On Friday 4 January 1901, the ‘Military and Naval Review of Troops’ was held in the grounds of Centennial Park. The activities began at 10.30 when Lord Hopetoun rode out from the saluting-base to review the 9,374 men of all ranks who took part in the march past.
In this particular image we can see part of the huge crowd which had gathered all through the morning to view the proceedings. This image appears to be of the slopes that flanked the covered stand near the saluting base. Note also the white trousers and white hats of the constables placed around the grounds to ensure no-one was run over.
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Post by Geoff Barker, Assistant Curator
We have just added several images from the Rousel studios archive collection to the Commons on Flickr. The archive represents a significant record of the work of an important Sydney sign writing and graphic design studio from the 1920s and 30s. This image Shows artist Stan Denford painting a portrait of Hollywood film star Ruth Chatterton that was taken sometime in 1930. This was being painted onto the side of an external wall of a theatre in Sydney. The sign on the suspended platform reads, “H. ROUSEL 38 – 42 OXFORD ST CITY.”
Rousel studios archive collection
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This image, showing a backstreet in the inner suburbs of Sydney, comes from the David Mist photographic archive. This particular shot, from a 35mm black and white negative, was shot for one of David’s publications ‘Sydney a book of Photographs’ that was published in 1969. It appears on page 90 of the book with the caption:
The inner suburbs such as Balmain, Paddington and Potts Point were once high-class residential areas of the city. The wooden and stone buildings on this and the next page hark back to the convict era.
It is always fascinating to choose an image of David’s for Photo of the Day as his archive is full of amazing photographs that cover a range of topics including fashion, other commercial shoots but also his candid shots of street scenes and daily life in and around the city and the inner suburbs, such as this shot.
Photography by David Mist
© All rights reserved
This is another great example of a photograph that has been shot by one of our visitors that has just added this image to our new group, Me and the Powerhouse Museum . This was taken in Experimentations and exhibition that highlights how scientific and technological breakthroughs have answered questions and changed many of our ideas about everyday phenomena. In this gallery you can experiment with heat, light, chemistry, electricity and movement.
Photography by kiwikeith
License: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic
This photo was taken by one of our previous photographers, Sue Stafford, back in 2004 when Gyuto monks of Tibet were visiting the Powerhouse Museum. For 16 days during the July school holidays the Monks created intricate butter sculptures, modelled by hand from tiny pieces of coloured butter. Flowers, animals and deities combined in a glorious display which, upon completion, as in old Tibet, was destroyed by fire in the Chona Chupa Ceremony on the monk’s final day at the Museum. The monks also created a beautiful two-metre-square sand mandala. The richly coloured ground marble sands from the Himalayas were poured grain by grain to make a complex and engaging image of a perfect world. As part of their final ceremony, attended by 2500 visitors, it was swept away and the sands returned to the waters of the earth.
We have just had another visit by Tibetan monks from the Dakpa Khangtsen Drepung Loseling monastery in the South Indian state of Karnataka who spent eleven days at the Powerhouse Museum in December creating three mandalas out of coloured sand grains. We have produced a time-lapse sequence of the construction of these mandalas that we will be sharing with you soon.
Photography Sue Stafford
© All rights reserved
The Federation ‘American Arch’ was on Pitt Street near the intersection of Hunter Street. The American president had been asked to provide troops to the celebrations but as this was not possible the arch remained the United States’ most significant contribution to the ceremony celebrating Federation. The funds for it were raised by subscription with the final design by John Lough and the decoration by the Wunderlich Patent Ceiling and Roofing Company Limited. The plaster head representing the Republic and an American eagle above the arch were both signed by Herr Kretschmar, one Wunderlich’s top modellers.
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Post by Geoff Barker, Assistant Curator
Trainspotting is a colloquial term for the hobby of observing and recording the numbers of railway locomotives. Our new photography competition has been given this term and one of the categories that can be entered is called ‘Trainspotting’ and we want to see photograph’s that show these numbers not just in a literal way but also in a creative manner.
This shot, an example of the type of shot you could submit, shows the number of our locomotive 3265 that was photographed by Marinco in the Eveleigh Railway workshop late last year.
Photography by Marinco Kojdanovski
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0
The reaper-binder was designed in 1858 to cut wheat, oats or barley stalks close to the ground, bind them into sheaves with twine, then drop them onto the ground. Men following behind the machine picked up the sheaves and arranged them to dry in bundles known as stooks. When dry, the sheaves were carted away to make a haystack, and were later threshed to yield their grain, or cut for chaff to feed farm animals. This machine reduced labour costs and allowed farms to expand in size
Photography by Charles Kerry Studio
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Post by Sandra McEwen
Last night the Museum hosted the start of the retro gaming weekend that is a whole weekend dedicated to celebrating old games such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Galaga! The event is about playing computer games, learning about game creation and design and hearing a bunch of people that are local and international gaming experts speak about their knowledge and expertise in the field of gaming.
Photography by Paula Bray
© All rights reserved
This great image is the first that we are highlighting on Photo of the Day that has been taken by one of our visitors to the Museum and posted to our new group on Flickr Me and the Powerhouse Museum. We have set up this group so that visitors can share the photographs that they have taken whilst visiting us. We understand that taking photographs is an important part of the experience of visiting a museum and we acknowledge this. I will be highlighting some of the great images from this group on a regular basis and today’s great shot is the first one in this series. It was taken in the Inspired! Design across time gallery looking up towards the roof that reveals two painted terracotta sculptures, Thalia and Melpomene.
Photography by OZinOH
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic
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