Powerhouse Museum - Photo of the Day

Acrobatics

2010-03-11T04:03:46Z

This photograph was taken by the Museum’s photographer Marinco Kojdanovski back in 2006. It shows an acrobat from the The Flying Fruit Fly Circus. The group was performing at the Museum in January 2006 at the opening of The Great Wall of China: dynasties, dragons and warriors exhibition and the associated holiday program. “Teetering on the Wall” was a show developed especially for the exhibition, with many of its acts drawing on the ancient Chinese circus tradition.

Photography by Marinco Kojdanovski
© All rights reserved

Bruno’s Roman Holiday

2010-03-10T01:13:49Z

In this fashion photograph Italian model Carla Baldaracchi wears a bold Post-WWII modernist summer frock by Ninette of Melbourne. (Perhaps the man on the left was the photographer’s scout – the person who managed to secure the location for the shot?) The photograph presents an ambitious scenario, capturing both the fashion, and the orchestra pit and the elaborate operatic stage set of the Baths of Caracalla, ancient Roman ruins of the lavish thermal baths built for Emperor Caracalla between AD 212 and 217 which were used for outdoor operatic performances during Spring and Summer. Here Melbourne-based Australian photographer Bruno Benini (born 1925, migrated to Australia from the medieval city of Massa Marittima in Tuscany, Italy in 1935, died Melbourne 2001) places Australian fashion centre stage! It’s a remarkable shot as it not only evokes the globetrotting or ‘vacation’ style that became popular in fashion photography during the 1950s, but also captures the photographer’s Italian heritage and his interest in history and opera. Furthermore, it hints at the cinematic influence of fashionable films like Funny Face (1957) and Roman Holiday (1953).

Interestingly, Benini’s maternal grandfather was an Etruscan archaeologist. Perhaps he left a binding youthful impression on Benini as a boy, as many of the negatives in the Benini photography archive show Australian fashion shot against ancient settings. This particular shot was taken during Benini’s ‘round the world’ trip in 1958 when he travelled to New York and London, visiting family in Italy and shooting photographs of Australian fashion in and around Rome on both Italian and Australian models.

The Benini archive was acquired by the Powerhouse Museum with funding assistance from the Australian Government through the National Cultural Heritage Account in 2009. A Benini exhibition is currently being developed for the 2010 Sydney Design Festival. Keep an eye on the Curatorial blog as curators reveal more treasures from the Benini archive.

Photography by Bruno Benini
© Estate of Bruno Benini
Post by Anne-Marie Van de Ven, Curator

Water Colour Section, No. 1, National Art Gallery, Sydney, N.S.W.

2010-03-08T00:36:03Z

New South Wales has one of the best water-colour collections in the world…[I]t represents most of the water-colour painters of the more modern British School…The two eastern colonies have committees of selection in London, and it is through these bodies the colonies have secured some of the most famous pictures which adorn their galleries…In the Sydney gallery…there are works from the French, the Belgian, the German, the Italian, the Spanish, the Austrian, the Bavarian and the Swedish schools…A bullock team on the Darling Downs is as worthy a thing to paint as an English wheatfield; Govett’s Leap lends itself to stately power as much as the Highlands of Scotland; and there are tints in the skies of the South, and colours on the shores of Australian seas, as full of beauty as any that ever rose before the eye of a master.

Gilbert Parker, Round the Compass in Australia, Hutchinson, London, 1892, pp.429-31, 437

Early in the twentieth Henry King was commissioned by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, (then known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales) to photograph its major works. The Powerhouse Museum Tyrrell Collection includes 1,334 photographs by Henry King.

Photography by Henry King. Tyrrell Collection
No known copyright restrictions

Newcastle Annual Show, 1940

2010-03-09T05:53:52Z

This certificate photograph shows a display of Sunrise Eggs at the Annual Show in Newcastle. It’s dated February 1940. The stall is decorated with advertisements produced by the New South Wales Egg Marketing Board:

From scientifically – fed hens. Tested for freshness. Graded for size and weight…and branded. You get new laid eggs perfect for eating and cooking in the new orange and blue carton.

By the end of the nineteenth century most people in Australia kept a few fowls for home use. Chickens needed a chicken coop or house in which to lay and sit on their eggs, where they were shut up at night, safe from predators, such as foxes. The chickens fed on kitchen scraps and spare grains, and any seeds, insects or the morsel they could find in the yard.

At this time there was still no attempt at commercial poultry farming. Even in the first decades of the twentieth century the few commercial egg producers were a novelty and their production was considered a hazardous livelihood. Vet Science was yet to become involved in the industry, facilities were primitive and methods of husbandry trial-and-error. Nevertheless, as the population of cities increased egg production grew with farms being located close to the suburbs to ensure fresh first-grade “Suburban new-laid eggs”. Eggs which arrived from country areas were stale or of unreliable quality.

