This photograph was taken from Macquarie Street looking towards the gates on the western face of the 'Garden Palace' exhibition building. The architect James Barnet had designed the east, rather than west, face to be the main frontage. But the grandeur of this building, sketched out in a week, is still evident even from this angle. The exhibitions which first greeted visitors entering from this side were the New South Wales Court, on the left, and the Queensland and New Zealand Courts, on the right.

The Sydney International Exhibition opened the doors of its main building the 'Garden Palace' on 17 September 1879 and closed them seven months later. Many figures in colonial Sydney talked of the success of the huge project but the 1,045,898 visitors that passed through its gates were perhaps the most eloquent testimony to its triumph.

The main feature of the Sydney exhibition, like the international ones that preceded it, was an ornate building, the 'Garden Palace'. This image is from a book of albumen photographs covering the interior and exterior of this building published by Richards and Company in 1880. The 'Garden Palace' dominated the Sydney skyline for three brief years before it was destroyed by fire in 1882.

This photograph and the others associated with this album are significant as they provide us with a unique insight into the short lived magnificence of the Garden Palace before it burned to the ground. The images are also important for their relationship to the collections at the Powerhouse Museum which originated from the 1879 exhibition.

Geoff Barker, July 2009

References
Commissioners of the Sydney International Exhibition, 'Official Record of the Sydney International Exhibition1879', Thomas Richards, Government Printer, Sydney 1881
P., Proudfoot, R. Maguire, and R. Freestone (eds.), Colonial City Global City, Sydney's International Exhibition 1879, Crossing Press, Sydney, 2000

Richards and Co. were the first to win exclusive rights to photograph the exhibition but Roberts, Richards & Company's work was deemed sub-standard and their contract was ended by early 1880.

The next appointment was another similarly named firm 'Richards & Co.' who are the authors of the photographs in Official Record of the Sydney International Exhibition1879, even though some photographs of the inaugural ceremony must have been taken by the earlier company.

In the end the bulk of the photographs were of the 'Garden Palace' building and the exhibits appear to have been produced by 'Roberts and Co.'. Once the exhibition was over controls on the photographing and the Garden Palace and the other buildings became less strict and as a result other photographers began to take their own images of the buildings. These included John Paine and Charles Bayliss.

Geoff Barker, July, 2009

References
Commissioners of the Sydney International Exhibition, 'Official Record of the Sydney International Exhibition1879', Thomas Richards, Government Printer, Sydney 1881
P., Proudfoot, R. Maguire, and R. Freestone (eds.), Colonial City Global City, Sydney's International Exhibition 1879, Crossing Press, Sydney, 2000

Photographic print, mounted in album, exterior view, Macquarie Street entrance to the 1879 Sydney Exhibition 'Garden Palace' building, paper / albumen / silver, photographed by Messrs Richards and Company for the International Exhibition Commissioners, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1879-1880

A photographic print in landscape format showing the Macquarie Street entrance to the Garden Palace, the purpose built building for the Sydney International Exhibition. The central dome of the building can be seen behind an ornate turret at the front of the building. Surrounding the building is a wrought iron fence with sandstone gate posts. A horse and carriage can be seen standing at the entrance gate and gardens can be seen on either side of the gate. The photograph has been fixed on a thick cardboard page within the bound volume and is surrounded by a decorative border. The facing page provides information about the photograph.

Made: 1879 - 1880

Text on the facing page reads 'THE MACQUARIE STREET ENTRANCE TO / THE GARDEN PALACE. / In Macquarie Street, opposite the Free Public Library, is situated the prin- / cipal entrance to the Garden Palace. Following the precedent furnished / by the Paris Exhibition of 1878, no money is allowed to be taken at the gates, visitors being required to obtain their tickets previously, at any of the numerous / places where they are offered for sale in Sydney. By this means much delay / and confusion, especially on crowded days, has been avoided'.
Text on the back of the page the photograph is adhered to reads 'BY SPECIAL APPOINTMENT / [printed image of the the Garden Palace] / RICHARDS & Co / Sole Portrait & Landscape Photographers / TO / The Sydney International Exhibition / 1879'.

91/1323-3

1879 - 1880

147 mm

200 mm