Tom Castro's butcher shop, ca. 1872; and, aviator William Hart, ca. 1912

PXB 544

fonds

ca. 1870, ca. 1912

Graphic Materials, Photographs

950187

1 photographic print - albumen, on card - image 8.2 x 13.5 cm, card 10.7 x 16.2 cm
1 photographic print - gelatin silver - 8.8 x 13.9 cm

For information on Tom Castro [Arthur Orton (1834-1898)], Tichborne claimant, see: Australian Dictionary of Biography. http://adb.anu.edu.au/ (accessed December 6, 2011), or, Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/ (accessed December 2, 2011)

For a biography of William Ewart Hart (1885-1943), airman and dentist, see: Australian Dictionary of Biography. http://adb.anu.edu.au/ (accessed December 2, 2011)

"These two photographs are unique. The first shows Tom Castro's butcher shop in Wagga Wagga. This seems to be the image from which all others have been copied. Tom Castro was best known as Arthur Orton, the Tichborne Claimant. In 1871 there was no more notorious celebrity in England and Australia. Claimant souvenirs became an industry and copies of this photograph were sold in large numbers.

The second image is of William Hart, Australia's first licensed pilot with Sydney dental surgeon Theodore Sodenberg as passenger aboard a Bristol Boxkite. An inscription on the back of the card says it is the first flight from Penrith (where Hart had his flying school) to Sydney. This is not true as the first journey was with Hart's brother. The date is almost certainly 1912."

Reference:
Library correspondence file

Out of copyright: Created before 1955
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

To Adrian from The ball-headed Old Bird -- inscription in ink on th ereverse of the aviation postcard

Smith and James Jaye, tinsmiths: in the later copies of this photograph the sign was removed to give the impression it was taken in 1866, the year of the Tichborne claim. Smith and Jaye were in Wagga Wagga ca. 1872, before Jaye moved to the goldfields. There is a photograph of his Bathurst premises in the Holtermann Collection, ca. 1873 (ON 4 Box 52 No 145)