![Ca. 1933-34: Destroyers HMAS STUART [I], VOYAGER [I] and VENDETTA [I], with Ferry ROYAL on a forever lost shore - RAN. | by Kookaburra2011](http://live.staticflickr.com/5140/5494375412_17cbd8c870.jpg)
Kookaburra2011
Ca. 1933-34: Destroyers HMAS STUART [I], VOYAGER [I] and VENDETTA [I], with Ferry ROYAL on a forever lost shore - RAN.
4066. We looked and looked at this very charming old image, and just couldn't figure out where this waterfront scene off Sydney Harbour's eastern shoreline could be. It looked totally unfamiliar.
Oh no, not again. Another job for SAID - the Unofficial RAN Centenary 1911-2011 Photostream's Ships and Aircraft Identification Division.
Then, mercifully, the Penny dropped.
Of course, this is the inner shore of Garden Island when it was still an island - before the huge WWII project that joined the island to the distant Potts Point shoreline with the 'Burma Road' 'causeway looping around the great new Captain Cook graving dock, one of the largest of its time, and a construction that essentially consumed the entire waterway between here and the larger buildings on the foreshore to the right.
Further, we're inclined to believe that the photograph was probably taken around the time the Scott Class flotilla leader HMAS STUART and the four V and W Class destroyers VOYAGER, VAMPIRE, VENDETTA and WATERHEN arrived in Sydney in December 1933. They're just looking particularly fresh and presentable.
POSTCRIPT: Graeme Andrews, author of the well-known book 'Ferries of Sydney,' points out that the little ferry in the foreground is Rosman's ROYAL , based in Mosman Bay, and a ferry that he remembered well as a child. Graeme finds this the best photo of her that he's seen. Graeme also mentions out that the two destroyers in the background are 'S and T' Class [ SUCCESS and TATTOO' etc]. We had thought that, but had been uncertain whether they may have been the two other V and Ws just arrived.
Photo: RAN Historical, Heritage Collection ID NO. 03370.
Ca. 1933-34: Destroyers HMAS STUART [I], VOYAGER [I] and VENDETTA [I], with Ferry ROYAL on a forever lost shore - RAN.
4066. We looked and looked at this very charming old image, and just couldn't figure out where this waterfront scene off Sydney Harbour's eastern shoreline could be. It looked totally unfamiliar.
Oh no, not again. Another job for SAID - the Unofficial RAN Centenary 1911-2011 Photostream's Ships and Aircraft Identification Division.
Then, mercifully, the Penny dropped.
Of course, this is the inner shore of Garden Island when it was still an island - before the huge WWII project that joined the island to the distant Potts Point shoreline with the 'Burma Road' 'causeway looping around the great new Captain Cook graving dock, one of the largest of its time, and a construction that essentially consumed the entire waterway between here and the larger buildings on the foreshore to the right.
Further, we're inclined to believe that the photograph was probably taken around the time the Scott Class flotilla leader HMAS STUART and the four V and W Class destroyers VOYAGER, VAMPIRE, VENDETTA and WATERHEN arrived in Sydney in December 1933. They're just looking particularly fresh and presentable.
POSTCRIPT: Graeme Andrews, author of the well-known book 'Ferries of Sydney,' points out that the little ferry in the foreground is Rosman's ROYAL , based in Mosman Bay, and a ferry that he remembered well as a child. Graeme finds this the best photo of her that he's seen. Graeme also mentions out that the two destroyers in the background are 'S and T' Class [ SUCCESS and TATTOO' etc]. We had thought that, but had been uncertain whether they may have been the two other V and Ws just arrived.
Photo: RAN Historical, Heritage Collection ID NO. 03370.