Photo of the Day

This photograph, from an unattributed studio,  may have been a publicity photograph for a theatre production or could be an example of the genre of tableau vivant, in which the subjects of the photograph play roles like actors on a stage. The genre linked photography to painting and theatre in the days before moving film, exploiting the potential of the photographic image as a performance space. The keyhole shaped mount suggests that the photograph was intended for reproduction as a postcard.

Photography by unattributed studio, Tyrrell Collection: 85/1286-888

No known copyright restrictions

This photograph taken in 1932 features the technical staff of the Public Works Department and our collection database reveals who is in this photograph:

Back row – left to right: A. McSweeney (draughtsman), A. H. Kemp (draughtsman), E. B. Mills (draughtsman), H. S Owen (draughtsman), W. G. R. Gilfillan (draughtsman), J. E. Kinder (draughtsman), F. J. Dodd (draughtsman), P. F. Stewart (draughtsman), W. Shepard (foreman in charge), R. K. E. Woodhouse (supervising engineer), P. G. Clark (draughtsman)

Middle Row – left to right: H. B. Fitzgerald (supervising enigneer), R. R. Smith (draughtsman), A. W. Thomas (draughtsman), G. F. Gilbert (draughtsman), N. J. Butler (draughtsman), H. N. Davies (draughtsman), A. W. Thomas (draughtsman), V. G. Molony (draughtsman), R. S. Sutherland (draughtsman), G. A. Gowling (draughtsman), T. Preston (draughtsman), J. A. Stuart (draughtsman), G. B. Hetherington (supervising engineer)

Front Row – left to right: J. A. Holt (supervising engineer), J. E. Dryden (supervising engineer), G. A. Stuckey (designing engineer), F. R. Litchfield (supervising engineer), W. H. Roper (supervising engineer), Miss E. M. Bowker (clerk), Dr. J. J. C. Bradfield (chief engineer), Miss N. Gors (stenographer), R. J. Butler (supervising engineer), W. H. Lush (designing engineer), W. R. Carroll (supervising engineer), S. C. Robertson (draughtsman), H. A. Peach (draughtsman),G. E. K. Pitt (draughtsman)

This photo is one of  191 taken from the original negatives produced as a part of the Public Works Department program to document the various stages of the construction of the City Railway and Sydney Harbour Bridge. All the original images were taken between 1922 and 1932. While individual photographs were taken by different photographers, they all worked under the supervision of Robert Bowden, at the Public Works Department.

Screenshot from Historypin

This is a photograph of Frank Burge on the training field at Harrogate in Yorkshire during the 1921 Kangaroo tour.

Playing football was not the only thing that the Australian rugby league team did during their stay in England. On their days off they acted like the tourists they were. They played golf, went to the theatre, visited Scotland and made a pilgrimage to the George Hotel in Huddersfield, Rugby League’s most sacred site, where in 1895 England’s northern Rugby clubs invented the game by voting to secede from the Union and form their own independent and professional League. At one point some members of the touring party (though not Frank), even went to visit a former First World War battlefield in Belgium, the site of the grave of Paddy Bugden, an Australian soldier, posthumous Victoria Cross winner and prominent rugby league player who was killed there in 1917.

Somewhere, there are some digitised copies of photographs from the battlefield visit, so I Googled them because I thought I might be able to reference them here. However, the result of my first search (with prompts like ‘1921’ and ‘Kangaroos’) was both unexpected and uncomfortable. Because the first image to appear was actually a picture of me, holding Frank’s tour photo album up to the camera, open for all to see. This shouldn’t have been so surprising, it was the companion image from the first post in this series, but the experience was a little uncanny, like suddenly being in hall of mirrors: I hadn’t expected a mouse click to reflect myself back at me. And to complete this circle, the album image from that first post, of Frank and the rest of the team on the training field in Harrogate, also came up, as if to mimic this single image of Frank posing in the very same place.

