gardenisland

2 August 1939 was a Wednesday, one month before WW2 was declared.

" The massive 150 ton sheer legs ( a type of crane) on Garden Island was a mistake - the result of a cable to England in the 1890s requesting "1 50 ton sheer legs". "

from - acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemdetailpaged.aspx?itemid=412354#

beachcomber australia What a shock they must have had when the crane arrived! AB

That boat in the foreground looks rather unusual.

Mich Yes it is, it's a high-speed battle practice target boat which was radio-controlled (I have aded it to the caption above). AB

[love it!]

The ship in the foreground here is HMAS Australia since the wheelhouse has square windows, not HMAS Canberra as captioned. HMAS Canberra's wheelhouse had round windows. In the first two Sydney Morning Herald articles referenced by Quasymody above, you will note that the photograph of HMAS Australia depicts the characteristic square wheelhouse windows, as they are in this photograph. I'm viewing this on a tablet device at the moment so I cannot add a note to the photograph outlining the wheelhouse windows. I.ll try tomorrow when I use a desktop computer.

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/51979177@N02] beachcomber australia BobMeade Brilliant, thanks everyone! Based on the evidence of the Harbour Bridge construction, plus BobMeade's evidence regarding the wheelhouse windows, we have changed our data to HMAS Australia as this seems the most likely. Thank again for your help.

Many thanks ANMM for this wonderful series of images, whose release adds so much to the visualisation our social history, as does your whole Sam Hood Studio Collection. Taken in the Depression era, this and its companion images - your Object NOs. 00034838 [crane ride] and Object No. 0034839 [slippery slide] - are just a joy to behold. Now, CORRECTIONS AND A MEA CUPLA : forget the round and square wheelhouse windows distinction between HMAS CANBERRA [I] and HMAS AUSTRALIA [II] for a moment - it did not apply until modifications to CANBERRA some time after 1933, and I think you should go back to your original caption. This image is almost certainly HMAS CANBERRA [I] holding her series of children's parties at Garden Island on the weekend of December 12-13 1931, as described in the Sydney Morning Herald articles to which you had links from beachcomberaustralia under Pic Object NO. 00034838, the crane ride image. Note it is the same crane ride, and the same unusual flag flying above the slippery slide kids entertainment as shown in Pic, Object No. 00034839. So, the round and square wheelhouses question. I feel I may be responsible for Bob Meade's perception on this, and I had myself accepted it as a blanket distinction, given to me also by an expert commentator. I've applied it as an identifying distinction many times, but I now find it did not apply until after some bridge work modernisations on CANBERRA l sometime after 1933. Hence, we'll have to make a number of corrections in our own collections. Reviewed salient points supporting this: *In their original configurations, both HMAS CANBERRA [I] and HMAS AUSTRALIA [II] arrived in Australia in 1928 and 1929 with the same original and old-fashioned County Class 'ocean liner' look, and both with large square, pretty ugly box-type wheelhouses above the bridge, both with square windows. Evidence: Ross Gillett's 'Australian an d N ew Zealand Warships 1914-1945, p87. * CANBERRA still had this square wheelhouse with square windows when she was photographed by the celebrated NZ photographer Sydney Charles Smith at Wellington's Kings Wharf in September 1933, as shown here: www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/3908140912/. *Some time between Sept 1933 and 1937 CANBERRA's bridge was modified and modernized, resulting in rounded wings above the wheelhouse at the Director Tower level, and round portholes or scuttles in the wheelhouse structure, in place of the square windows there previously. From this point on she is distinguishable from HMAS AUSTRALIA [II]. Source for this 1937 dating, pics shown in John Bastock's authoritative but limited edition book 'Australia's Ships of War' [Angus and Robertson, Sydney 1975] page 106, particularly the Allan C. Green image in the middle of that page. . Hence, from 1937, CANBERRA [I] looked like this, with round scuttles in her wheelhouse... www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/5491719366/ Sorry again for any confusion caused. Warships are continually modified, and tracking those changes in photographs can be a continual process. Glad if anyone can more precisely date CANBERRA's bridge modifications in the 1930s - standard book references and online sources don't seem to have it. Concluding: I now feel certain this photo shows CANBERRA doing the publicized childrens christmas parties in mid-December 1931, same as the companion images, and as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald. Oh, in the background here are a Modified Town Class Cruiser, probably HMAS BRISBANE [I], in reserve and being stripped, and a Flower Class survey/sloop ex-mineswseeper, probably HMAS GERANIUM, also in reserve, the smaller vessel alongside the cruiser.

I think it is most likely HMAS Canberra as the ship features a Rear Admiral's flag at the mast head and 'Canberra' was the flag ship.

The Rigging Shed (1887) on Garden Island (see note) should help date this photo. The Marine Barracks (1888) are not complete, but have gained another floor by the time Henry King took this photo a few metres to the left (and the paint job was complete) - www.flickr.com/photos/powerhouse_museum/2363491416/

Charles Bayliss - acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemLarge.aspx?itemID=414234

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/51979177@N02] Ha! - I am still on limited internet so cannot study it too much at present. I remember having great trouble finding the dates of those buildings via a Garden Island website which I have lost. I think it must be c.1888, because of the unfinished Marine Barracks.