MEERKERK of 's-Gravenhage (The Hague)
Photographer
Frederick Garner Wilkinson
(1901-1975)
Date18 April 1931
Object number00042190
NameGlass plate negative
MediumEmulsion on glass
Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection
DescriptionFrederick Wilkinson took this photograph of the MEERKERK at the P&O buoy in Neutral Bay, Sydney at 2:30pm on Sunday 18 April 1931 aboard a ferry from Circular Quay to Cremorne Point. The near-complete Sydney Harbour Bridge can be seen in the distance.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.
