Loading coal at Balmain mine
Photographer
Samuel J Hood Studio
(Australian, 1899 - 1953)
Date3 November 1952
Object number00020325
NameNitrate negative
MediumEmulsion on nitrate film.
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionThis image shows SS MERNOO loading coal, probably at the Balmain coal loader in Sydney, on 3rd November 1952. The SS MERNOO was a steamship built in the UK in 1926 for the Melbourne Steam Ship Co. The image shows a long line of coal trucks at left and a crane holding a coal hopper adjacent to the ship's forward hold. The ship is floating relatively high at the bow against its waterline, therefore the loading process is only partially complete. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is in the distant background.HistoryThe Samuel J Hood photographic collection records an extensive range of maritime activity on Sydney Harbour, including sail and steam ships, crew portraits, crews at work, ship interiors, stevedores loading and unloading cargo, port scenes, pleasure boats and harbourside social activities from the 1890s through to the 1950s. They are also highly competent artistic studies and views - Hood was regarded as an important figure in early Australian photojournalism. Hood’s maritime photographs are one of the most significant collections of such work in Australia.
