seascape

I think the four-funnelled cruiser is HMS Powerful, flagship of the Australian Station, 1905 - 1912

The ferry looks like the 'Waringa', 1894 - www.ferriesofsydney.com/waringa.html

I think you are right, Lifeasdaddy - it looks like HMS Powerful en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HMSPowerfulCirca1905.jpg

Is the photographer standing in the grounds of Kirribilli House?

My name is Jim Thompson and my great, great grand father was Captain David Thompson who purchased Clifton Gardens in 1871. He purchased what was then, the "Clifton Arms Hotel" which later became the "Marine Hotel". My family auctioned off the area in 1912. Unfortunately, the "Marine Hotel" was pulled down in 1967 due to the bad crowd it drew at that time. Captain David had built a wharf, pleasure grounds and a dance hall. Thompson St and David St are named after him. Other members of his family had streets named after them, but to my frustration, I don't know why they have been long since changed. I do know which ones they are. At least Sarah's Walk exists today, his youngest daughters name was Sarah and there was once a Sarah St. Mary and Margaret Lane exists instead of what was his wife's, Mary St and eldest daughter, Margaret St. Margaret Thompson married Marc Louie Rutty and lived in what was Wharf Rd, but now called Burrawong Ave. The house still stands today. Clifton Gardens is an important part of my family heritage and I have been the primary family member who has done a lot of research on this. I have other branches of family members who have also been involved with great interest. My great grand father Francis (Frank) Thompson had moved around to Balmoral where he ran a kiosk. Though I do have a certain extent of knowledge of Captain David and his family, such as his short time in Moruya, Southern New South Wales, there is still a great deal that I don't yet know. I do have Captain David Thompson's photo and a few other members and I am willing to share this with Mosman Council or anyone related or associated with this heritage if they should be interested. Especially if your family, as far as I'm concened, you have a right to know. I would also be greatly interested in any information that I may not have that a member of the public or the council does have. It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Jim Thompson thompsonjp777 at hotmail dot com P.S. Sorry for repeating this, I do hope to be in contact with other family members that I am not yet aware of.