This set me thinking about the whole question of exposure. Would Frank really want this picture of himself — daringly, wantonly exposed as he is given the generally straight-laced climate of the 1920s — to be placed in a forum that would allow him to be seen by anyone, at any time, anywhere in the world? And that’s a question I can’t answer. Except to note that, even though this photograph was not made for this kind of public display, Frank was clearly something of an exhibitionist. What, after all, is the professional footballer if not a professional exhibitionist?

Reading this image now, at a time when hysterically overexposed depictions of the human body surround us throughout all our waking hours, there appears nothing awkward about the object on display here: an unclothed man flexing his muscles. If anything, the most notable fact is a purely technical one: once again, this body is substantially different from that possessed by the average contemporary rugby league player; in his day, Frank, known by the moniker ‘Chunky’, was one of the biggest and strongest footballers going around, yet by current standards he appears quite lean. And one reason I know this is because pictures of semi-naked rugby league players are freely available from all sorts of sources now, even as officially endorsed calendar images. But this was hardly the case in 1921. Frank’s exposure here, to both the camera and the elements (it was after all northern England at the beginning of winter), was by contrast a purely private act undertaken for his private photo album.

It was only for himself and for his own satisfaction that Frank captioned the photo simply ‘Cold’, a marker to remind him in future years how tough and durable he was at this point in his life. But now this photograph has been positioned in a context that would have been quite unimaginable to Frank in 1921. Increasingly though, the journey which this picture has undertaken, from private aide memoire to public document, is becoming the fate of the personal and private image in general. At the moment, our insatiable hunger for an ever-expanding public display of the proof of our existence shows no sign of being satisfied.

Guest Post by Lindsay Barrett, Writer and Cultural historian.
This project is supported by the Tom Brock bequest.

This unidentified young woman of the 1880s wears her hair with a fringe, a style that was fashionable from the early years of the decade. The rest of the hair was typically pulled back into a low chignon. The woman’s day dress is made from a combination of striped and plain fabric with a  a lace trim on the standing collar and the cuffs. The luxuriant drapery of her skirt, drawn into a soft bustle at the back, was a popular style and the elaborate button trim of her bodice was a fashion inspired by military dress. The woman appears to be wearing several small bangles on her left wrist. This photograph is part of the Tyrrell Collection and was created by an unknown studio.

Photography by unattributed studio, Tyrrell Collection

No known copyright restrictions

This photograph of saxophone player Sam Babicci is from the Tom Lennon photographic archive collection and was taken in 1933 when Lennon was the official photographer for Dance Band News. The photograph is one of several taken in the same location with different lighting arrangements. In this photograph a studio light is visible in the top right hand corner. Another photograph from the same shoot has been posted previously on Photo of the Day. A comparison between the two shows dramatically different effects achieved with lighting.

Tom T. Lennon, was a commercial photographer whose studio was at 64 Victoria Road, Drummoyne. The 1796 negatives in the Powerhouse Museum Tom Lennon archive are largely of balls and dinners held in Sydney, but also include weddings, funerals, work events, parties, portraits, pets, fashion, horse races, and various places and events. At the time that this photograph was taken, Tom Lennon was the official photographer for Australian Dance Band News. Other images from the Tom Lennon archive have been posted previously on Photo of the Day.

Photography by Tom Lennon

No known copyright restrictions

The image above comes from our Tyrrell photographic collection and shows an old rustic bridge in the Domain, Sydney.  Our collection database states:

The image depicts a bridge in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. The bridge, depicted in the centre right of the image, is one of several spanning the Botanic Gardens Creek, one of the original water courses in Sydney. The bridge is constructed of wood and features lattice-like sides. Palm trees are depicted on either side of the bridge in the centre of the image. These trees have identification plaques which were used throughout the gardens to identify plants and trees for visitors. A stone jardiniere on a pedestal and paths in the gardens are depicted in the centre of the image. A man can be seen sitting on a grass bank in the background in the centre right of the image. Paths, the Botanic Gardens Creek and numerous plants and trees are depicted in the background of the image.

