File:Passengers and ocean steamer, Port Adelaide c1902(GN02003).jpg

Large steamers came and went from Port Adelaide wharves and the Largs Bay anchorage in the early twentieth century, carrying passengers, mail and cargo to and from the eastern states and Western Australia, and to London via various ports.

The original title of this image was originally labelled 'Birkenhead wharf - crowd of people on wharf and ship docked alongside'. It shows a crowd of people - men women and children - on the wharf, some with hand luggage, as well as passengers on the ship's deck. Ocean steamers berthed at other wharves besides Birkenhead or the anchorage at Largs Bay (to which passengers and luggage where ferried from shore). The date of the image, given as 1 January 1902, suggests that the vessel may well have been the steamship Wilcannia, which departed Adelaide on or around 2 January 1902, bound for Cape Town and London. The 5000 ton Wilcannia, built in 1899, was one of the 'new full-powered fast Steamers' operated by Lund's Blue Anchor line. The line advertised 'Excellent accommodation for passengers' (Register, 2 January 1902, p1). A coal fire on board the Wilcannia in Melbourne in late December briefly delayed its departure from Adelaide (Register, 1 January 1902, p4).