aus

I suspect this pic might have been taken on 25th February, 1932...the day RMS Strathnaver and SS Mariposa arrived in Sydney. This was the Strathnaver's second voyage to Australia and the Mariposa's first. Per the various newspaper reports, both ships arrived in Sydney on the morning of 25th February...the Strathnaver arrived at Circular Quay shortly before the Mariposa and was berthed at West Circular Quay...soon afterwards the Mariposa was berthed at East Circular Quay. At some point later in the day the Strathnaver was then moved to Jones Bay (Pyrmont)...my guess is that in this pic we see the Strathnaver being moved from East Circular Quay around to Jones Bay...from where she departed for Brisbane on 29th February (leap year)... trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/160605535 - Daily Commercial News, 25th February, 1932...this item indicates the Strathnaver was moved to Jones Bay (ie. No. 20 Pyrmont wharf) on 25th February... The Strathnaver returned to Sydney from Brisbane on 7th March...when she was initially berthed at Jones Bay...and then departed for London on 11th March from West Circular Quay No. 4 wharf...but by this point the Mariposa had left Sydney. Note that this pic has the date as '22.2.32' (see bottom rhs corner)...but this can't be correct...the Strathnaver and Mariposa didn't arrive in Sydney until 25th February 1932...and they were only together like this at Circular Quay on 25th February for what must have been a matter of hours... The arrival of the Strathnaver and Mariposa was covered fairly extensively in the Sydney newspapers...at the time, both ships were very much the latest thing in luxury cruise liners...and the fact that they were both in port at the same time attracted a good deal of attention. trove.nla.gov.au/work/184210451 ; trove.nla.gov.au/work/184210514 - these two NLA Fairfax aerial pics appear to have been taken on 25th February, 1932 when the Strathnaver and Mariposa arrived in Sydney... trove.nla.gov.au/work/184208081 - this NLA Fairfax aerial pic also appears to have been taken on 25th February, 1932...it shows the Strathnaver being towed into Circular Quay...in the background over at the Harbour Bridge all 4 pylons are still being cleaned and we also see the lines of locomotives that were parked on the Harbour Bridge during the load tests in February 1932... This ANMM Sam Hood Collection pic also appears to have been taken on 25th February, 1932...it shows the Mariposa approaching Circular Quay with the Strathnaver already berthed at West Circular Quay... www.flickr.com/photos/anmm_thecommons/8263571032/ This ANMM Sam Hood Collection pic appears to have been taken on 11th March, 1932, when the Strathnaver was departing for London...over at the Harbour Bridge only the NE pylon is still being cleaned, and the lines of locomotives are no longer there...so this fits with the date...and Blue Peter is flying from the spar on the Strathnaver's forward mast...so she's leaving port... www.flickr.com/photos/anmm_thecommons/7736995684/

It's so much more elegant with the symmetry of the North Shore and Northern Beaches railways

looks like a load test or something like that. why put all your locomotives on the bridge at once?