Monthly Archive for July, 2010

The junk is the quintessential sailboat associated with China but ships from the Orient varied in dimensions, models, and appearances, as much as the sailing craft of Europe. On the left of this photograph, taken by John Thomson around 1872, is a coasting trader of Kwang-Tung build. It was one of the faster vessels plying its trade in Southern China and it was described in some detail in his book China and Its People,

The hull consists of a double planking or shell of wood, having the seams carefully caulked with oakum and gum dammar; the latter article is largely imported from the forests of the Malayan Archipelago, Siam and Cambodia. T he hull of the vessel is strengthened and held together by massive hard-wood beams or girders, sweeping in a triple row from stem to stern. The hold is divided into watertight compartments, so that were an injury sustained, and one or more compartments filled with water, the vessel might still have buoyancy left to float ashore or into dock. This junk is a fine type of its class, and has in her model something of the foreign ship, though retaining quite enough of the old Chinese build to soothe the prejudices of the nation. We can still notice the huge unwieldy rudder perforated to break the force of the sea. There, too, are the great eyes, and the configuration about the stem resembling the head and features of a fierce sea-monster, and intended to scare away the deep sea-demons, or huge fish, that might at any time impede the voyage. The mat sails, with their ribs of bamboo, still look like the spread wings of a huge bat, or the fiery dragon of the Celestial Mythology. Her rig, however, is not so unmanageable as appearances would imply; with a fair and willing crew the sails can be set with care and speed, while they will fall if the ropes be unfastened, and furl, without an effort, of themselves. The anchor is of hard wood that has a greater specific gravity than water: The ropes and cables are of rattan, bamboo, or palm fibre, and are so strong that they will stand as great, if not a greater strain than anything in use with us

John Thomson 1874

Photography by John Thomson 1874
No known copyright restrictions
Post by Geoff Barker, Assistant Curator

This photograph of a boy seated in chicken run is another of the intriguing images from the Phillips collection. The collection was acquired from the estate of Raymond W. Phillips, a descendent of Arthur J. Phillips, a late nineteenth century Sydney assayer and gold refiner who is also thought to have been the photographer.

Many of the Phillips photographs are quite informal and take the suburban backyard or garden as their setting. Of these backyard images, most are portraits of individuals or groups. The Phillips family lived in Willoughby although the location of this photograph is, so far, unknown.

Curator Margaret Simpson writes:

By the end of the nineteenth century most people in Australia kept a few fowls for home use. Chickens needed a chicken coop or house in which to lay and sit on their eggs, where they were shut up at night, safe from predators, such as foxes. The chickens fed on kitchen scraps and spare grains, and any seeds, insects or morsels they could find in the yard.

Photography [Arthur J. Phillips]
No known copyright restrictions

One of Australia’s former leading models, Jan Stewart, recently visited the Museum to share recollections about working with Bruno and Hazel Benini in the 1960s for the forthcoming Creating the look: Benini and fashion photography exhibition (opens 31 July 2010). One day in 1966, Bruno and Hazel asked Jan to climb onto a huge metal crane hook, to hold on tight as the crane hook was incrementally lifted higher and higher so Bruno Benini could ensure the model, the crane and building behind were perfectly framed in the camera lens. “What could you do” noted Hazel, “you’d go to any length to get the look.” Jan tells the story from a different, ‘less grounded’ (forgive the pun) perspective:

Bruno, Hazel & myself set out walking down the streets of Melbourne, Little Collins St. until he found this building site & suddenly he went “Haa” – typical Bruno style “this is it” – as you can see in the ad it says something about heights (Sportsgirl’s high flying dress …’) so he talked to the workmen, down we went in through all the mud & off we went. Bruno said “just put your foot on the crane – just go up a little bit”. “Yes OK Bruno!” “Now do this – do that” – as you can see by the photos we started off quite low – maybe 6 or 8 ft, and he said to them “let’s go a bit higher .. a bit higher..” and as you can see by the buildings behind, first of all I was focused in the centre & then I was way above it, hanging on like grim death and Bruno began to go mad clicking all these shots “do this .. do that .. stick one leg out..” “How do I balance Bruno? It’s terrifying… I’m going to lose the bag… what if I fall?”. That’s how it all came about.

These photographs are from the Bruno Benini photography archive acquired by the Powerhouse Museum with funding assistance from the Australian Government’s National Cultural Heritage Account in 2009. The photograph was taken to promote a Leroy dress of ribbon knit bonded Arnel fabric, available through Sportsgirl shops in 1966.

Post by Anne-Marie Van de Ven, Curator (with thanks to Jan Stewart, Hazel Benini and Rebecca Bower).
© Estate of Bruno Benini.

This photograph of a Hong-Kong school-boy was taken by John Thomson and published in Volume 1 of China and Its People in 1874. Western schools were set up across China by the Christian missions and at the time Thomson was writing about 20,000 boys [no girls appear to have been included] were enrolled. Schools were an integral part of the colonial project as central to education program was training the local population to be interpreters, compradores [a go-between with local knowledge], treasurers, or clerks.

Thomson was also keen to point out how these school-boys, even with the disadvantage of not having to learn English, were able to keep up with Western children for whom English was their native tongue. In addition to the school in Hong-Kong there was a foreign language and science school under the supervision of Dr. Martin in Beijing and a engineering and naval architecture school at Fuzhou.

Photography by John Thomson
No known copyright restrictions
Post by Geoff Barker, Assistant Curator

This is another photograph from the Wong Ah Sat archive. Amelia Eve Wong and Henry Hackney Wong, two of Sat’s children, were enthusiastic amateur photographers who lived on their family’s property at Bolong, NSW. They created many outdoor portraits such as this one, posing their well-dressed subjects in the rural landscape. The two women in the photograph are not identified and it is unclear as to whether this is a record of an outdoor performance or a simple portrait with a prop to identify the woman on the right as a musician.

Wong Ah Sat came to Australia from southern China in 1857. In 1864 he married Amelia Hackney, who had come with her prosperous and well-educated family from Manchester, England, where they had been involved in the drapery trade. Sat and Amelia took up a property near Bathurst and later moved to Bolong where they ran a store and raised a large family, becoming respected members of the predominantly Anglo-Celtic farming community.

The Powerhouse Museum holds a collection of objects and photographs from the Wong family, many of which are currently on display in the exhibition, What’s in store? A history of retailing in Australia.

Photography by Amelia Eve Wong and/or Henry H. Wong
No known copyright restrictions.