Australia

Vintage: Historic views of Melbourne (1800s)

Vintage: Historic views of Melbourne (1800s)

The decade of the 1880s was one of extraordinary growth, when consumer confidence, easy access to credit, and steep increases in the price of land, led to an enormous amount of construction. This ‘land boom’ was followed by a severe economic crash in the early 1890s which lasted until the end of the century. During the boom, Melbourne had reputedly…
Vintage Glass Plate images of Streets from Sydney City (1900s)

Vintage Glass Plate images of Streets from Sydney City (1900s)

The year 1840 was the final year of convict transportation to Sydney, which by this time had a population of 35,000. The municipal council of Sydney was incorporated in 1842 and became Australia’s first city.Gold was discovered in the colony in 1851 and with it came thousands of people seeking to make money. Sydney’s population reached 200,000 by 1871. Following…
Biography: Pictorial photographer Harold Cazneaux

Biography: Pictorial photographer Harold Cazneaux

Harold Cazneaux (1878 – 1953) was an Australian pictorialist photographer; a pioneer whose style had an indelible impact on the development of Australian photographic history. Cazneaux moved to Sydney in 1904 and worked in Freeman & Co. Ltd’s studio, becoming manager and chief operator. On 1 September 1905 at Lewisham he married Mabel Winifred Hodge. In his leisure time he…
Vintage Glass Plate negatives of workers and the machinery they manufactured (1900s)

Vintage Glass Plate negatives of workers and the machinery they manufactured (1900s)

Almost all of the glass plate negatives in the Clyde photograph collection were taken at the Clyde works in Granville, and depict both the workers and the machinery they manufactured. Subjects covered include: railway locomotives and rolling stock; agricultural equipment; large engineering projects funded by Australian State and Federal governments; airplane maintenance and construction and Clyde’s contribution to the first…
Glass Plate Female Mugshots from Australia

Glass Plate Female Mugshots from Australia

In 1990 the Historic Houses Trust rescued a remarkable collection of NSW Police forensic photographs from a flooded warehouse in Lidcombe. Created between 1912 and 1964, the archive contains approximately 130,000 glass plate negatives depicting crime scenes, police activities, forensic evidence and mug shots and may be the biggest police photography collection in the southern hemisphere. The Historic Houses Trust…
Vintage Glass Plate negatives of workers and the machinery they manufactured (1900s)

Vintage Glass Plate negatives of workers and the machinery they manufactured (1900s)

Almost all of the glass plate negatives in the Clyde photograph collection were taken at the Clyde works in Granville, and depict both the workers and the machinery they manufactured. Subjects covered include: railway locomotives and rolling stock; agricultural equipment; large engineering projects funded by Australian State and Federal governments; airplane maintenance and construction and Clyde’s contribution to the first…
Vintage: Motor Racing from the 1920s-30s

Vintage: Motor Racing from the 1920s-30s

Donald James Harkness, pioneer in the Australian automotive and aeronautical industries, racing driver and record breaker, was born in Leichhardt, NSW in December 1898. On leaving school he became an apprentice in general engineering. At the age of 20 he secured employment at J.C. Hillier’s garage at Drummoyne and in 1922 the partnership of Harkness & Hillier Pty Ltd was…
Roy Repp and his Stunt Car

Roy Repp and his Stunt Car

Roy Repp was an Australian stunt driver. One of his stunt cars was Maude the Motor Mule. For this car, he would pull a lever, and a heavy weight beneath the car moves forward or backward to shift the center of gravity and makes the car rear up on its hind wheels or front wheels.   via Library of Congress