Here’s one! This is not something you would normally expect to see when you attend the races. This great image comes from the David Mist photographic archive that we are highlighting on Photo of the day whilst David’s exhibition David Mist: Swinging Sydney is on until February next year. David took this photo at Randwick race course for the publication ‘Sydney, A Book of Photographs’, appearing on page 135.
David took up professional photography in the late 50s and set up a studio in London. In 1961 he came to Australia and worked prolifically in the fashion industry whilst also photographing his impressions of Sydney. He was given his first camera at the age of 13 and as a result began his life-long fascination with photography.
Photography by David Mist
© All rights reserved
Yesterday we added our 1000th image to the Commons project on Flickr including this image ‘George Street at Haymarket’ taken by Kerry and Co, c. 1884-1917. In this weeks upload we have some interesting images from Cowan Creek, Fitzroy Falls and the Hotel Australia, which was apparently knocked down to, build the MLC building. We are going to be adding another interesting collection to the Commons soon so keep an eye out for this over the next week or so.
Photography by Kerry and Co
No known copyright restrictions
This image shows Museum staff taking exercise classes back in the 80s and we have loaded this to Flickr in order to kick off a new group that our curator Peter Cox is running called Australia in the 1980s. Peter is researching the 80s for an upcoming exhibition and has decided to start the group to see content that explores Australian popular culture, lifestyle and everyday life at that time, including music, film, television, street fashion, design, technology, having fun, partying etc.
We already have over 100 members and the images are starting to flow in, including some iconic shoes, clothing, roller skates, haircuts, band posters and street scenes from the era. Peter has also started a blog of the same name which you can read here. We would love to have your feedback on his blog about what the 80s meant to you and please post your images to the group; we look forward to seeing them.
File #00225253
© All rights reserved
The photo of the P&O Wall Fountain from 1963 was taken recently for Modern Times self-guided tour of modern Sydney ..
Made by a leading Australian sculptor of the 60s, Tom Bass, it became one of the most talked-about fountains in the country in 1964 when editors of OZ magazine published a photograph of the fountain serving as a urinal on the cover of the February issue. They were subsequently sued and sentenced to jail (luckily bailed out in the end) for obscenity and encouraging public urination. Even Tom Bass’ appearance in court didn’t help their defense!
You can check out this and other OZ magazines in our collection search or read more about the P&O wall fountain in the book recently published by the Museum and Melbourne University Press “Modern times: the untold story of modernism in Australia”.
File #00z30240
Photography Sotha Bourn
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0
This great image comes from one of the members in our Modern Times group on Flickr. The composition of this image is really interesting and works well with the curves of the concrete ramp, wall and ceiling in contrast to the man walking up the on the left side of the ramp. This was taken by Flickr member vjsuperlight and he has added this note to his description:
“Taken near Kent St and Harbour Bridge on ramps in Sydney. I like the curves and the green/yellow light casts.”
If you have any images you can contribute to our group on modernism in Australia we would love you to post them.
Photography by vjsuperlight
© All rights reserved
I have been trying to find a contemporary image to match the location of this historical reproduction from our Tyrrell photographic collection for our Tyrrell Today group on Flickr. This has been difficult as I have been trying to match it up to shots of Paddy’s market until I found the street name on the side of the building, zoomed in and read ‘Pitt St’. No wonder the buildings didn’t match up because the Belmore markets were originally situated in what is now Belmore Park next to Central railway station. According to Sydney’s Century: A History the markets were situated on Pitt Street until they were moved in the early 1900s to a larger location closer to Darling Harbour railway goods yards, what is now Paddy’s Markets.
Whilst researching the markets I also came across this beautiful image titled ‘Old Belmore markets, Sydney’ by Harold Cazneaux from the National Library of Australia’s collection.
Photography by Kerry and Co, Sydney, Australia, c. 1884-1917
No known copyright restrictions
This image of the El Alamein fountain was photographed for the Sydney Modernism self-guided walking tour. One of our photographers went to all the sites featured in this pamphlet to photograph them including this fountain. The fountain is situated in the heart of Kings Cross at the corner of Darlinghurst Road and Macleay Street. It was designed by Bob Woodward who won a design competition for Fitzroy Gardens in 1958. It is a memorial to the soldiers who died during the Second World War.
You can download the walking tour from here.
File #00z30253
Photography by Sotha Bourn
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0
This image was taken when one of our photographers spent a month in China photographing the landscape and the Great Wall for a photographic immersive that featured in our exhibition The Great Wall of China: dynasties, dragons and warriors . He recalls:
“Datong is known as the most polluted city of China. The day was supposed to be sunny when we escaped from Datong to photograph a Ming Dynasty fortress for the exhibition. Instead of a sunny day, a completely grey sky had enveloped everything with a flat light. We were confronted all day with distressing sights of poverty and pollution. The Datong Daneng Charcoal Factory seems to have grown from the soil and destroyed the once majestic fortress which was used for trade with Mongolia during the Ming Dynasty.”
File #00×03740
Photography by Jean-François Lanzarone
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0
This image is the fourth one in a series by the photographer David Mist that I am highlighting at the moment on Photo of the Day. I love this shot showing a couple of men in a backstreet in Kings Cross in Sydney. It was taken with a 2 1/4 inch medium format camera back in 1969. David has shot some amazing images of Australian life and this particular one appears in the book ‘Sydney, A Book of Photographs’. David has framed this shot through an opening in a fence and has deliberately left the blurred edge in his final print. This image could have been cropped but would be a very different image if it had been. What do you think?
David’s work is currently on show in the exhibition David Mist: Swinging Sydney
Photography by David Mist
© All rights reserved
This image was taken earlier this year whilst our photographers adventured to the city to photograph some of its prominent sites.
