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SS NOOREBAR underway
SS NOOREBAR underway

SS NOOREBAR underway

Photographer (1869 - 1959)
Date1904-1920
Object number00017069
NamePhotograph
MediumSilver gelatin print on paper
DimensionsOverall: 110 x 155 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Piers Jones
DescriptionThis photograph depicts the small coastal steamer NOOREBAR underway with smoke billowing from its funnel. A small tug is at the ships port side. SS NOOREBAR was built in 1904 at Kinghorn, and served the North Coast Steam Navigation Company's NSW coastal run from 1904 until it was sold to Fijian interests in the 1920s.HistoryHarry (Henry) Brisbane Williams was born in 1869 in Brisbane, Queensland, and later lived in Balmain and Point Piper - both on Sydney Harbour. Williams was an enthusiastic amateur boater, and took his motor launch SABLE on numerous excursions around Sydney Harbour and the Lane Cove River. He was the photographer for the Water Board of New South Wales, and was a keen amateur artist - becoming friends with a number of prominent Sydney artists including Alfred Coffey. Williams' photographs held in the museum's collection date from the 1890s into the 1950s. His images depict a range of vessels, from passenger ships, cargo ships, Royal Australian Navy vessels, United States Navy battle cruisers, yachts, motor launches, sailing ships, tugboats, ferries, row boats and even paddle steamers on the Darling and Murray Rivers. Williams captures a range of social activities, including Fleet Week celebrations, rowing sculls, surf life saving, picnics, pleasure cruising and swimming. He also photographed a range of ship building activities, dry docks, slip ways and waterfront construction.SignificanceThe Harry Brisbane Williams photographic collection provides an interesting record of a range of activities on Sydney Harbour from the 1890s into the 1920s. An enthusiastic amateur boater and photographer, Williams’ photographs capture a range of subjects – pleasure cruising on his motor launch on the Lane Cove River, yachting on Sydney Harbour, foreshore social activities, surf lifesaving, cargo ships, battle cruisers of the United States fleet, model yachting and the shipbuilding industry. In particular, they are a wonderful personal record of the new phenomenon of leisure motor boating in the early twentieth century.
Steam vessel underway in Johnston's Bay
Harry Brisbane Williams
1890s - 1920s
Steam vessel underway in Johnston's Bay
Harry Brisbane Williams
1890s - 1920s
Small steam work boat billowing smoke
Harry Brisbane Williams
1890s - 1920s
Tugboat underway
Harry Brisbane Williams
c 1915
Small cargo ship in Johnston's Bay
Harry Brisbane Williams
1890s - 1920s
Pyrmont Point from Balmain
Harry Brisbane Williams
1890s - 1920s
Sailing ship underway
Harry Brisbane Williams
1890s - 1920s
Japanese steamship with tugboat
Harry Brisbane Williams
1890s - 1920s