CANADIAN IMPORTER
Photographer
Frederick Garner Wilkinson
(1901-1975)
Date23 February 1924
Object number00041540
NameGlass plate negative
MediumEmulsion on glass
Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection
DescriptionCANADIAN IMPORTER is shown anchored in Snails Bay, Balmain on Saturday afternoon, 23 February 1924. This image was taken from a ferry travelling on Sydney Harbour.HistoryCANADIAN IMPORTER was a 5464 ton cargo ship built in 1920. It was constructed by J Coughlan & Sons at Vancouver and operated under a Canadian flag. In 1928 it was under the operation of Canadian National Steamships Ltd. In 1933 it was named BRIGHSTAR, in 1936 CHAO SING and in 1938 was sold to Yamasita Kisen KK and renamed YAMAFUJI MARU. The vessel was sunk by an American submarine after it was torpedoed by enemy fire in 1942.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.
