Monthly Archive for January, 2009

View of a waterfall, originally uploaded by Powerhouse Museum Collection.

This image comes from the Phillips photographic collection that consists of 193 glass plate negatives taken between 1890 and 1920. We have dated this waterfall image to have been taken in 1895. There was not a lot of documentation with this collection and therefore we are not certain about many of the locations. One of our prolific members in Flickr (thank you lifeasdaddy) has posted a comment that this waterfall image may have been taken at Willoughby Falls in Sydney. The collection is mainly Sydney-centric so it is possible that it is has been taken at Primrose Park in Willoughby where the falls are located. There are two other images from the Tyrrell collection that were taken at the falls which you can view here and here to compare.

According to North Sydney Council the falls are situated in the western gully and used to be a favourite spot for a picnic. This map shows you where Primrose Park is located. Are you familiar with this area and do you have any stories about Willoughby Falls, we would love to hear about them!

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Walking under the pillars, originally uploaded by Powerhouse Museum.

This image was taken at the base of the 13-storey Plaza Building at Australia Square in Sydney. It was photographed for the exhibition Modern Times: the untold story of modernism in Australia. The large geometric shapes that make up the structural base provide an interesting comparison to the people rushing through the area. Marinco has used a wide lens to get this shot. If you have any images that represent modernism in Australia we would love to see them in our Modern Times group on Flickr.

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

This is one of the rooms in the Mastertouch Piano Roll Company photographed in July 2005. The company was established in Petersham, Sydney in 1919 and operated until July 2005. The Museum’s photographers took a number of photos documenting the exterior, interior and content of the factory building before its closure. These photographs complement the amazing collection of Mastertouch items now held by the Powerhouse Museum.

File # 00z12792

Photography Marinco Kojdanovski
© All rights reserved

This image was shot in May 2006 when our photographer Jean Francois Lanzarone was travelling in China taking photos for the Great Wall of China: dynasties, dragons and warriors exhibition which was on display at the Powerhouse between 28th September 2006 and 25th February 2007. It was taken at the Prince Gong’s Mansion in Beijing – you can see the so called ‘Jesuit – baroque’ entrance gate to the garden in the background. Today, Prince Gong’s Mansion is Beijing’s largest and best preserved princely residence accessible to the public.

File # 00×04227

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

This image of a mannequin firmly wrapped up in cloth and tape was taken behind the scenes at our off-site collection storage facility, The Powerhouse Discovery centre at Castle Hill. In any museum there is only a small percentage of the collection that is accessible at one time. We have over 50,000 objects stored at this centre.

There are many props required when showcasing the collection including mannequins. There have been a few mannequins photographed by the photographers here as they often are packed away in funny circumstances.

File #00z18970

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