Not many giraffes can claim a view of Sydney Harbour!
Can you date this photograph?
We have many other undated photographs in Photo Investigator and on our Flickr account. If know the dates or any other interesting facts about these images please let us know.
Category: -- Can you date...?
Tag: Moments in Time
Allan Cole says:
Difficult to tell from the resolution I have but it seems to be before the Cahill Expressway was built and there also seems to be a warship at the end of Garden Island just beyond Fort Denison. Sorry I could not be more help.
enno says:
If you posted this question the other day, how is Bob Meade answering the question 48 months ago ??
The ship is either HMAS Canberra or HMAS Australia, or possibly a visiting British ship of the same class.
enno says:
The site of Lady Gowrie lookout ( adjacent to Kirribilli House ) looks very conspicuous. and the large apartment building next to it today is not present.
enno says:
Well the HMS Shropshire was also sold to the RAN after Canberra was sunk near New Guinea in 1942, so it could possibly be that ship.
And the HMS Dorsetshire which was almost identical visited Sydney in 1938, so it could be that one too.
Daniel Tracey says:
The Harbour Bridge was opened in 1932, I believe the Navy ship to be HMAS Australia which was in Sydney in 1935, as there are no Naval Ships in the Bay at the bottom of the Zoo then it must be pre. WW2, I would suggest that it is 1935 as the WW2 began in 1939.
enno says:
That ship in that photo is NOT in the bay at the bottom of the zoo. It is over near Mrs Macquarie’s point…. it is beyond Cremorne Point and beyond Fort Denison in the view from the Zoo…
The angle from which this photograph was taken, you cannot tell whether there are any ships in Athol Bight or not, they would be well out of shot to the left of this photograph.
That ship is definitely one of the “County” class, the design is distinctive. Whether it is one of the two RAN ones, or a visiting British one, is hard to determine.
Do you have any reason to be claiming that the ship in this photo is HMAS Australia, and not HMAS Canberra ? Is there a difference ?
Geoff Rowell says:
I believe the ship to be a British Cruiser, County Class, rather than Australian. I am basing this on the fact that there is no camouflage paint. I place it about 1938, just pre world war II. In close up , there is a lady walking along one of the paths and she is wearing below knee skirt and appears to be wearing “nurse” style shoes which had a mid heel and maybe had lacing across the front of the foot.
My wife, Diane, says that the grounds looked pretty much the same in the mid 1950’s when she visited as a little girl.
enno says:
I guess you are aware that HMAS Australia and HMAS Canberra, as well as HMAS Shropshire after 1942, were ships of the “County” class also? Did the RAN have camouflage paint and the British not ? When, in particular ? The scan resolution of the photo is not sufficient to identify the minor differences and modifications between the various ships at various stages during their operating lives.
You’re right about the zoo not changing much. In fact, a picture like this, or very similar to this, could have been taken at any time up until the start of the CBD skyscraper boom, around 1960. That part of the zoo looks pretty much the same even today.
The photo is obviously taken after the Harbour Bridge was finished in 1932. HMAS Canberra was in service from about 1930 until it was sunk in 1942. HMAS Australia was in service from about 1930 until it was scrapped in 1955, and was mostly based in Sydney in peacetime throughout its operating life. It’s possible, though maybe unlikely, that this picture was taken in the late 1940’s. Or even when HMAS Australia took the Governor to Lord Howe Island in 1951, or when it took the Governor-General on a trip in 1954. The possibility cannot be excluded on the basis of anything that I can see in this photo.
Geoff Rowell says:
Yes, Enno but wasn’t there a third County class in Australia? That’s alright, I can answer my own question. HMAS Sydney was a Leander Class Cruiser which was a sub class of the County class ships. I went looking for this and found instead a picture of the HMAS Canberra moored in Farm Cove on 19 March 1932 (site is http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HMAS_Canberra_Farm_Cove_Sydney.jpg). She is shown dressed in bunting for the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. What are the odds that this photo was taken either the same day or the day before she moored for the ceremony. As to the camouflage paint, I think that it was used on HMAS ships after the start of WWII for ships in tropical waters but am not 100% certain.
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JD says:
You can see the AWA Building and Tower at Wynyard in the cityscape in the background. The building was started in 1937 and completed in 1939 (dates from NSW State Heritage Inventory, so this photo would be taken in 1939 at the earliest.
Margaret Flynn says:
I have looked up TROVE and HMAS Canberra May 6 12.43 am was on a cruise out of Sydney. My mother now 100 years was on it and celebrated her 17 birthday June 2nd. I have photos ……I think I was mistaken in thinking it was the TSS Canberra .Australian Steamship company but not sure I need to do further research