ASHBURTON

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date22 January 1933

Object number00041593

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionThe British cargo ship ASHBURTON was photographed anchored off Cremorne on Sunday morning 22 January 1933. This image was captured from the 12.15 ferry travelling from Circular Quay to Taronga, Sydney. ASHBURTON was operating for the Australind Steam Shipping Company Ld under a British flag in 1933.HistoryASHBURTON was a 5,047 ton steel-screw vessel originally built as YOMAH in 1926 by William Denny & Bros at Dumbarton for P Henderson & Co. It was renamed ASHBURTON in 1927 when it was purchased by the British & Burmese Steam Navigation Company, being the second ship to be named Ashburton. In 1937 it was renamed TROPIC STAR when it was purchased by Skibs-A/S La Plata. In 1947 it was sold to Rederi A/B Atlanta in Finland and renamed ANJA. ANJA was scrapped in 1961.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.