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HMAS Canberra by Kookaburra2011 :

Andy Brill Thanks Andy! Great photo & information :)

Among many fine ships photographers in Australia over the decades, the two contemporaries Sydney's Sam Hood [1872-1953] and Melbourne's Allan C. Green [1878-1954] are the equal giants of the field in my opinion, and we are so fortunate that their collections are so well preserv ed and now presented to the public, respectively by ANMM here, and the State Library of Victoria [La Trobe Library]. The true hallmark of their greatness was their gritty dedication, out in all weathers, at all times of the night and day, over decades - more than half a century in both cases. And they did it for the love of ships. There was not much money in it, and out of necessity their livings were earned in more commercial photography, or by other means in the case of Allan Green, who became a newsagent for a while. His relatives tell me he was just not much of a businessman: a dreamer, photographer and marine artist. Many ports have had a dedicated maritime photographers; Fremantle had Saxon Fogarty, and just recently I learned something of Vancouver's Walter Edwin Frost [1878-1988]. Britain must also have had very many: I came to admire the the superb technical clarity of the Tyneside photographer James Henry Cleet FRPS [1876-1959] at Newcastle, U.K., another contemporary of Sam Hood and Allan Green, who did commissioned work for the British Ministry of Defence. There will be many I know nothing of, but I would place Sam Hood and Allan Green on a plane with the Italian Aldo Fraccaroli [1919-2010 who overcame bad eyesight to become a Regia Marfina officer and widely acknowledged as the world's greatest naval photographer. He did did much work for Janes Fighting Ships and other publications. He retired and had lost his sight completely by 1984. His work is held in a massive archive, but is unfortunately is still not very widely available. Thank heavens we are receiving these from the ANMM - there is so much to learn from them, and truthfully in Australia we have had limited access to our own visual history for too long.

Horatio J. Kookaburra Wow, thank YOU Kookaburra2011! It is a pleasure to share the collection with the Flickr community and those who simply stumble across our collection. The discussions going on underneath our images have contributed enormous value and meaning to our collection, and for that we are immensely grateful. We recently published a blog about the Commons community, thanking our 'super sleuths' (of which you are included)!

The procession of ships under the Harbour Bridge took place after the official opening ceremony on 19th March, 1932... The procession was led by RMS Maloja (P&O)...followed by RMS Orford (Orient Line)...SS Nieuw Zeeland (KPM)...TSMV Manunda (Adelaide SS Co)...SS Port Auckland (Port Line)...MV Viminale (Lloyd Triestino)...Kitano Maru (NYK)...

I certainly thank you for sharing so many wonderful images. An excellent collection which we enjoy very much! If you look at the scrip (Bottom of photo) seems to be flipped...

Carlos Ariel Salamantes (Off) Thank you Carlos Ariel Salamantes. We are happy to share it! The handwriting at the bottom of the photo is indeed reversed because it is a glass plate negative. Please watch this space for more uploads, you're feedback is always welcome.

This is a great shot - always good to see images from the ANMM collection.

It would be good to identify this flag, which seems to have three bars and an elephant in the middle. A social oprganisation's flag I'm guessing. Our group will post here if we find out. We learn elsewhere that crane rides like this were conducted during Navy Week at Garden Island up to the 1950s, sometimes using the famous 250 ton hammerhead crane [the demolition of which is now being discussed] but we don't think the crane rides could happen today. There's a lady holding a baby up high above the safety rail in one of the companion photos!

THE FLAG. This information comes from Kim Dunstan of Melbourne, RAN 1958-1967, who does a lot of investigation of our photos, and sometimes extensively so. Kim tells us the flag seen here above the slide chute is the naval ensign of Siam, now Thailand, and probably from the WWI era. We agree. Look closely at your enlarged image and you can see the similarity here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flying_Naval_Ensign_of_Thailan... Kim also notes that there is an officer in a foreign naval uniform - black epaulettes, collar and dark tie, where an RAN officer's tunic is buttoned to the throat and collar - standing below the crane talking to a lady. The point is, a man in the same uniform can be seen standing fourth from the left in your image of a naval launch, several photos along at Object 00010453. Effectively this ties these two images to the same occasion, and dates the naval launch image for you as Dec. 12, 1931, same as here. We think the men in the launch are those who did entertainment for the children, with a diver looking for 'lost children,' as described in the linked newspaper articles under the companion 'crane basket' image. Well, that's it.