The Hall of Gods, Hualin Temple, 1872

Published by Geoff Barker on January 30, 2012 0 Comments

The Temple of the 500 Gods, photographer John Thomson, 1872

This photograph was taken by the British photographer John Thomson around 140 years ago during his travels through China. It shows an interior view of ‘hall of gods’ in the Buddist ‘Temple of the 500 Gods’ or ‘Magnificent Forest Temple’. Nowadays this early temple is most often referred to as the Hualin Temple.

In 1872 Thomson, an Englishman, travelled to the western suburbs of Guangzhou, which he referred to as Canton to take a series of photographs of the Temple. It was built during Southern Song Dynasty (nán sòng) but was expanded in 1654 when it was renamed Hualin Temple. According to Thomson the temple was again rebuilt in 1775, under the direction of the Emperor Kien-lung making it one of the five largest Buddhist temples in Guangzhou, with a large team of monks.

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Photographing an interior like this was no easy task as the emulsions were much less receptive to light. As a result you can see how the light from the windows has bled into the photograph due to Thomson’s long exposure.

Shanghai Bund, c. 1930

Published by Kathy Hackett on January 29, 2012 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

This beautiful hand-coloured glass lantern slide showing The Bund in Shanghai is part of a collection of images that depict aspects of China in the early 20th century, including historical places, architecture, social etiquette, minority groups and their customs and geography of China with an emphasis on Peking.

According to the museum catalogue records, the street shown in the image is Zhongshan Road, which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River. The Bund usually refers to the buildings and wharves on this section of the road, as well as some adjacent areas. The Shanghai Bund has dozens of historical buildings that once housed numerous banks and trading houses from the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Italy, Russia, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Belgium, as well as the consulates of Russia and Britain, a newspaper, the Shanghai Club and the Masonic Club. This was initially a British settlement; later the British and American settlements were combined in the International Settlement. A building boom at the end of 19th century and beginning of 20th century led to the Bund becoming a major financial hub of East Asia.

The Shanghai of the 1920s and 30s came to be represented as a glamorous and mysterious place where western modernism and eastern exoticism met. The street in the photograph is filled with men in traditional Chinese dress and rows of modern motor cars. Shanghai was also the centre of Chinese fashion and became known as ‘the Paris of the East.’ Many artists, writers, performers and entrepreneurs were drawn to the burgeoning port city during this period.

Florence Broadhurst, some of whose portraits have been posted previously on Photo of the Day, was one expatriate resident of Shanghai in the mid 1920s.

According to the original catalogue record, the box of lantern slides from which this image was drawn was originally given to the Australia – China Society by the Methodist Church at the time they joined the Uniting Church of Australia in 1977. One of the lantern slides shows a portrait of Hudson Taylor who was the founder of the China Inland Mission (CIM, now OMF International) who visited Australia at the end of 19th century to promote the Australian Missions. The box is inscribed, ‘The Rev. Cannon’. The Reverend Cannon possibly had a relationship with CIM or the Australian Missions during the 1930s.

Lantern slides, positive photographic images designed for projection, were commonly used as an educational tool, often to illustrate lectures. The set of slides from which this image is drawn may have been used as part of an education program for people who were going to the China Inland Mission to learn about China and the CIM programs.

Post by Kathy Hackett, Photo Librarian

Photographer unknown
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Chief Priest, Hualin Buddhist Temple, 1872

Published by Geoff Barker on January 28, 2012 0 Comments

The Abbot, Hualin Temple, photographer John Thomson, 1872

This photograph of the Chief Priest of the Hualin Temple was taken by John Thomson sometime around 1872. He first met this Priest some three years earlier when he was introduced by a local Customs Official. According to Thomson he was received with great courtesy, conducted to his private apartments, and then offered tea-cakes and fruit.

While in the apartments Thomson was also taken aback by the rare and beautiful flowers which grew in this inner sanctum of the temple, particularly a Sacred Lotus in full bloom, and growing in an ornamental tank. The Priest who had spent over half his life in the temple was ‘greatly devoted’ to the flowers spending some time describing their beauty to his visitor.

This photograph was taken on Thoson’s second visit and in it we can see the same priest with some of the flowers and plants he so carefully nurtured.

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Bride and groom

Published by Kathy Hackett on January 27, 2012 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

This beautiful hand-coloured glass lantern slide is part of a collection of images that depict aspects of China in the early 20th century, including historical places, architecture, social etiquette, minority groups and their customs and geography of China with an emphasis on Peking.

According to the original catalogue record, the box of lantern slides was originally given to the Australia – China Society by the Methodist Church at the time they joined the Uniting Church of Australia in 1977. One of the lantern slides shows a portrait of Hudson Taylor who was the founder of the China Inland Mission (CIM, now OMF International) who visited Australia at the end of 19th century to promote the Australian Missions. The box is inscribed, ‘The Rev. Cannon’. The Reverend Cannon possibly had a relationship with CIM or the Australian Missions during the 1930s.

Lantern slides, positive photographic images designed for projection, were commonly used as an educational tool, often to illustrate lectures. The set of slides from which this image is drawn may have been used as part of an education program for people who were going to the China Inland Mission to learn about China and the CIM programs. The colouring of the slides was an important way of conveying accurate information about China, in this case, the custom of the bride wearing red, a colour associated with strength and luck.

Post by Kathy Hackett, Photo Librarian

Photographer unknown
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Tea House, Guangzhou, 1872

Published by Geoff Barker on January 26, 2012 0 Comments

Tea House, Guangzhou, photographer John Thomson, 1872

In 1872, when Thomson visited Gaungzhou (Canton), most of the tea-firing houses were situated next to a river or creek. In this photograph we can see a number of men who were employed during the ‘tea season’ to pick and sort the tea, or preparing the chests it was to be stored in. Inside the tea-house are one or two offices where the partners, treasurer and bookkeeper work, while outside the chairs and table were made ready for visitors.

