SS DEE WHY

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date25 May 1930

Object number00040943

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionSS DEE WHY was photographed proceeding to Circular Quay on Sunday 25 May 1930. It was taken between 12-5pm on a Ferry travelling from Taronga near Fort Denison. SS DEE WHY was a ferry transport between Manly and Circular Quay, Sydney from 1928 to 1968. This photograph was taken two years after DEE WHY began serving as a Sydney ferry.HistorySS DEE WHY was a famous Sydney ferry that travelled between Manly and Circular Quay between 1928 and 1968. It was a 799 ton vessel and could carry 1587 passengers. SS DEE WHY made its last journey as a Sydney ferry in 1968 and was eventually scuttled on Long Reef on 25 May 1976. SignificanceThis photograph is representative of SS DEE WHY and ferry transportation on Sydney Harbour during the 20th century.

It 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 gradual decline of the coastal trade, and in a period which was probably the peak reached by commercial shipping in Australia. The backgrounds also reveal the changing face of the city and harbour foreshores.