Monthly Archive for June, 2008

Sydney Observatory time ball

Published by imageservices on June 30, 2008 3 Comments

This shot of the Sydney Observatory time ball was taken at night. The time ball was lit using the existing exterior lights but the building required additional lighting to highlight the brickwork.

Plans for Sydney Observatorybegan as a simple time-ball tower. Every day at exactly 1.00pm, the time ball on top of the tower drops to signal the correct time to the city and harbour below. The original purpose of the time ball was to provide the time to ships in Sydney Harbour. The ball was first dropped on 5th June 1858 and has been dropped regularly ever since.

File #00218642.

Photography by Marinco Kojdanovski.
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

Mosman Bay Falls detail

Published by imageservices on June 29, 2008 0 Comments

This image was taken a few weeks ago due to some great detective work done by one of the contacts in our Tyrrell Today group. We were having trouble geo-mapping this image and couldn’t identify where any waterfalls were in Mosman. We posted a discussion topic in our group saying help us identify this location. Within a few hours our contact had researched this location and posted a link to a real estate ad from Domain that showed a waterfall running through a property which was called Waterfall estate. We then contacted the real estate agency who kindly invited us to the property to photograph the waterfalls that were flowing due to all the heavy rain we had in early June. The real estate agent was convinced it was the same location through conversations with locals about the area and the waterfalls.

Our historic image of Mosman Bay falls comes from our Tyrrell photographic collection which you can see on the Commons project on Flickr.
If you have any information about the Mosman Bay falls we would love you to comment!

File #00z28433

Photography by Paula Bray
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

King Street, Sydney, looking east from George Street

Published by imageservices on June 28, 2008 0 Comments

This image of King street Sydney, from our Tyrrell photographic collection, was posted to the Commons project on Flickr yesterday. It is taken from the perspective of looking east from George Street. Two notes have been added to this image on Flickr about the building on the right hand side and a link to how this building looks today which is used by Darrell Lea Chocolates Using our collection search to zoom in on this building you can see that at the time this photograph was taken the building was occupied by Lane Bros.

No known copyright restrictions.

Shorn sheep, Binalong, New South Wales

Published by imageservices on June 27, 2008 0 Comments

This image of a flock of sheep on farm land at Binalong, New South Wales, was photographed for the Powerhouse Museum exhibition, Eco-Logic: creating a sustainable future. Wool is becoming a good source of material as a sustainable product including ceiling insulation.

The majority of sheep in Australia are pure merino which is known for producing fine wool and Australia has become the world’s leading producer of this type of wool. According to Landmark the worlds finest bale of wool went on auction yesterday with plenty of international interest in this 11.6 micron merino wool. ABC News reports that the wool was grown by farmers in Bigga in southern New South Wales. The wool was sold for $247,480 to one of India’s biggest makers of woollen fabrics and is enough to produce around 50 suits.

File no. 00217627

Photography by Jean-François Lanzarone.
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

Inspired architectural detail

Published by imageservices on June 26, 2008 0 Comments

This graphic image was taken in our Inspired! Design Across Time exhibition. It was shot using available light, a 17mm lens and a tripod. The focus of the exhibition view is the contrasting colours and design elements of the columns combined with the tromp l’oeil effect of the clouds painted on the wall. It is highlighting the interior architecture in our Inspired gallery whilst focusing on the dramatic red coloured columns that stand out against the blue sky and clouds. Inspired! Design Across Time shows how designers, makers, industries and entrepreneurs interact to make extraordinary objects.

File #00z13179
Photography by Jean-François Lanzarone

License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

Pitt St, Sydney, circa 1880-1900

Published by imageservices on June 25, 2008 0 Comments

This image showing Pitt Street, Sydney is a reproduction from a glass plate negative from our Tyrrell photographic collection and was posted to the Commons project on Flickr in May. It is the corner of Pitt and King St with the Australian Mutual Fire Insurance Society building at this intersection. The building, established in 1872, was designed by architects R.H. Robertson and G.A. Morell and features an Australian coat of arms on the tower. There are commercial buildings running along Pitt Street including a pharmacist and a lamp makers whilst the No. 59 tram is traveling on the electric tramway.

Do you have a contemporary image taken from the same perspective, if so let us know or you might like to post it in our Tyrrell Today group where we are comparing other Flickr members contemporary images taken from the same location as our historic shots.

No know copyright restrictions.

Aloe Vera

Published by imageservices on June 24, 2008 2 Comments

This image of an Aloe vera plant was shot on medium format transparency film back in 2001 before we went digital. It was initially photographed for the exhibition, EcoLogic: creating a sustainable future exhibition. This plant is a succulent that requires very little water which makes it a great, drought tolerant plant with the tight water restrictions that we have in place today. It produces a flower in the summer months on a stem that can get up to a metre in height.

File# 00217617

Photography by Jean-François Lanzarone
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

Giant fig tree, 112 ft circ.

Published by imageservices on June 23, 2008 0 Comments

This incredible image of a giant fig tree is a reproduction from a glass plate negative in our Tyrrell photographic collection. Taken by Kerry and Co, Sydney, Australia, c. 1884-1917. The enormous size of this fig tree is seen more clearly on the full size image on the Commons project on Flickr . Seeing the two horses stand comfortably between the roots of this tree gives you an indication of its incredible size. On the reverse of this plate is inscribed 112 ft, the caption, studio mark and number. The location of the tree is unknown but also scratched into the emulsion on the reverse of the negative is ‘Kyogle’ however this has been scratched out. So whether it was taken there is not clear.

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P76

Published by imageservices on June 22, 2008 1 Comment

This car is a Leyland P76 and according to Wikipedia it was produced by Leyland Australia to rival the other major car manufacturers dominating the market. The car arrived in 1973 and was known as a ‘cheese wedge’ due to its large shape which included a huge boot. The car never made it into mass production. This shot only shows you the front, check out this search on Google Images to see more images showing the wedge-like shape. We photographed this particular car for the exhibition, Cars & Culture: our driving passions. The exhibition looked at how cars have become part of the family, expressions of freedom, independence and identity. It showed cars from the collection and from private owners.

File# 00215518

New Space gallery

Published by imageservices on June 21, 2008 0 Comments

This shot was taken in our newly refurbished Space gallery at the Powerhouse Museum. Suspended above the gallery is a collection of satellites and other spacecraft, including one of the worlds largest rocket motors and a model of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik-1.

File# 00z26732

Photography by Marinco Kojdanovski
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

About Photo of the Day

The Powerhouse Museum's Photo of the Day blog features a new image each day, chosen from the Powerhouse Photo Library.

The majority of these images have been taken by Museum photographers for a variety of purposes such as use in exhibitions and publicity, and to record the many aspects and activities of the Museum - from public events, programs and exhibitions to behind-the-scenes and location shots. We also highlight certain photographic objects from our collection.

The licensing of each image varies however we are trying to release as many as possible under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.1 license.