Monthly Archive for January, 2009

Jean-Francois took these three images whilst photographing North Sydney pool for the photographic immersive that he produced for the exhibition Modern Times: the untold story of modernism in Australia.

He writes: “The pool is busy in the early morning. Some finish their laps while others just arrive. They stand in front of the bench, choose their line and adjust their goggles or their swimming caps. They have a chat with a friend and put their towel on the bench. No one sits on North Sydney Olympic pool bench in the morning… and the clouds in the sky follow their journey.”

File #00z29670+71+69

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

This view of Sydney looking south and incorporating the rooftop of the newly completed Scots Church and Presbyterian Assembly Halls building was taken around 1930. The original Scots church was demolished to widen York Street and allow for tunnelling when work began on construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the 1920s.

In 1928, an architectural competition for the design of a new building was won by Mr Oscar Beattie of Mssrs. Rosenthal, Rutledge & Beattie, Architects. Work commenced in July the following year and the foundation stone was laid on November 30, 1929, coinciding with the stock market crash on Wall Street and the beginning of the Great Depression. As a consequence of the economic climate, the building was completed to only five levels instead extending upwards to the 150 foot height limit of the day as originally planned.

The recessed area in the foreground to the right is one of the building’s three light wells facing York Street, above the first floor level. Floor planning of commercial buildings during the inter-war period relied upon natural light and ventilation before air-conditioning and artificial light became prevalent.

In this view, the two towers of the Margaret Street side of the building can be seen from behind. Had the structure been completed to the height of 150 feet which was originally intended, the two corner towers would not have risen above the rest of the structure.

Today the building carries an addition of contemporary apartments by architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer.

Unattributed studio, Sydney, Australia, c. 1930
No known copyright restrictions

Departure of troopships ‘Australian’ and ‘Iberia’ for the Soudan, originally uploaded by Powerhouse Museum Collection.

One year ago today the Commons project on Flickr began with the release of images from the Library of Congress photographic collections. This projects aim is to allow access to publicly held photographic collections to be shared, tagged, commented on and reproduced under ‘no known copyright restrictions’. The response from the first day was beyond expectations with the Library of Congress images receiving an enormous amount of tags and views, which you can read about these details here on the Library of Congress blog. We joined on April 8th and now there are 18 cultural institutions participating in the project, there is the Flickr Commons group and a great new blog called Indicommons.

This image was the first to be loaded to our photostream titled ‘Departure of troopships ‘Australian’ and ‘Iberia’ for the Soudan’ and comes from our Tyrrell photographic collection. This was instantly updated by one of our members to reflect the correct name of the ship being the ‘Australasian’.

Photography by Henry King, Sydney, Australia, c. 1880-1900
No known copyright restrictions

George Street at Haymarket, originally uploaded by Powerhouse Museum Collection.

This image comes from our Tyrrell photographic collection taken sometime between 1884 and 1917. This is George Street and the corner of Hay Street in Haymarket looking east in the direction of Belmore Park. If you go to the ‘all sizes’ page on Flickr you can see the names of the companies on the building facades, the main building being the ‘Commercial banking company of Sydney’. According to the Guide to Australian Business Records the bank started on the 1st November 1834 then in 1848 it was incorporated by an act of the New South Wales parliament. The Bank was amalgamated in 1981 with the National Bank of Australasia Limited.

Photography by Kerry and Co, Sydney, Australia, c. 1884-1917
No known copyright restrictions

Image courtesy of the collection of Randwick City Library and Information Service.

Image courtesy of the collection of Randwick City Library and Information Service.

Today’s post is the result of a great discovery by Mala Scorse, Local Studies Library Officer from Randwick City Library Service. We recently posted the image at the top that comes from the Phillips photographic collection asking if it was indeed the house once owned by the notorious John Norton. The Australian Dictionary of Biography reports Norton was born in 1858 in England and became a newspaper -proprietor and politician here in Australia. He died in 1916 leaving this estate to his daughter that ended up being strongly contested by his wife and son.

Below is a piece written by Mala that she has kindly agreed to let us publish on Photo of the Day. The two additional images are courtesy of the collection of Randwick City Library and Information Service.

“Well, the consensus is in. This image is definitely of St Helena’s, home of John Norton! Our rates records show that Norton built the house in 1907 on land that was bordered by Torrington Road and Lurline Road. The site overlooked Lurline Bay which can be seen in the background of the photograph. The name of the house was inspired by Norton’s obsession with Napoleon and the house was filled with images and statuary of the emperor.

At some stage between 1908 and1920, two further dormer windows were added at the front of the house and a veranda added to the side. I believe this photograph must have been taken when the house was very newly built. The photographs from the estate poster in 1921 show established Norfolk Pines bordering the property.

John Norton presented St Helena to the State Government during World War I for the use of convalescent soldiers. Norton passed away in Melbourne in 1916 and by February of 1921 the estate had been subdivided and was advertised for auction. Torrington Road was quite an illustrious address. Not 15 years after the notorious John Norton passed away, Sydney underworld figures Jim and Tilly Devine purchased a house two blocks up from the by now dilapidated St Helena.”