The bronze statue of a wild boar on Macquarie Street outside the Sydney Hospital is one of several replicas of Il Porcellino sculpture made by Florentine artist Pietro Tacca in the early 17th century. We can admire and rub Il Porcellino’s snout (it is suppose to bring good luck!) thanks to the generosity of the Marchessa Clarissa Torrigiani who donated the statue to the hospital in 1968 in memory of her father Dr Thomas Fiaschi and brother Dr Piero Fiaschi, both prominent surgeons at the hospital. Sydney Il Porcellino is one of the five copies made in 1962 by the Florence foundry, Fonderia Ferdinando Marinelli.
File # 00z28744
Photography by Marinco Kojdanovski
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0
This image of George Street comes from our Tyrrell photographic collection and has been included in the ABC Sydney Sidetracks project. This is a mobile and web application that tells site-specific stories where you can explore Sydney’s history through many great archive collections. It is an interactive map of the inner city of Sydney using audio, video and photographs. You can also download a version for your mobile phone
You can read more about this project in an interview with the producer and researcher over on Fresh + New and see our historic Tyrrell images that we have contributed in this set on Flickr.
Photography by Henry King, Sydney, Australia, c. 1880-1900
No known copyright restrictions
This image comes from one of the members of our Modern Times group on Flickr . In this group we are seeking images that represent modernism in Australia from a contemporary perspective. This shot of the MLC building in Martin Place is interesting due to the way the photographer has used the reflected light in the windows to get a good exposure with the framed sections of glass adding an interesting detail to the overall image. If you have some images that you are suitable for our group we would love you to join and post them.
Photography by suburbanbloke
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
This underwater shot of North Sydney pool was taken for the photographic immersive that is currently on show in our exhibition on modernism in Australia. A few pools were photographed including this one that was designed by the architects Rudder and Grout. We hired an underwater housing for a digital SLR and our photographer spent quite a bit of time in the pool getting the shots he needed and it wasn’t summertime.
File #00z29511
Photography by Jean-Francois Lanzarone.
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0
This image is the third one I have posted from our David Mist photographic archive. This black and white image taken in 1969 shows a group of children running down the street on the corner of Weston and Darling Street in Balmain. David photographed this for the book ‘Sydney, A Book of Photographs’ and appears on page 91. David’s current exhibition David Mist: Swinging Sydney is currently on at the Museum of Sydney.
Photography by David Mist
© All rights reserved
We have uploaded a few images to our Flickr account taken in the 1980s to kick off a new group that is being run by our curator Peter Cox. Peter is developing an exhibition at the moment that will look at many aspects of Australian life from this era and has decided to run a group on Flickr to see how our audience responds to this theme. The exhibition is almost a year away and the group will provide ideas and content to showcase in the gallery. If you have any images that you would like to contribute then please join our new group: Australia in the 1980s.
This image shows staff exercise classes that were held in the museum in the 80s.
File #00225248
© All rights reserved
This image title ‘Herald Office’ was added to the Commons project on Flickr yesterday. It is attributed to Kerry and Co and was taken sometime between 1884-1917. When first looking at this busy image I noticed so many details when zooming in, including the people looking closely at the signs on the building, the time on the clock at the arched entrance and the young boy standing on the edge of the road. It wasn’t until a few days later that I noticed another detail that intrigues me. Can you see this as well? I wonder what was happening! You can use the zoom tool on our collection search to find this.
No known copyright restrictions
This is an example of one of the images from our Tyrrell Today groupon Flickr shown next to the historic image of the same location. The image on the right ‘Sailing on a Sunday morning’ was taken by magical-world, one of the members in our group. The image on the left is a reproduction from a glass plate negative titled ‘Centennial Regatta, Sydney’ and comes from our Tyrrell photographic collection. This was photographed by Henry King, Sydney, Australia, c.1880-1900.
In this group we are seeking contemporary images that match the locations of our historic Tyrrell photographs.
Sailing on a Sunday morning by magical-world
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
Centennial Regatta, Sydney has no known copyright restrictions.
This image was taken recently when Loco 3830 made a trip to the Blue Mountains along the Zig Zag railway line to Lithgow. We had two photographers go out on this trip to get some shots of the locomotive whilst it was out of the railway yard. Shooting the train was harder than anticipated because the photographers had to stake out the locations of where they would stop to get a good view before the actual day. Once the train had passed they would then have to get in the car and be at the next location before the train arrived. This proved difficult as many train enthusiasts were following the train with their cars, traveling at the same speed.
This shot shows one of our conservators shoveling coal into the furnace during this recent trip.
File #00z30523
Photography by Marinco Kojdanovski
© All rights reserved
This interesting image was taken by one of the members in our Modern times group on Flickr. This is a section of the famous Opera House that you don’t usually see when you think of its architectural details. There are a few images in our group exploring this form taken at the base of the sails.
It was photographed by Paul Hagon and this is his description of the image:
“After taking a series of photos concentrating on the sails I turned around and at the base of the sails was this lovely detail being lit up and reflected in the glass. Sometimes you’ve got to stop and see the beauty in the details rather than the big picture.”
Photography by Paul Hagon
© All rights reserved
This image comes from the David Mist photographic archive that we acquired in the 90s. This fantastic collection covers Australian life and fashion taken from the early 60s. This shot shows one of the rides at Luna Park with the Sydney Harbour Bridge framed in the background. If you remember this ride or know the name of it please send us a comment. I will be posting more of David’s great images over the coming weeks and you can see his beautiful prints at The Museum of Sydney’s exhibition David Mist: Swinging Sydney.
Photography by David Mist
© All rights reserved
