RMS MOLDAVIA II at West Circular Quay

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date15 October 1931

Object number00040946

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionRMS MOLDAVIA II is shown at wharf no 4 West Circular Quay after arriving from London on Thursday morning, 15 October 1931. This photograph was taken at 9am from a ferry travelling between the Quay and McMahons Point.HistoryRMS MOLDAVIA II was initially built as a single funnel in 1921 by Cammell Laird and Company at Birkenhead for Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. It was launched on 1 October 1921 and was designed to service the passenger trade between Britain and Australia via Marseilles, Suez and Colombo. It could accommodate 840 tourist class passengers. In 1928, it was fitted with a second (artificial) funnel in light of criticisms of its outmoded appearance. Despite its old-fashioned design, MOLDAVIA was able to serve the passenger trade between England and Australia for fifteen years before the ship was superseded by the new ‘Strath’ liners. MOLDAVIA made its final voyage from Sydney to Tilbury on 17 September 1937 before it was scrapped in 1938.SignificanceThis photograph represents RMS MOLDAVIA II and its role in passenger travel between Britain and Australia during the first half of 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.