Pretty sure this picture, featuring a regatta and Kareela Ferry is this HIstoric event: MOTOR BOATING. THE NEW CLUB. STRIKING HARBOUR DEMONSTRATION, 'Favoured with ideal conditions, the Motor Boat Club of New South Wales was brilliantly inaugurated on the waters of Port Jackson on Saturday afternoon. If the club is young its membership is already strong, for no body has ever started under happier auspices. Tho club has all tho elements for success-boundless enthusiasm, a peerless domain, and the certainty of great development. Saturday afternoon must always stand out in the annals of the sport of the harbour. The fleet, comprising motor-driven boats of all shades and sizes, assembled in Farm Cove at about 2 o'clock. Large numbers of people lined the shores to admire the evolutions, and there was plenty to marvel at. Motor boats have not the grace of the gliding yacht, but they offer much to compensate for the lack of the beautiful. They are to the yacht as the funnelled steamer is to tho white winged sailing ship. They cleaved the waters of Farm Cove with a wonderful precision, skimming past the warships, driving recklessly across the bows of a sailing boat, curving and winding with a contemptuous disregard of wind and tide. Some were gay with colour, being competitors for the procession prize, and the majority were enlivened by the summer frocks of venturesome ladies. It is a boast of the motorist that he is a timekeeper Independent of the assistance of the elements, he observes his appointments. But accidents will happen, and by a strange irony on Saturday the hon. secretary, Mr.G. Whatmore, to whose efforts the flotation of the club was largely due, had a mishap as he came down tho harbour to assist In marshalling the little fleet. As he lightly remarked afterwards, his boat, the G-whiz, which has a reputation for speed and reliability, refused to "whiz," and he was delayed. Nevertheless, good work was done by the commodore- (Mr. P. C. Mitchell), the vice-commodore (Dr. George Read), tho rear- commodore . (Mr. Frank Albert), the committee men (Messrs. J. B. Holdsworth, H. E. Ross, C. B. Bradley, G. I. Stanton, and Fred. Alderson), and Mr. F. A. Wiesener (marshal),and a capital procession was formed. The commodore led off in the Cyreno, and streaming out from Farm Cove there were the rear-commodore in the Boomerang, the vice- commodore in the Asthore, Mr. Wiesener in the Little De Dion, with the larger boats on the outer lines, and a host of smaller ones in the centre. Bringing up tho roar was the Sydney Ferry-steamer Kareela, thronged with hundreds of friends of the motor boat owners. When well launched on tho stream tho effect was very striking, and illustrated vividly the proportions of the new harbour power. The procession passed along slowly, keeping good order, although here and there flashed a couple of racers, torpedo-shaped craft, that drove at a speod and turned and swirled with a precision that indicated some big racing days as motoring evolves. A couple of yachts and several sailing boats idled through the throng. Their occupants looked at the plain little motor vessels as might the swan at the plain duckling, but the motor-drivers, conscious of their utility and greater certainty, were in no degree discomfited, and they undoubtedly had the pull when the "sailers" fell out to tack. The destination was Clifton Cardona, where the visitors landed and took tea, while the motors engaged in an interesting programme of racing and water sports. A feature of the afternoon was the parade of decorated launches. Mr, E. A. Laurence took first prize with the Mistral, Mr. C. E. Waters second with the Gulnare, and Mr. Fred. Alderson third with the Mimosa. During the afternoon the commodore, in the course of a brief speech in the pavilion, declared the club Inaugurated. Mr, Mitchell said that it was only In last June that Mr. Whatmore set out to got the motor boat owners together. The result exceeded all anticipations. (Cheers.) Such a demonstration as this was beyond anything then hoped for. At present the club embraced about 150 boat-ownors. (Applause.) There was not the slightest doubt that the motor boat had come to stay. He had nothing to say against their "white-winged" brethren. There should be no antagonism between the two sections of the water sport. (Hear, hear.)The motor men desired more independence from the caprice of the breeze and the will of the tides. He prophesied a great future for motor boats and for their builders. (Hear, hear.) Then there was the question of defence. He hoped they would be encouraged by the defence authorities to form the club into a naval corps-(hoar, hoar)-and that all motorists would Join it. Mr. Whatmore emphasised that the Motor Boat Club of New South Wales was already the largest in the world. In other cities the owners were split up, but here they were all under one flag. (Hear, hear.) Tho boats owned by the club represented £75,000, and with the exception of tho purchase of boilers, all of that money went to local Industry. (Applause.) So far tho boats were chiefly cruiser launches, but before the end of the season there would be on Port Jackson some launches capable of speeds equal to the fastest in the world. We had the finest strip of water, and should endeavour to cleave it with the finest boats. (Applause.) The race for skiffs was won by Mr. L. O'Toole's Yvonne. MOTOR BOATING. (1905, November 6 - Monday). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 7. Retrieved from nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14719589

A wild upside-down guess - Bray ?

beachcomber australia Looks like Bray alright, although I think the lighthouse is long gone.

beachcomber australia I think you might be right. Streetview from north pier. Then it's after 1897 when the lighthouse was built and before 1957 when it "fell into the sea during a storm."

I cheated! There's a companion 'similar item' identified as Bray and 1905. Mentions the Marine Station Hotel - catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000524191

Fascinating beachcombing to the right of frame - "... The submerged forest of Bray was first noted by Robert Lloyd Praeger in the closing years of the 19th century. The construction of Bray Harbour between 1891 and 1895 changed the patterns of sediment transport in the south of Kiliney Bay causing a drop in beach level. As the beach level dropped, the ancient forest of Bray emerged from the sands to the north of Bray Harbour. Praeger noted a forest of collapsed “Scotch pine trees” amid a layer of peat. ..." From - jasonbolton.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/the-submerged-forest...