAUNALEI, SS MAUNAWILL, SS MEISSEN, SS MERNOO, SS MIAMOA, SS MINER, SS MONARO, SS MONTROSE, SS MORETON, SS MOUNT KEMBLA, SS NAIRN, SS NELEUS, SS NEW GUINEA, SS NINEVEH, SS NORFOLK MARU, SS NORKOOWA, SS OAK BRANCH, SS OOMA, SS OONAH, SS PACIFIC COMMERCE, SS PALERMO, SS PAREORA, SS PEREGRINE, SS PIAKO, SS PILBARRA, SS PORT DENISON, SS PRINS DER NEDERLANDEN, SS QUEDA, SS RIGI, SS RIMOUSKI, SS RIMUTAKA, SS RINGAROOMA, SS SACHSEN, SS SAVOIA, SS SKAGERN, SS STUTTGART, SS SUFFOLK, SS SVARTEN, SS SWARTENHONDT, SS TAGLIAFERRO, SS TAKLIWA, SS TALISMAN, SS TANGO MARU, SS TE ANAU, SS TOKIO MARU, SS TOLKEN, SS TOROMEO, SS TREMERE, SS TRURO CITY, SS ULLSTADT, SS ULYSSES, SS UMZAZI, SS VERENTIA, SS VINSTRA, SS WACHTFELS, SS WAIKARE, SS WAIMATE, SS WANDANA, SS WAR EARL, SS WERRIBEE [II], SS WILTSHIRE, SS WODONGA, SS WYANDRA, SS WYREEMA, SS YANKALILLA, SS YORKMOOR, SS ZEALANDIA, TSS HUNTER and TSS PRINCESS NORAH.
In the nineteenth century, shipping provided the infrastructure for the European settlement and development of Australia. It was essential to commerce that ships reached people's lives in a way which was personal and immediate; delivering groceries to small towns, carrying passengers between ports and bringing immigrants to Australia.
McIlwraith, McEacharn & Co entered the Australian trade in 1887 bringing immigrants from Britain to Queensland. They also entered the coal trade. They entered into the fierce competition for passenger trade in the first decades of the twentieth century when competition for passengers required companies to provide more than converted cargo vessels. In 1909 their ship KAROOLA won a reputation for its salubrious accommodation and its size, and was the first Australian ship to exceed 7,000 tons. The company maintained the advantage in 1912 by commissioning KATOOMBA, which was larger and more luxurious than all its generation of passenger ships.
With the growth of rail and road transport, Australian shipping declined during the twentieth century. McIlwraith, McEacharn & Co was a survivor and bought the fleets of James Paterson and Huddard Parker in 1961. In 1957 McIlwraith, McEacharn & Co together with Adelaide Steamship Company and Melbourne Steamship Company, set up Bulkships Pty Ltd to work the heavy ore trade and bought four ships. In 1964 it merged shipping interests with those of the Adelaide Steamship Company to form Associated Steamships. They had a combined fleet of 12 conventional cargo vessels, which they replaced with three container ships.
McIlwraith McEacharn continued in the shipping trade until the 1990s when their ships were sold to a US company.