Item MM 695 Negative - Two Boys Waiting for the SS Edina Coming into Cunningham Street Pier, Geelong, Victoria, 1937

Summary

The Edina was one of the longest serving steam vessels anywhere in the world. Built on the Clyde in 1854 by Barclay, Curle & Co. she was an iron-hull single-screw steamer of 322 tons. During her early career the Edina served primarily in coastal waters around the United Kingdom, apart from brief stints as a stores ship for the Cirmean War in 1855, and as a blockade runner for the Confederate States during the American Civil War. The Edina arrived in Melbourne under sail in March 1863 and was sold to Stephen Henty for use in the coatal trade between Port Phillip and western Victorian ports. Later she served on the trans-Tasman trade to New Zealand and the Queensland coastal trade for Howard Smith, before returning to Victoria where she then served on the Melbourne-Geelong trade as a cargo-passenger vessel from 1880-1938. She later worked as the lighter Dinah before being broken up in 1958.

Description of Content

The steamship 'Edina' approaching the pier at Geelong. Two schoolboys are waiting on Cunningham Street Pier. There is a banner across the deckhouse of the 'Edina' below the bridge which reads 'SPECIAL SUNDAY EXCURSION'.