TACOMA CITY
Photographer
Frederick Garner Wilkinson
(1901-1975)
Date26 February 1933
Object number00041602
NameGlass plate negative
MediumEmulsion on glass
Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection
DescriptionThe British cargo vessel TACOMA CITY was photographed at No 5 Athol Bight on Sunday 26 February 1933. This image was captured from the 10.15am ferry travelling between Circular Quay and Clifton via Taronga, Sydney.HistoryTACOMA CITY was a British cargo vessel of 4,738 tons built in 1929 by Gray at West Hartlepool for the Reardon Smith Line Ltd. It was sunk in 1941 after it was damaged by mines in Mersey, Britain.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.
