Scene on Middle Harbour, Sydney, 1858-59.

A$1,800 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

Stereoscopic albumen print photograph, each individual image 76 x 71 mm (arch-top format), original plain white mount 84 x 172 mm, recto with an erroneous lithographically printed caption Wooloomooloo [sic] Bay, Pott s Point, Sydney ; verso blank; both albumen prints are in fine condition, although a little dark; the mount is very clean and stable. An insect-damaged example of this stereoscopic photograph is held in the SLNSW collection (PXB 334/no. 3), where it is attributed to William Hetzer and assigned the date 1858-59. What has not been previously noted about this image, however, is that it clearly relates to a carte de visite photograph in the AGNSW collection (Accession number 585.2014), of which we have provided an image for comparative purposes. Both photographs were taken in exactly the same spot , the camera pointing in the same direction. The AGNSW carte, which is approximately dated to 1865 (but which could well be earlier), bears a fully contemporary inscription on the verso: Australian scenery, Middle Harbour, Port Jackson. A Middle Harbour location is obviously correct; the scene a muddy foreshore at the head of a narrow inlet has nothing to do with Woolloomooloo or Potts Point. We believe these photographs were possibly taken at the head of Willoughby Bay, looking north from what is today Primrose Park, with Folly Point on the left and Cremorne on the right. This was a just short walk along Willoughby Creek from Willoughby Falls, a popular spot in the ninetee

• Binding: Hardcover

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