HMS DIOMEDE at wharf 1 Circular Quay

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date1934

Object number00037690

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

DimensionsOverall: 82 x 103 mm, 2 mm, 0.04 kg

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection Purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds

Terms

DescriptionHMS DIOMEDE is shown at Wharf 1 Circular Quay on 22 September 1934. This photograph was taken by Frederick Wilkinson on a ferry travelling from Mosman to Circular Quay, Sydney. DIOMEDE was one of many international ships that visited Australia in 1934 to take part in Victoria's centenary celebrations. The Sydney Tram Depot can be seen in the background.HistoryHMS DIOMEDE was a Danae class cruiser of the Royal Navy that was launched on 29 April 1919 after World War I, having been ordered under the Emergency War Programme in 1918. In the interwar period DIOMEDE was stationed in the Pacific and East Indies, from 1922-1925 it served on the China Station with the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron, 1925-1936 it served with the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy and from 1936-1939 was in the Reserve Fleet in England. During World War II it served in numerous operations; in 1939-1940 it was part of the 7th Cruiser Squadron at Scapa Flow patrolling against blockade runners and surface raiders. Then in 1940-42 it was stationed in the West Indies and was refitted, the South Atlantic (1942) and in the Home Fleet (1942-43). DIOMEDE spent its later career as a training ship (1943-1945) at Rosyth, Scotland before it was scrapped in 1946.SignificanceThis photograph records the visit of the Royal Navy's HMS DIOMEDE to Sydney Harbour in 1934.

The print 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 decline of the coastal trade. The backgrounds also reveal the changing face of the city and harbour foreshores.