SOMERSET
Photographer
Frederick Garner Wilkinson
(1901-1975)
Date12 September 1936
Object number00041661
NameGlass plate negative
MediumEmulsion on glass
Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection
DescriptionSOMERSET was photographed at the P&O Buoy Neutral Bay, Sydney on Saturday 12 September 1936. This image was captured from the 2pm ferry travelling from Circular Quay to Mosman via Cremorne Point, Sydney.HistorySOMERSET was a 8,792 ton commercial vessel built in 1918 By Earles Co. In 1935 it was operating for the Federal Steam Navigation Company and was registered in London, 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.
