RMS NARKUNDA

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date6 December 1923

Object number00040982

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionRMS NARKUNDA was photographed arriving in Sydney Harbour from London on Thursday morning 6 December 1923. It was the first Peninsular & Oriental mail liner to berth at Walsh Bay wharf No 3.HistoryNARKUNDA was a 16,500 ton gross steamer that was active on the Australian passenger service run. It was built by Caird & Co at Greenock in 1920 and was capable of accommodating 650 passengers and 277,090 cubic feet of grain and 103,000 cubic feet of insulated cargo. During the Second World War the vessel was used as a troop transport. On 14 November 1942 it was sunk by German bombers after it left Bougie, Algeria having delivered troops for the campaign in North Africa.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.