Orient Line SS OMAR (ex KONINGIN LUISE) at Orient Wharf, East Circular Quay

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date1923

Object number00040961

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

Circular Quay

DescriptionOMAR previously KONIGIN LUISE, is shown at Orient Wharf in Circular Quay, Sydney. OMAR was purchased by the Orient Line in 1920 and the vessel made its first trip to Australia for the company on 4 September 1920.HistoryKONIGIN LUISE was built in 1896 for Norddeutscher Lloyd by AG Vulcan, at Stettin. The 10,566 ton vessel could accommodate 218 first class, 182 second class and 1,970 steerage passengers. It made journeys between Europe, America and Australia. Following World War I it was given over to the British and used to repatriate troops in the aftermath of the war. In 1921 it was purchased by the Orient Line and renamed OMAR, then sold again in 1924 to the Byron Line and renamed EDISON. It was scrapped on 30 July 1935.SignificanceThis photograph 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.