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404877

Title
Mort family - Album by W. Blackwood of Australian Scenery [1858]
Call number
PXD 955
Level of description
series
Date

1858
Type of material
Graphic Materials, Photographs
Reference code
404877
Physical Description
15 photoprints - albumen - images approx. 21.5 x 29.5 cm. in album 31.5 x 43 cm.
ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

Greenoaks, Darling Point (originally owned by Thomas Woolley), was purchased and enlarged by Thomas Sutcliffe Mort in the 1850-60.
Scope and Content
Album by W. Blackwood of Australian Scenery -- cover title
1. The Great Southern Railway Station / Sydney
2. Greenoaks / near Sydney
3. Darlinghurst / Sydney
4. Farm Cove & Government Gardens / Sydney
5. Exchange, & Bridge Street / Sydney
6. untitled [Sydney Harbour view, Garden Island, Lady Macquarie's Chair]
7. Rushcutters Bay / from St. Marks Church / Sydney
8. Entrance to Government House, & Macquarie Str. / Sydney
9. Elizabeth Bay / Sydney
10. Bridge on Road to Lighthouse / Sydney [Bentley's Bridge, Rushcutters Bay]
11. Wynyard Square / Sydney
12. Campbell's Wharf / Sydney Harbour
13. Pyrmont Bridge / Sydney
14. St. Andrews Cathedral / George Street / Sydney
15. Government House / Sydney
Copying Conditions
Out of copyright: Created before 1955
General note

Portrait painter Olaf William Blackwood (1824-1897), of Swedish-Scots descent, set himself up as a photographer in Sydney in 1858. Apart from being the first photographer in Australia to introduce the carte-de-visite (the commonest form of portrait photograph of the 19th century) Blackwood is known for producing three large albums of Sydney view photographs (including Australian Scenery) in 1858 and 1859.
Blackwood's views are described in the Sydney Morning Herald, 26 March 1858. "They are the largest photographs we have yet seen taken in this city. The views are not merely faultless, but super-excellent... We understand that Mr Blackwood has fitted up an apparatus with which he can travel to any part of the town and country, and fix his views on the glass upon the spot the instant they have been taken... Mr Blackwood [is] an artist of considerable merit."
In 1858, Blackwood's album was an extraordinary achievement. Large format views required inordinate skill on the part of the photographer, coating his plates and processing them while still wet. -- Curator's notes, June 2004
For further biographical information see: The Dictionary of Australian artists : painters, sketchers, photographers and engravers to 1870 / edited by Joan Kerr. Melbourne : Oxford University Press, 1992.
Typescript memo to Mr Codlin, Assistant Manager, 25 November 1933, signed "G.A. King" pasted onto [p.i]. These research notes are probably by historian and journalist George A. King (on the staff of the Sydney Morning Herald for many years) who published a number of papers and articles on Australian history.
Numbers 4,6,8 & 12 are sections from: Blackwood's panorama of Sydney & Harbour from Government House, [1858] (PXA 426)
Digital order no:Album ID : 824169
Signatures / Inscriptions

Photographs titled in ink below image
Creator/Author/Artist
Blackwood, W. (William), 1824-1897
Subject
Photograph albums--New South Wales.
Topic
bays
bridges
cathedrals
harbours
mansions
official residences
railway stations
streetscapes
city & town streets
city & town views
jetties & wharves
Place
Bridge Street (Sydney, N.S.W.)
Campbell's Wharf (Sydney, N.S.W.)
Darlinghurst (N.S.W.)
Elizabeth Bay (N.S.W.)
Farm Cove (N.S.W.)
Government House (Sydney, N.S.W.)
Greenoaks (Darling Point, N.S.W.)

Mona (Darling Point, N.S.W.)
Pyrmont Bridge (Sydney, N.S.W.)
Redfern Railway Station (Sydney, N.S.W.)
Rocks, The (Sydney, N.S.W.)
Rushcutters Bay (N.S.W.)
St. Andrew's Cathedral (Sydney, N.S.W.)
Stock Exchange (Bridge & Gresham Streets, Sydney, N.S.W.)
Sydney Harbour (N.S.W.)
Wynyard Square (Sydney, N.S.W.)
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IE3217203