The University of Sydney - Sydney University Museums

The most striking characteristics of the views are the brilliancy of the lights, the sharpness of the outlines, and the clearness of the minutest points; thus accurately displaying not only the actual objects, but also the intense transparency of the Australian atmosphere. The remoter parts of the landscape, such as the North Shore and the harbour scenery, with the ships at anchor are remarkably distinct; while the architecture of the houses in Macquarie Street is produced with almost stereoscopic effect.
Sydney Morning Herald, 1 May 1859

4.1: In A New Light

Although the bright sun and clear atmosphere of Australia should have encouraged outdoor photography, commercial photographers found it difficult to sell anything except local portraits. Throughout the 1840s people seemed unwilling to part with the pound it cost for a daguerreotype, unless it was their own or a relative’s face that was etched on to the silver.

Talbot's and Daguerre’s patent restrictions, the unreliability of chemicals and papers which had sat in a ship’s hold for three months, and the small population kept the costs of photography high and the number of photographers low. Because of this almost all known examples of Australian photography from this period are commercial portraits.

In the 1850s British interest in stereo photography, particularly outdoor views, was quickly followed in Australia. During the 1850s, cities and towns boomed and amateurs and professionals set about photographing Australian streetscapes and landscapes, often using the stereo camera so well suited to outdoor work.

Commercial stereo photographers like William Hetzer were often journalistic in their approach and catalogued buildings and streets that typified the expanding colony. Non commercial operators like Robert Hunt aligned themselves with the British amateur tradition concentrating on picturesque stereo views or items of scientific or antiquarian interest. Whatever their interests their stereo photographs remain some of the earliest views of Australian towns and the surrounding countryside

4.2 Commercial Photographers

As early as 1852 D. T. Kilburn was demonstrating stereo photography in Hobart and by 1854 Freeman Brothers were exhibiting examples of stereo daguerreotypes at their George Street studios in Sydney.

Stereo photography became an attractive alternative for commercial operators and although they continued to take portraits, some found there was a market for outdoor stereo photographs as well.

William Hetzer was one of the first to produce a series of stereographic pictures of Sydney and in 1858 he published a set of 36 views, increasing this number to 100 by December 1859. Although Hetzer stopped producing stereo views by 1863, other professionals, such as Samuel Clifford and Alexander Brodie, continued producing them in Melbourne and Tasmania as well as Sydney.

Making money from local stereo photographs remained difficult due to competition from local retailers who by the end of the 1850s were selling large numbers of stereo photographs imported from overseas. In 1859, the publisher J. R. Clarke was offering 3000 stereo views for sale and by 1860 J. Ferguson of George Street, Sydney, claimed to have 20,000 stereo views on offer.

4.3 Australian Amateurs

Throughout the 1840s a there was a small group of Australian’s who modelled their activities on those of the amateur societies in Britain, particularly in Hobart and Sydney. Yet although photography would have been a great aid in documenting their scientific and artistic interests few appear to have taken up what was sometimes referred to as the ‘Black Art’.

This changed in the 1850s as Australians followed English trends and adopted the collodion process, albumen prints and outdoor stereo photography. By 1859 lectures were being held at the Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts to encourage people to become amateur photographers, and detailed accounts of the photographic process were published in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Australian amateurs took larger format photographs but many favoured the stereo photograph for its suitability for outdoor work and its ease of use. They photographed their families and friends, at home and on picnics, but they also produced views which reveal their scientific interests and understanding of English picturesque conventions.

In the 1860s amateur photographers in Australia appear to have followed their British counterparts and gave up stereo photography. Even professional interest in it had waned by the late 1870s.

4.4 Instantaneous Images of George St., Sydney

In the late 1850s and early 1860s William Hetzer sett up his camera to take full advantage of the straight lines and perspective of the street. Using the new collodion glass plates he also experimented with the stereo photograph’s then novel ability to capture instantaneous scenes.

About 1859 Hetzer published a photographic series titled ‘Sydney and Environs’. Two of these were views of George Street from the same viewpoint. One of these captured the hustle and bustle of George Street with people carefully placed along the length of the street talking. It even includes someone on a ladder setting up a shop awning. Yet while all these people maintained their poses the long exposure time of this image has also captured the movement of a person walking across the street. It seems someone spoiled Hetzer’s carefully constructed scene, or did they?

In the second photograph George Street is now deserted. Its lack of action and static nature (except for a slightly blurred figure in the foreground) implies Hetzer may have used this photograph to highlight the instantaneous nature of the first photograph. When we look at the first image closely we can see the street has a number of blurry areas indicating the movement of people. It seems that Hetzer deliberately captured the blurred figure moving across the street while other people maintained static poses. This amplified the sense of action.

4.5 Photographing Antiquities

Antiquarian subjects such as ancient monuments, cathedrals, graveyards, castles, and bridges were all popular subjects amongst amateur photographers in England. Their popularity was partly due to the Victorians enthusiasm for the picturesque, which fostered some of these subjects, but amateurs added subjects relevant to their scholarly interests in the sciences and Britain’s past.

Even with a marked lack of ancient buildings Australian amateurs still sought out antiquarian subjects. In Tasmania the misty atmosphere and vegetation was well suited to the English styles of photography. Samuel Clifford’s stereo views of the rock formations at Mt. Wellington and Morton Allport’s studies of tree ferns are similar to those made in Britain.

However, for the most part Australia did not lend itself to romantic nostalgia. Australia’s clear bright atmosphere allowed highly detailed photographers to be taken, rather than misty atmospheric ones. John Sharp’s photograph of the surgeon J. Smith’s bush grave seems to document the hardships of colonial life rather than to romanticise the past.

While this added to the documentary quality of photographs it also made it difficult to create the atmospheric effects popular in England. Instead of decaying abbeys and castles overrun by nature, Robert Hunt’s photograph of the neo-gothic church at Cobbity highlights its alien shimmer and isolation from the surrounding landscape.