I was intrigued by this particular photograph because of its lovely sense of movement; not only is it a record of the dance championship in action, but also the growing popularity of ballroom dancing at this time. In addition to dancing competitions the Jack Keating’s dance studio also taught local students how to avoid stepping on each others toes in preparation for their debutante balls. It is proof that Australia has had a long comfortable relationship with ballroom dancing, recently revived by shows such as “so you think you can dance?”
Ballroom dancing was introduced to Australia in 1900 and really took off by the 1920’s. Dance studios began popping up around the country. The Sydney based photographic studio of Tom T. Lennon took advantage of this new craze. This is clearly illustrated by the 1796 photographs in his collection, which while extensive, are largely comprised of photos from local balls and dinners. There are several photographs taken at Jack Keating’s dance studio by Lennon in the now heritage listed St Georges Hall which was built in 1887. St Georges Hall has fortunately been preserved in all its beauty and has been listed on the Register of the National Estate. It is prominently located near Newtown High school of Performing arts on King Street.
Jack it appears was a man of many talents which extended beyond running a successful dance studio. In 1945 he was asked to chair a meeting that played a key role in the uniting of ballroom and stage teachers and led to the formation of the Society of Australian Teachers of Dancing.
This is a link to interactive photo’s on Google maps
Photography by Tom Lennon
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Post by Emma Bjorndahl, Photographer
In this photo, a load of wheat, drawn by 17 horses, arrives at Narromine Railway Station in central-western NSW. Large tabletop wagons were first built in Australia in the 1890s in response to an increase in wool production and improvements in roads. They were designed to transport wheat or wool to the nearest railway and could carry up to 20 tonnes.
Many NSW farmers stopped sowing wheat crops in 2002 due to the drought. As the climate changes, the areas where wheat can be grown will also change throughout Australia.
Photography by Charles Kerry
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Post by Sandra McEwen, Principal Curator
This photograph is all that remains of an ingenious dual purpose object designed in the late nineteenth century by the French Australian artist, Lucien Henry.
Best known for his innovative use of Australian flora and fauna motifs in architectural design, Henry planned to publish a book, ‘Australian decorative arts: one hundred studies and designs.’ Although the pineapple is not native to Australia, an image of the butter cooler/flower vase was to be included in a section of the book that documented his earlier work.
Henry’s prospectus promised that the objects depicted in photographs such as this one were to be reproduced in the final version of the book by ‘wood engraving, heliogravure and the best processes of the day.’
In the highly decorative moulded earthenware example depicted in the photograph, Henry seems to have solved two problems: the pineapple shape allowed enough depth for the vase section to extend down as a central core that could be filled with water, keeping the flowers fresh and the butter cool.
The Powerhouse Museum holds the largest collection of Lucien Henry’s work and in 2001 held an exhibition entitled, Visions of a Republic: the work of Lucien Henry. Paris, Noumea, Sydney.
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Post by Kathy Hackett, Photo Librarian
This black and white silver gelatin photograph titled ‘Opera House from inside’ was taken by Jozef Vissel, c.1985. It shows the Sydney Harbour Bridge taken through the glass walls of the western foyer of the Sydney Opera House. Jozef Vissel is a commercial photographer who was born in the Netherlands in 1947. The Museum holds a number of his photographs, including the rather iconic portrait of Jorn Utzon demonstrating the gull’s wing outline , the Opera House at sunset and Model in boiler hall of the Ultimo Power Station- now the Powerhouse Museum!
Photography by Jozef Vissel
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Post by Melanie Pitkin, Assistant Curator
Phase 2: I had sent the interactive cube to be powdercoated white to intensify the glow of each little light box. As soon as we installed it in the workshop, John got stuck into wiring up the cube to see the visual effect. You can see the hinged panel where the circuit board will be hidden behind.
John helped me work out the graphics that would create the right lighting effect by making a quick mock-up on a clear plastic panel with electrical tape. Eventually all 6 faces will be covered by plastic panels in a similar style. It was cool seeing the first light box glow.