During the economic depression of the 1930s egg production increased as large numbers of the unemployed took up poultry farming. Controlled egg production increased during the Second World War so too did the importance and relevance of the Egg Marketing Board. Scientific breeding, improved poultry nutrition and the introduction of the inhumane cage system further increased production by the 1960s.

Newcastle Annual Show certificate photograph, 1940
No known copyright restrictions
Post by Margaret Simpson, Curator

What’s in the workshop #9

2010-03-09T01:09:15Z

Put a plug in it!

Have you ever bought one of those ‘one size fits all’ plugs? only to go home and find that you have been sold a lie, the plug doesn’t quite do the job.

Well believe it or not, the objects in the photo above are actually plugs, and guaranteed to fit the job they were designed for! Well they are not quite plugs, rather they are patterns for plugs that fit the bottom of the boiler of a 38 locomotive. As you may know, we have a 38 locomotive (3830) and whilst restoring it at the Eveleigh workshop the team salvaged these plug patterns, so that new plugs for the boiler could be cast

Why are they in the workshop?

The Museum was recently contacted by the owner of the 3801 locomotive, which is being restored. Their boiler is currently being remade in Germany, and a ‘one size fits all’ plug will just not do!. They have asked us for these plug patterns to be sent to them so that they can make perfectly fitting plugs for the boiler.

Photography and post by Erika Dicker, Assistant Curator
© All rights reserved

German Arch

2010-03-08T22:51:17Z

On 1 January Sydney celebrated Australia becoming a Federation by hosting a grand procession through its streets. Erected on the corner of Park and College Street the Federation ‘German Arch’ was the point where the procession turned to make their way to Centennial Park. Funded by the German citizens of Sydney it was designed by C. Mullen and was 16.2 metres high and 13.2 metres wide. At its apex was a representation of an eagle over 2.4 metres high and 4.2 metres wide and weighing over 250 kilograms.

No known copyright restrictions
Post by Geoff Barker, Assistant Curator

International Women’s Day

2010-03-06T23:48:24Z

Each year around the world, International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8 to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women.

This photograph shows women from the Save Our Sons group protesting against conscription during the Vietnam war. SOS was established in Sydney in 1965 and mostly comprised women whose sons were old enough to be subject to national service.

Photography in all its forms influenced public opinion about the war and photographs like this one captured that process of change as these women followed the example of other groups and took their message to the streets.

Photographer David Mist wrote of this tumultuous time in his 1969 publication, ‘Sydney, a book of photographs’:

Protest is becoming a part of life in Sydney. Trade unions, peace groups, religious organisations and students march to demonstrate their causes.

Photography by David Mist
© All rights reserved

The station collies

2010-03-06T03:55:15Z

In the 1890s, Sydney photographer Charles Kerry introduced his ‘Squatters’ Service’, travelling by train and horseback to homesteads all over New South Wales. Negatives were developed on the spot, contact prints shown to the client and orders taken that were later filled from Sydney. Many of the images were also made available to the public for purchase from the Kerry studio.

This man clearly considered the station’s collie dogs important enough to be included in his portrait photograph. Collies were working dogs; intelligent, energetic and generally used for herding sheep. They were also favoured by Queen Victoria, who had a pet collie called Sharp. The royal patronage that made the dogs fashionable as companion animals may also have raised the status of working collies such as these.

In contrast to many of the distinctively Australian rural images produced by the Kerry studio, this photograph, due to the man’s clothing, the wet ground and the overcast weather, has a curiously European atmosphere.

Photography by Kerry & Co. Tyrrell Collection
No known copyright restrictions.

Visitor photography: Flickr group highlight

2010-03-05T20:36:37Z

Watching Windows, originally uploaded by Erik K Veland.

This wonderful and creative image was taken by one of the members in our group on Flickr, Me and the Powerhouse Museum . This group on Flickr is a place for our visitors to share the images they take whilst visiting the Museum. This particular shot was taken by Erik K Veland whilst he was visiting the Museum in 2007. We recently posted another great image on Photo of the Day that he had shared to the group titled ‘light experiment’.

If you are visiting the Museum we would love you to share your photos of your experience in our group on Flickr.

Photography by Erik K Veland
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic

Aviary Avenue, Botanic Gardens, Sydney

2010-03-06T03:47:46Z

This photograph, by Henry King, shows the aviary that was situated in Sydney’s Botanic Gardens from 1856 until 1940. The initial bird collection included cockatoos, parrots, pigeons, sparrows, finches, Chinese pheasants, ducks, quails, English skylarks, blackbirds, thrushes and a black macaw. Although difficult and expensive to maintain, (many of the birds died, escaped or were stolen), the aviary was a popular attraction.

