Monthly Archive for May, 2009

Behind the scenes: down in the basement, originally uploaded by Powerhouse Museum.

Ever wondered what our storage area looks like or how big it may be? This is the corridor in our basement where we house most of the collection. There are rows and rows of shelving and various rooms that house collections in different conditions and temperatures. Here objects are stacked high and deep in specially commissioned storage units, folded and filed into drawers and tucked behind protective tissue. About nine tenths of the collection is housed in the basement.

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

In 1910 the Victorian Government Astronomer, Pietro Baracchi, led an eclipse expedition of Australian astronomers to Bruny Island, Tasmania. Included in this elite group were G.F. Dodwell, and W R Browne from Adelaide Observatory as well as the respected amateurs C. J. Merfield and A. W. Dobbie.

Amongst the equipment used at Bruny Island was this instrument often referred to as the ‘Greenwich Coronograph’. This instrument, under the charge of C. J. Merfield, seen in this photograph, was originally a part of the Greenwich Observatory’s collection and had already seen use in Mauritus during the 1901 Eclipse.

No known copyright restrictions
Photographer unknown, Tasmania, 1910
Post by Geoff Barker, Assistant Curator

This image comes from the David Mist photographic archive we acquired in the 90s. This image showing people playing laughing clowns game at Luna Park was included in David’s photographic book on Sydney called ‘Sydney, A Book of Photographs’ that was published in 1969. This image features on page 120 of the book with the caption “Coney Island spells fun to the child in any grown-up. Beneath the Harbour Bridge Sydney has its own version of Coney Island inside the bizarre mouth of Luna Park right on the waterfront.”

Photography by David Mist
© All rights reserved

This photograph was taken after the completion of the new Scots Church and Presbyterian Assembly Halls building at 44 Margaret Street, Sydney, in 1930.

The photograph depicts one of two rooms of the library. Books are displayed on the table believed to have been Rev. John Dunmore Lang’s dining table. The bookcases, originally khaki in colour and especially designed for the library, are still in use in the Ferguson Memorial Library today.

The original Scots church was demolished to widen York Street and allow for tunneling 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, and 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.

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

This image is one of more than 26 produced for the publication: The Presbyterian Assembly Hall Jamieson, York and Margaret Streets, Sydney, New South Wales: Historical and descriptive account with notices of the work and activities of the church conducted from the building. Sydney: [The Church] 1931.

Unattributed studio, Sydney, Australia, c. 1931
No known copyright restrictions
Post by Kathy Hackett

This is our photographer Marinco working in our photographic studio. This shot was taken on the 29th June 2005 and was our first digital photographic assignment in the studio. Marinco is using the medium format Hasselblad H1 with an Imacon 22Mpx multi-shot back and with that combination delivers very high quality images when used in 4-shot mode. We have continued to shoot digital since this date and no longer use film at all.

Every Wednesday we dedicate the studio to NAP which is our new acquisition photography program. The whole day is committed to the new objects and you can view these here. We have been discussing whether you would like to have a weekly post dedicated to behind-the-scenes of the studio and would love some feedback on what you think.

Photography by Sue Stafford
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0