The University of Sydney - Sydney University Museums

2.7.1 Early Australian Stereo Photographs

Robert Hunt arrived in Sydney in 1854 and the following year took one of Australia’s earliest known outdoor stereoscopic views. His photograph of the parsonage of St. James’ Church in Sydney has the date handwritten on the bottom left of the card. However, writing on original prints can sometimes be misleading. Photographs may have been incorrectly annotated at a later date by the photographer or someone else. For instance a photograph by W.S. Jevons has the date 1860 written on it but Jevons had already left Australia by then. Usually more reliable is information which has been scratched on to the negative either by the photographer or publisher.

The stereo photograph mounted on green card was taken in Port Macquarie by Prof. John Smith. The card mounting is atypical in colour and size. The negative was either unusually small or it has been severely cropped to eliminate the dark areas caused by peripheral lens aberration. Most of the known stereo photographs Smith made during the late 1850s and the 1860s were a standard size and generally clear and well defined. Judging by the poor quality of the lens and the odd mounting it seems likely this photograph is an early example of Smith’s work.