Photography and post by Krister Gustafsson, Industrial Designer
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This wonderful shot of a group of people participating in the Palmer’s Mystery Hike No 2. was taken by the photographer Tom Lennon. This mystery hike took place on the 10th July 1932. During this year there were five mystery hikes that took place around Sydney that were organised by the railways and were sponsored by the department store, F.J.Palmer and Sons, hence the name of the hikes.
Hikers would turn up to Central Railway station on a Sunday and purchase a two-shilling ticket that would take them onto an unknown destination. These hikes were extremely popular and the third hike took almost 8,000 people. This particular image was taken during the trip from Valley Heights in the Blue Mountains onto Penrith. This photograph was taken at the start of this trip.
Photography by Tom Lennon
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This image, taken by photographer David Mist, showing the interior of Australia Square tower was published in David’s photographic publication ‘Sydney, A Book of Photographs’. This image, referred to as negative number 4351, appears on page 43 of the book with the caption:
The Australia Square complex of buildings took six years to complete at a cost of twenty-five million dollars. The six hundred feet circular tower, with its roof-top restaurant, is the tallest lightweight concrete building in the world.
We acquired the David Mist archive in the 90s, this includes biographical material, portraits of David Mist , magazines and tear sheets featuring Mist’s fashion and other commercial photography, transparencies and negatives relating to Mist’s ‘Sydney’ and ‘Made in Australia’ books, prints, transparencies and negatives relating to David Mist’s Australian Centre for Photography exhibition ‘Mysteries’ of 1978 etc.
Photography by David Mist
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This photograph of Macquarie Street, Sydney was published in one of William Hetzer’s later sets of stereoscopic views. It was taken from a platform constructed at the top of Governor Bourke’s statue about 45 feet above the ground. This platform was used by a few Sydney photographers to take panoramic views of Sydney. William Blackwood was another who used this to full advantage when taking his famous panorama of Sydney. In the foreground we can see the entrance to the botanical gardens and the Public Subscription Library on the other side of Macquarie Street.
Stereoview by William Hetzer
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Post by Geoff Barker, Assistant Curator
This photograph taken by Jozef Vissel in 1965 depicts Jorn Utzon, architect of the Sydney Opera House, in an artistic shot demonstrating the gull’s wing outline which inspired the Danish architect’s intended design for the Sydney Opera House glass walls. This design was superseded by the present glass wall configuration designed by Utzon’s successor, Peter Hall. Vissel took the photo using multi-exposure shots of Utzon’s hands in different positions while masking his face with a black cloth, using a 4 x 4 inch camera plate. Altogether, Vissel took about 30 separate photos of Utzon’s hands on the same negative and completed the shot in under 2 hours. The composition of this photo is based on the well-known ’stroboscopic’ photo (Michael Hoppen Gallery) of a golfer by Harold Edgerton in 1938.
Photography by Jozef Vissel
© All rights reserved
Post by Melanie Pitkin, Assistant Curator
Since its public launch on 20 September 2009, the Museum’s reconstructed steam locomotive 3265 has been hired by two steam train operators for their day trip excursions. On Sunday 4 October, 3265 performed faultlessly as it hauled a Cockatoo Run service operated by 3801 Limited to the Southern Highlands. On Saturday 7 November, 3265 shared some hard work with locos 3526 and 3642 en route to Blackheath hauling a special train operated by the NSW Rail Transport Museum. Hundreds of passengers and thousands of delighted onlookers took in the spectacular site of a rarely seen “triple header” steam train working the steep Blue Mountains grades.
The restoration of 3265 received an award from the Association of Tourist and Heritage Rail Australia at the International Rail Heritage Conference held from 14-17 October at the Workshops Rail Museum, Ipswich, Queensland. The award is testimony to the high standard of work invested in the project by Powerhouse Museum staff and the dedicated team of volunteers who worked for 11 years to finally realise their objective.
On Monday 9 November, 3265 was prominently displayed at the opening of the new Roundhouse at the Rail Transport Museum at Thirlmere. The Roundhouse represents the first stage in RailCorp’s redevelopment of the Thirlmere site where both the Powerhouse Museum’s steam locomotives, 3830 and 3265, will soon be stored, displayed and maintained.
Photography by Marinco Kojdanovski
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0
Post by Andrew Grant, Curator
Photo of the Day 2nd anniversary statistic: one of our top 5 posts is Future of image licensing
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