TSS AWATEA at No 2 East Circular Quay on Friday 25 September 1936 at 1pm
Photographer
Frederick Garner Wilkinson
(1901-1975)
Date1936
Object number00041662
NameGlass plate negative
MediumEmulsion on glass
Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection
DescriptionAWATEA was photographed at No 2 East Circular Quay, Sydney on Friday 25 September 1936. AWATEA arrived in Sydney on her maiden voyage on Monday 21 September 1936 and departed for New Zealand on 25 September 1936. This image was captured from the 1pm ferry travelling from Circular Quay to Cremorne.HistoryThe 13,482 ton motor vessel AWATEA was launched in 1936 and built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness. It operated under the Union Steam Ship Co and was designed for the trans-Tasman passenger run. During World War II it was used as a troop transport. On 8 November 1942 AWATEA was bombed by German aircraft while moored in Bougie port, Algeria and sunk soon after.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.