The rear of the house was where the tea is stored and weighed before being exported while above women and children worked in the loft. Here they removed stalks and foreign matter from the bamboo trays on which the tea is spread out.

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As an English colonial Thomson was very impressed with the business-like atmosphere of the place “… where a thoroughly organized system of divided labour has produced from the leaf of a single shrub so many varieties of one of the most delicate and salutary luxuries we posses.”

A Chinese bow

Published by Kathy Hackett on January 25, 2012 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

This beautiful hand-coloured glass lantern slide is part of a collection of images that depict aspects of China in the early 20th century, including historical places, architecture, social etiquette, minority groups and their customs and geography of China with an emphasis on Peking.

According to the original catalogue record, the box of lantern slides was originally given to the Australia – China Society by the Methodist Church at the time they joined the Uniting Church of Australia in 1977. One of the lantern slides shows a portrait of Hudson Taylor who was the founder of the China Inland Mission (CIM, now OMF International) who visited Australia at the end of 19th century to promote the Australian Missions. The box is inscribed, ‘The Rev. Cannon’. The Reverend Cannon possibly had a relationship with CIM or the Australian Missions during the 1930s.

Lantern slides, positive photographic images designed for projection, were commonly used as an educational tool, often to illustrate lectures. The set of slides from which this image is drawn may have been used as part of an education program for people who were going to the China Inland Mission to learn about China and the CIM programs.

Bowing is a traditional greeting in East Asia, particularly in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and China. Different bows are used for apologies and gratitude, to express humility, sincerity, remorse, or deference. Bowing is often reserved for occasions such as wedding ceremonies and as a gesture of respect for the deceased.

Post by Kathy Hackett, Photo Librarian

Photographer unknown
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2012 Year of the Dragon

Published by Paula Bray on January 24, 2012 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Happy Chinese New Year.

This is the Year of the Dragon, one of the most powerful and lucky signs in the Chinese New Year zodiac. According to the official Sydney celebrations, Dragons are innovative, flexible, self-assured and passionate, making good artists diplomats and politicians.

This image is from our collection has the following description in our database.

Glass lantern slide, “Bronze Dragon”, bronze dragon and phoenix statues in front of the Hall of Audience, hand coloured glass / paper, maker unknown, China / Australia, c.1930. Hand coloured glass lantern slide showing bronze dragon and phoenix statues in front of the Hall of Audience. Both of these statues have a marble plinth and symbolize the Emperor.

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One Armed Bandits

Published by Iwona Hetherington on January 23, 2012 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Poker machines are very much in the news at the moment with the controversy surrounding the proposal for ‘pre-commitment technology’ in Australia. This image is from the time when poker machines were mechanical (rather than electronic) and required the user to pull the handle in order to spin the wheels. This image was published in ‘Sydney, A Book of Photographs’ by David Mist in 1969 and carried the caption:

Over forty million dollars are spent on club entertainment in Australia every year. A major attraction in most clubs is the poker machine – referred to as “the one-armed bandit”. The multi-million dollar St George Leagues Club is the largest in the southern hemisphere which provides a complex of facilities for up to four thousand people.

St George Leagues Club was the first ‘superclub’ in Australia and opened 1963. It set the standard of providing an opulent environment for food, entertainment and sporting facilities which has become the hallmark of clubs in Australia. As can be seen from the nick-name ‘one-armed bandit’ Australians have always felt somewhat suspicious of these machines.

Photograph © David Mist, Powerhouse Museum collection 96/44/1-5/4/132/2
Post by Lynne McNairn, Registration

Section of a Roman diptych from the collection of the Vicomte de Genze

Published by Geoff Barker on January 22, 2012 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Photograph of a section of a Roman diptych carved from ivory at the beginning of the 6th century from the Collection of the Vicomte de Genze in Paris. It shows the bottom par of one leaf of a consular diptych, probably of Flavius Anastasius. In the upper part are two victorious race-horses in the circus games, with their heads decorated with feathers, being led by two Amazons.

In the lower part are a group of acrobats, three of whom, nearly naked, are supporting the head of a fourth, whose legs are up in the air with two children dangling from them and a third being held up to join them. To the left is another performer balancing three balls, one on his raised left knee, one on his forehead, one in his left hand, and about to catch a fourth in his right hand. To the right is a performer with a mask and a child.

This photo-mechanical print is one of the 24 Woodburytypes pasted into J. O. Westwood’s 1876 publication, ‘Fictile [casts of] Ivories in the South Kensington Museum’.

St. David’s Rugby Union Team, Sydney, 1908

Published by Geoff Barker on January 21, 2012 0 Comments

St. David's Rugby Union Team, Sydney, 1908

Over 100 years ago, on the 20 July 1908 a young man named W. Bridland, posted this card to his grandmother from the Redfern Post Office in Sydney. He was one of the members of the football team pictured above but unfortunately we don’t know which one. The team was formed by the ‘St. David’s Young Men’s Gymnasium’ which we think was based in Surrey Hills but again details are sketchy. Can anyone help?

St. David's Rugby Union Team, Sydney, 1908, (reverse)

The reason the card ended up in the Powerhouse Museum collections is because his grandmother, Mrs. Hall of West Maitland, had two daughters Amy and Linda who collected all the postcards she received and added them to their collection. This collection of over 750 cards was donated to the Museum in the late 1960s and has just been digitised and made available on-line.

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