MARIPOSA
Photographer
Frederick Garner Wilkinson
(1901-1975)
Date29 July 1932
Object number00041611
NameGlass plate negative
MediumEmulsion on glass
Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection
DescriptionMARIPOSA is shown at wharf no 2 Circular Quay on Friday 29 July 1932. The image was captured at 12.15pm from a boat travelling between Circular Quay to McMahons Point. The passenger liner offered luxurious travel between the United States and Australia during the first half of the 20th century.HistorySS MARIPOSA was a luxurious passenger liner launched in 1931. It was one of four ships that operated for the Matson Line's 'White Fleet'. MARIPOSA was designed to operate on the Pacific passenger route making stops at ports on the West Coast of the United States, Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. Its maiden voyage was on 16 January 1932. During World War II the ship served as a troop and supply transport for the United States. It was bought by Home Lines and renamed SS HOMERIC in 1947.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.
