Rob Hillier photographic collection, ca. 1930-1970

fonds

ca. 1930-1970

Graphic Materials, Photographs, Drawings

52466

1139 silver gelatin photoprints
848 photonegatives
4 albums (silver gelatin photoprints, periodical illustrations, additional ephemera)
11 ink drawings
32 pencil drawings

Ernest Robinson (Rob) Hillier (1913 -1991)
Rob Hillier, the eldest child of chocolate manufacturer Ernest Hillier, was educated at Cranbrook, Sydney. In 1934 he was appointed art director of Motor in Australia and drew caricatures for the Daily Telegraph, Photoplayer and Fashion and Society magazine. When his father moved the business to Melbourne in 1938, Rob Hillier travelled the world, before returning to Sydney at the beginning of WWll as a photographer for the social pages of Truth and Fashion and Society.
From 1943, Hillier was best known for his fashion and advertising photography. A member of the Professional Photographers Association of NSW since 1940, Hillier was president of the Institute of Photographic Illustrators of Australia 1953-54. A fire at his George Street studio in 1950 was a setback, but he remained official photographer for the Miss Australia contest that year.
Hillier built new premises at Walker Street, North Sydney in 1959 and advertised himself as an 'industrial and architectural photographer', as well as 'advertising merchandising and fashion illustrator'. Hillier had produced the photographs for John Hetherington's book Portrait of Melbourne (1951?), but his own publications included Let's Buy a Terrace House (1967), Let's have a Small Garden (1969) and A Place called Paddington (1970).
Biographical note from Alan Davies, Curator of Photographs, 2007

The Hillier collection contains photographs, photonegatives and periodical illustrations of the photographer's work between ca. 1930-1970 described in 16 record series. You may navigate to a more detailed description of each series from this collection record.

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Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy copyright holder