In this careful composition King uses architecture as a framing device and extended depth of field to create a sense of perspective. Two figures, a man positioned midway and a woman with an umbrella near the end of the avenue, help to draw the viewer’s eye into the image and to give scale to their surroundings.

Many of King’s best known views of Sydney date from the 1880s and by 1890 his work was held in high regard throughout the colonies. Melbourne photographer John William Lindt stated in print on his letterhead of 1891: ‘Sole Agents for Henry King’s celebrated views of New South Wales.’

The Powerhouse Museum Tyrrell collection includes 1,334 photographs by Henry King.

Photography by Henry King. Tyrrell Collection.
No known copyright restrictions.

Making a road: creating infrastructure

2010-03-03T05:42:04Z

A century or more ago, building roads was a time-consuming business. Bullock teams hauled stone road rollers one way, then the other, to compact the earth. Corrugations on the rollers maximised the pressure.

Infrastructure like roads is very important to the wellbeing of a society. In Australia goods are often transported by road across the country. However, wear and tear caused by heavy vehicles means roads need constant, expensive maintenance. Rail could offer a good alternative as fuel prices rise and road transport becomes more costly.

Photography by Henry King Studio
No known copyright restrictions
Post by Sandra McEwen, Principal Curator

The Wolgan Valley Railway

2010-03-01T05:25:37Z

Continuing on the theme of trains – the above photo from the Tyrrell collection depicts a section of the Wolgan Valley railway, a private line built to transport shale oil and other products from the mines and refinery in the Wolgan Valley at Newnes up to the Main Western Railway line on the ridge top at Newnes Junction, 8 km east of Lithgow, NSW. The line was built in 1907 by J.D. Simpson to the design of Henry Deane (1847-1924) and operated by the Commonwealth Oil Corporation. The line featured tunnels, sharp bends and steep cliffs and special Shay steam locomotives were required to operate on it. Passengers as well as freight made the hair-raising journey. The line closed in 1932 and the track was removed in 1943. The route of the old railway can still be seen, both by car up to one of the tunnels and then on foot.

Detailed history of the construction of the line can be found in Deane’s paper “The Wolgan Valley Railway – its construction”, originaly presented to the Sydney University Engineering Society in 1910 and later reproduced in a book published by the Australian Railway Historical Society in 1979 and subsequently reprinted in 2004. Kerry’s postcard depicting the same location is on the cover of the book and bears the following caption:

Some of the problems in constructing the Wolgan Valley Railway are evident in this early photo. Here, a Newnes-bound train passes under the cliffs as the line enters the Wolgan Valley. The cliffs have been undercut and the rubble added to the already existing steep talus slope, making just enough room for the railway.

Photography by Kerry & Co, Tyrrell collection
No known copyright restrictions
Post by Iwona Hetherington and Margaret Simpson, Curator

Trainspotting competition

2010-03-01T03:23:21Z

There is only four weeks left to enter our photography competition Trainspotting. All entries have to be either posted to Flickr or sent in by post by the 31st of March. For your chance to win one of our prizes you can enter images into six categories including: steam trains, diesel electric or electric trains, night shot, railway infrastructure, trainspotting and railway workers. Our group on Flickr, dedicated to photography competitions, has so far received over 600 entries and we are enjoying going through these daily.

This night shot was taken by our photographer Marinco Kojdanovski in July last year and shows Locomotive 3265 steam trial at Eveleigh railway workshop.

Photography by Marinco Kojdanovski
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

Australian Waratahs

2010-03-02T03:21:24Z

This photograph, because it is black and white, draws the viewer’s attention to the structural characteristics of these large and exotic flowers usually noted for their rich red colour. The fine details of the plants are further emphasised by the wide tonal range of the glass plate negative and the tightly framed composition.

The waratah (Telopea speciosissima) was named by Robert Brown in 1810 from specimens he collected in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. Sir James Smith, botanist and founder of the Linnaean Society in England called the waratah, ‘the most magnificent plant which the prolific soil of New Holland affords.’

R.T. Baker, director of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences from 1898-1921, argued the case for the waratah as the floral emblem of Australia in an article titled, ‘The Majestic Waratah’, in the Sydney Morning Herald on September 24, 1910. The waratah was proclaimed the official floral emblem of New South Wales on October 24, 1962.

The waratah was among the most popular Australian floral motifs adopted by artists and designers, Lucien Henry among them, in the late nineteenth century. The Powerhouse Museum holds a significant collection of objects incorporating waratahs, some of which can be viewed on the Powerhouse Museum collection index.

