Klito No 3A Falling Plate camera

Manufacturer George Houghton and Sons

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date1905 - 1920

Object number00041673

NameCamera

MediumMetal, glass, leather

Dimensions180 x 110 x 230 mm

ClassificationsTools and equipment

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionFrederick Garner Wilkinson used this Klito No 3A Falling Plate camera from 1919 - 1937 (with a break between 1922 and 1923 when his family made a return visit to England) to photograph ships in Sydney Harbour. Manufactured by G Houghton and Sons, the camera has a maximum capacity of 5 glass plates - limiting Wilkinson to taking five photographs at a time.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.