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Great White Fleet at the Sydney Cricket Ground

This silver gelatin print features celebrations held at the Sydney Cricket Ground during the celebrations of the American Great White Fleet visit to Sydney in 1908. The image features the ground filled with performers and a large audience.

 

In December 1907 United States President Theodore Roosevelt sent the US Atlantic Battle Fleet of 16 battleships, all painted white in peacetime colours, on a 14 month goodwill cruise around the world. The voyage came at a time of tense relations between Japan and America and gave the US an opportunity to demonstrate its blue-water naval capabilities as well as strengthen diplomatic ties. The fleet arrived in Australia on 20 August 1908.

 

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Object number 00050213

 

 

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Uploaded on August 17, 2012
Taken in August 1908