Herbert Street, Gulgong, 1872:
[Photo: State Library of NSW]
The Gold Rush of the 1870s in New South Wales and Victoria, as documented in the Holtermann Collection, and newly digitised at the NSW State Library (via):
In 1951, a hoard of 3,500 glass plate negatives from the nineteenth century was discovered in a garden shed in Chatswood. In time, the find proved to be the most important photographic documentation of goldfields life in Australia.
The photographers responsible for the images were Beaufoy Merlin and Charles Bayliss of the American and Australasian Photographic Company, who had travelled to the town of Hill End in 1872 to record the rush. From there, they also recorded the burgeoning Gulgong and Mudgee goldfields.
In October 1872, the world’s largest specimen of reef gold, known as the Holtermann nugget, was unearthed at nearby Hawkins Hill and Merlin and Bayliss were there to record it.
In an extraordinary act of patronage, the newly rich Bernhardt Otto Holtermann used some of his wealth to employ Merlin and Bayliss to photograph other gold producing areas and cities in NSW and Victoria for exhibition overseas. Proud of his own success, he believed that his travelling exposition would encourage immigration to Australia....
In 2008, plans were made to digitally scan the Holtermann Collection at very high resolution and this became reality through the generous assistance of the Graham and Charlene Bradley Foundation; Simon and Catriona Mordant; Geoffrey and Rachel O’Conor; Morningstar and numerous other benefactors.
For the first time in 140 years, it is possible to see what Merlin and Bayliss photographed, with astonishing clarity and fidelity.
Eeeeee! There's a disembodied human head in the center of the street! He's looking down, and he has a little tuft of gray/black hair on his forehead. The black dog is sniffing it. Get it out of there!
Posted by: Dom | February 25, 2013 at 01:08 PM
What can I say? Those were tough times.
Posted by: Mick H | February 25, 2013 at 06:13 PM