[3] Leaving Liverpool on 21 April 1926 and captained by W Manning with a crew of 16, she sailed the 12,000 miles to Sydney under own steam in ninety days.

Upon leaving Malta, she lost her anchor and collided with a lighter causing some damage to her upper works but she was able to continue.

[4][8] She had encountered heavy weather after leaving Townsville and she was brought inside Cape Moreton to allow loose bolts to be checked and tightened.

[4] 30 miles south of Point Lookout, Stradbroke Island her fore peak was found to be full of water.

[3] Kalang was built to serve the busy Fort Macquarie to Milsons Point vehicular ferry route prior to the 1932 opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

[15][16] In October 1942, she steamed up the Australian east coast, stopping at Brisbane, Rockhampton, Townsville, and Cairns, before crossing the Coral Sea to Samarai.

[16] The under-surface of her flat bow, designed for her original use as a vehicular ferry, magnified the impact of large waves.

[15] Following the end of the war, Kalang was converted back to a show boat at the State Dockyards in Stockton in 1947 to essentially her pre-war showboat configuration.

[16][17] She became a familiar sight again on the harbour, especially at night as her passengers danced to the band on her large ballroom floor, enjoyed the cabaret shows, or canoodled on the upper deck.

Rising costs (she required a crew of 25 including catering staff) and decreasing business saw her laid up with her last run as Kalang on Saturday 9 March 1959.

[18] Unrealised plans for her future included using her as a floating restaurant, an off-shore casino, and as ferry in Hong Kong.

[18] Sydney Queen, along with former running mates, car ferries Koondooloo and Kooroongabba, and the Lurgerena of Hobart, was sold to Stuart White of Gold Fields Metal Traders in November 1971.

Polaris was forced to anchor in Trial Bay, near Kempsey, to carry out repairs, at which point the three ferries went ashore one after the other over several days.

Futile attempts were made to pull them off the beach, however, they remained stuck fast and the sea quickly broke up the lighter superstructures.