This image has also been added to our Historypin account where we have added this to the Streetview function so you can see the real time then and now of the area.  If you have any stories to share about this image or the area that it was shot at then we would love to hear them

Photographer Kerry & Co.

No known copyright restrictions

The back yard often doubled as an open air studio for many amateur photographers. Visible in the background of this portrait of two unidentified women is a curtain suspended between the trees. The curtain may have been used as an alternative background to the natural garden setting. The location is unknown.

Photography by unattributed studio, Tyrrell Collection 66/217

No known copyright restrictions

This photograph, by Hedda Morrison, was taken at the Stuttgart folk festival in 1931. In this photograph, Morrison has adopted the conventions of the New Realism in the use of an extreme close up and high angle view.

Hedda Morrison, (1908-1991), was born Hedda Hammer in Stuttgart, Germany. She acquired her first camera, a Box Brownie, at the age of 11. In 1929 Hedda enrolled at the State Institute for Photography in Munich. After completing studies at the Institute for Photography she worked in the studio of photographer Adolf Lazi (1884-1955) back in her home town of Stuttgart.

By 1933 Hedda Morrison had left Germany to work in China. In Peking Morrison managed Hartung’s photographic studio from 1933-1938. After her contract expired she continued to work freelance from a small darkroom in her home in Nanchang Street. The young photographer travelled around the city, usually by bicycle, often photographing its inhabitants. This photograph is one of many that document local craft workshops, is part of the Hedda Morrison Photographic Collection

Photography by Hedda Morrison
Powerhouse Museum Collection

No known copyright restrictions.

This photograph was taken in our exhibition Faith, fashion, fusion: Muslim women’s style in Australia where faith, fashion and Muslim identity are explored through the work of a group of Australian Muslim designers and selected stories from women in the Muslim community. One of the experiences that we have made in the gallery space is a photo booth where we are inviting our visitors to tell a story about themselves. We have prompted the conversation by asking the question

Are you what you wear? Your style only tells a small part of your story. In a few words tell us something about yourself that we wouldn’t know from your appearance.

The photo above was submitted by the woman featured in the photo. We will be sharing these photos with you in the gallery, online and a selection will be highlighted here on Photo of the Day.

In the Sydney of the 1930s, 40s and 50s, The Ginger Jar cafe was one of two places that a good girl shouldn’t go, according to historian, Bill Boldiston. The other was Ziggies in King Street.  The Ginger Jar Cafe was located in Her Majesty’s Arcade in Pitt Street. Of the two venues, the Ginger Jar was considered to have the best music. The management employed a regular band and sit-ins by quality musicians were encouraged.

Jazz historian Jack Mitchell believes that the photograph above was taken early in 1934 at the time when Maurie Gilman succeeded Dick Freeman as leader of the Ginger Jar Orchestra. He was able to identify most of the members of the band. From left to right: “Tiny” McMahon (tenor saxophone), Dick Freeman (drums), Maurie Gilman (saxophones, clarinet), Bert Mars (saxophone), unknown, probably Lynn Miller (trumpet). Bert Mars was later replaced in the band by Colin Bergersen. The unknown member of the band is probably the pianist.

This photograph from the Tom Lennon photographic archive collection and was taken when Tom Lennon was the official photographer for Dance Band News.

Tom T. Lennon, was a commercial photographer whose studio was at 64 Victoria Road, Drummoyne. The 1796 negatives in the Powerhouse Museum Tom Lennon archive are largely of balls and dinners held in Sydney, but also include weddings, funerals, work events, parties, portraits, pets, fashion, horse races, and various places and events. At the time that this photograph was taken, Tom Lennon was the official photographer for Australian Dance Band News. Other images from the Tom Lennon archive have been posted previously on Photo of the Day.

Research by Paul Wilson, Archivist.

Photography by Tom Lennon

No known copyright restrictions