RMS ORONTES in WWI dazzle camouflage and ferries at the Quay

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date1919

Object number00040955

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionFerries are depicted at Circular Quay alongside RMS ORONTES which is painted in a camouflage geometric paint scheme and berthed at wharf no 2 Circular Quay. The commercial vessel ORONTES was requisitioned for service during World War I with this photograph probably taken after it acted as a troopship.HistoryRMS ORONTES was a 9,028 ton Royal Mail steamer built in 1902 at Clyde, Scotland and managed by the Orient Line. The ship was designed specifically for the Australian mail and passenger service. It could accommodate 320 first class and 320 third class passengers. Its maiden voyage left from Tilbury, Britain on 24 October 1902 for Sydney, Australia travelling via the Suez Canal. The ship became popular with passengers and conducted numerous trips to Australia for 14 years until it was requisitioned in 1916 for service in World War I as a troopship. For a short period after 1921 the vessel was renamed BRITISH TRADE and used as an exhibition ship. In 1922 it was once again came under the management of the Orient Line who renamed it ORONTES and placed the vessel back on the Australian passenger trade route until 1926 when it was scrapped.SignificanceThis photograph represents the presence of RMS ORONTES in Australian waters 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.