Photography by Kerry & Co, Tyrrell collection.
No known copyright restrictions.

Lillian Wightman

2010-02-24T22:58:22Z

This striking, dramatically lit portrait photograph is of Lillian Wightman, the founder of Melbourne high – class, Parisian – style fashion house Le Louvre. It was taken in 1974 by the distinguished fashion photographer Bruno Benini; at that time Lillian Wightman was 71 years old. The image stands out from the extensive collection of Benini’s photographs acquired by the Museum last year, with the vast majority of them dedicated to capturing models’ youth and beauty.

Tyrrell Today highlight

2010-02-23T03:01:20Z

Photography by irvinj
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Photography by Kerry and Co
No known copyright restrictions

This image titled ‘Cook Monument, Kurnell’ was taken by one of the members in our Tyrrell Today group on Flickr. This group is a place for our members to post their contemporary versions to match the locations of our historic images in the Tyrrell Collection. Our image titled ‘’Capt. Cook’s Monument, Kurnell’, Kerry and Co, Sydney, Australia, c. 1884-1917’ was taken by Kerry and Co. Our databse states:

‘This photographic negative is one of 2900 Kerry & Co. photographs in the Powerhouse Museum’s ‘Tyrrell Collection’ once owned by Sydney bookseller, James Tyrrell. Almost all of these negatives are 21.5 x 20.3 cm (10 x 8 inch) glass plates and many of those now held by the Powerhouse Museum collection would have been used to create postcards. In addition to the Kerry & Co. Studio images, the Tyrrell Collection at the Powerhouse Museum includes glass plate negatives published by Henry King and a number of other negatives by unattributed photographers’

Watering sheep in the interior: relying on underground supplies

2010-02-22T05:48:11Z

Until the 1880s sheep could only be grazed in areas where there was lots of surface water- in rivers and dams, for example. The first of many bores was sunk into the Great Artesian Basin near Bourke in 1878. It tapped a reliable, underground source of water and so opened up the arid north-west of NSW to graziers.

By bringing water to the surface, settlers provided water for wildlife as well. As a result kangaroo populations in some arid regions are very much higher today than they were 100 years ago.

Photography by Charles Kerry Studio
No known copyright restrictions
Post by Sandra McEwen, Principal Curator

Park rules

2010-02-22T05:45:20Z

This photograph from the Tyrrell collection, titled Hyde Park, shows some early 20th century Sydneysiders enjoying a concert of the kind that was usually organised by the City Council. There is a power pole visible in the middle ground on the right hand side of the picture and light bulbs are suspended from the roof of the bandstand indicating that the photograph was taken sometime after Hyde Park was provided with electrical illumination in November 1905. The Council paid military and civilian bands to perform in the Park and it was reported that there were sometimes as many as 10,000 attendees on fine evenings. The entertainment was, however, occasionally disrupted by gangs of roughs and larrikins.

Although they look innocent enough, a few of the people in this photograph may have been flouting Park regulations. It was forbidden to lie on the grass in Hyde Park, a measure designed to discourage ‘loafers’, a derogatory term that was used for those perceived to be unemployed and homeless by choice.

Other activities that were not permitted in the Park at this time included: bathing, washing, hanging washing out to dry, snaring birds, climbing trees, betting, casual games, playing musical instruments and singing.

There are at least two other photographs of the same event in the Tyrrell collection: The Bandstand, Hyde Park and Hyde Park.

Photography by Kerry & Co.
No known copyright restrictions.

Commonwealth Arch

2010-02-23T02:59:58Z

On 1 January Sydney celebrated Australia becoming a Federation by hosting a grand procession through its streets. Erected at the intersection of Park and Elizabeth Streets was the Federation ‘Commonwealth Arch’ (also referred to as the ‘Citizens Arch’). It was the largest and most expensive arch in the celebrations and was constructed by Hudson and Son under the supervision of its designer, Varney Parkes, son of the late Henry Parkes. The entire structure appeared to be made from marble but was in fact constructed using ‘bagesse’ plaster, a new process patented by Taylor and Knox.

No known copyright restrictions
Post by Geoff Barker, Assistant Curator

Visitor photography: Flickr group highlight

2010-02-22T20:41:38Z

Originally uploaded by Familiar.

This simple but wonderfully graphic image was taken by one of our visitors who has added this to our new group on Flickr Me and the Powerhouse Museum. This image shows the roof space above our Inspired! design across time exhibition that is located opposite the foyer as you enter the Museum. This great shot has highlighted the curve and lines of the roof structure but also some of the graphic architectural features painted red and white that have been designed specifically for this gallery.