TSS OP TEN NOORT

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date20 January 1936

Object number00041659

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionTSS OP TEN NOORT was photographed leaving Circular Quay, Sydney for Singapore and ports on Monday 20 January 1936. This image was captured from Milsons Point, Sydney by Frederick Wilkinson at around 12.20pm.HistoryTSS OP TEN NOORT was a 6,076 ton Dutch merchant ship built in 1927 for the Dutch Royal Packet Steam Navigation Company. It was based in Batavia, Java. The vessel arrived in Sydney on 4 January 1936 and berthed at West Circular Quay, departing just over two weeks later on 20 January. In 1941, during World War II, OP TEN NOORT was taken over by the Royal Netherlands Navy and was refitted as a hospital ship. The vessel was bombed by Japanese aircraft in 1942 and soon after being repaired it came under Japanese control and was renamed TENNO MARU, operating for the Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Company. In 1944, it was yet again renamed HIKAWA MARU and was still used as a hospital ship. The vessel was scuttled in August 1945 at Wakasa Bay. In 1953, the Dutch Government lodged a claim against the Japanese Government for 700 million yen as compensation. The Japanese Government paid about 100 million yen in compensation to the Dutch Government in 1978.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.