Records comprising 91 volumes of photographs of ships, organised under type of ship, or ownership, and with basic caption information. The volumes were compiled by shipping enthusiast Arthur Edwardes, using original prints if available, but most commonly copy prints.

A busy port scene with 5 ships loading wool for the domestic and international markets. By 1888 both sail and auxiliary steam-powered vessels were seen in ports around the world. Sailing vessels were still the main cargo carriers, particularly with loads of wheat and wool outbound from Australia, and carrying timber and railway iron and other bulky cargo on the inward leg. Port Augusta as the hub of activity for the northern railway line, and later the east-west railway saw many of this type of ship.

SS Port Pirie in the foreground was built in 1886 for the Anglo-Australasian Steam Navigation Company which had been founded in 1883 by William Milburn to provide a direct service from London to Australia via Antwerp. A steel screw steamer 353 feet long the vessel carried passengers on two decks on the outbound voyage. It was one of a number of vessels for Anglo-Australasian using the 'Port' designation.

Port Augusta (S. Aust)

SS Port Pirie (ship)

Anderson, R.J. Solid town: a history of Port Augusta. [Port Augusta, S. Aust.]: R.J. Anderson, 1988

Collins, Neville. The jetties of South Australia: past and present. Woodside, Neville Collins, 2005

Parsons, Ronald, Southern passages: a maritime history of South Australia Netley, S. Aust.: Wakefield Press, 1986

State Library of South Australia: Mortlock Wing exhibitions. Wooden Walls and Iron Sides August 2004-