WITRAM

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date01 June 1935

Object number00041644

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionWITRAM is shown at No 1 Athol Bight on Saturday 1 June 1935. This image was captured from the 12.45pm ferry travelling from Circular Quay to Taronga Park, Sydney.HistoryWITRAM was a German cargo ship built in 1911 by Flensburger. The vessel went through a series of name changes in 1915 it was renamed BOONAH, in 1925 WITRAM and in 1937 BUENOS AIRES. It sunk in 1940 after hitting mines.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.