WESTRALIA (II)

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date28 November 1931

Object number00042308

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionWESTRALIA shown leaving for Fremantle on Saturday afternoon 28 November 1931 at 2.30pm from Fort Macquarie (Bennelong Point), in the rain during a thunderstorm.HistoryMV WESTRALIA (II) was built by Harland and Wolff, Belfast in 1929 with luxurious accommodation for 360 1st class passengers, and 90 3rd class. It was the second ship named WESTRALIA by Huddart Parker Ltd. It served on the Sydney-Melbourne-Adelaide-Fremantle passenger service until 1939 when it was requisitioned by the RAN for the Second World War as HMAS WESTRALIA (I). It had a distinguished career as, among other things, a landing craft and a troopship. It served in the East Indies Station and Nauru area. WESTRALIA was not released back to commercial service until 1951, where it rejoined the Fremantle route. In 1958 it was removed to the Sydney-Auckland-Wellington run, but was back on the Fremantle run the following year. In 1960 it was purchased by the Asian and Pacific Shipping Co as a livestock carrier and renamed the DELFINO. In 1961 it was renamed WOOLAMBI but never sailed under this name. It was towed to a Japanese scrap yard the same year. Huddart Parker was formed in Geelong in the 1850s and grew on the trade produced by the Victorian gold rush to become a major Australian shipping company by the 1890s. The discovery of gold in Western Australia in the 1890s sparked a boom and several companies competed for service in the trade. They rapidly expanded in the 20th century and became publicly listed in 1911 with the name Huddart Parker Ltd. Five ships were requisitioned during the First World War, with the loss of one. During the inter-war period Huddart Parker expanded into servicing Tasmania with a New Zealand company. Its three passenger ships, ZEALANDIA, WESTRALIA and WANGANELLA were once again requisitioned for the Second World War with ZEALANDIA sinking during the Japanese raid on Darwin in February 1942. Huddart Parker was taken over by Bitumen and Oil Refineries Australia Ltd in 1961.SignificanceThis photograph represents the WESTRALIA's role as a passenger ship in Australian waters during the 20th century.

It 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.