AUSTRALIEN of Kobenhavn anchored off Cremorne Point on Sunday morning 21 Janurary 1934

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date21 January 1934

Object number00041623

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionThe Danish vessel AUSTRALIEN was photographed anchored off Cremorne Point on Sunday morning 21 January 1934. This image was captured from the 10.45am ferry travelling from Circular Quay to Taronga (the outer course), Sydney.HistoryAUSTRALIEN was a twin-screw cargo vessel of 6,652 tons built by Akt Burmeister & Wain at Copenhagen in 1915. Along with cargo it could accomodate 30 people including 10 passengers. In 1934 it was owned by the East Asiatic Company and registered in Copenhagen under a Danish flag. It travelled on the Far East, Australian and Pacific routes which included the ports of Copenhagen, Hamburg, Genoa, Port Said, Port Sudan, Singapore, Manila, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Yokohama, and Kobe. In 1940 it was captured by France and renmed SAINT ADOLPHE. It came under German control in 1940 and began operating under an Italian flag and was renamed CUMA. It was sunk at Palermo during an allied air raid 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.