American Harvester's photograph album of an Australian sales trip, c.1891-1893 / Stephen Spurling II and Charles Rudd.

PXA 2167

fonds

1891-1893

Graphic Materials, Photographs

1001644

78 photographs (1 album) - 25 x 34 cm

Walter Abbott Wood was an American inventor and politician who founded his first company in 1852 making cast iron plows and repairing farm machinery. By the late 1860s his company had grown substantially to include overseas offices, and his inventions and improvements in mowers and reapers had won many prizes internationally. This album shows representatives from his company ‘American Harvesting Machines’ travelling to Australia for various trade shows between 1891-1893 to exhibit the machines.

Stephen Spurling II was from a family of 3 Stephen Spurlings, all photographers. He had a studio in Launceston and claimed to be the first in Tasmania to use dry plate work.
Charles Rudd was a photographer based in Melbourne, he travelled around Victoria with his large format view camera, glass plates, and possibly a portable laboratory.

Reference: Library Correspondence File

1 photographic album containing 78 black and white photographs of Australian people, buildings or landscapes, mainly in either Tasmania or Victoria. Some of the landmarks captured in the album include the Melbourne Town Hall, General Post Office of Melbourne, Government House and House of Parliament, Melbourne; as well as the Post Office in Lauceston, Tasmania, and Cataract Gorge, Lauceston, Tasmania. The album includes two photographs are of Indigenous people. The first photo shows two bearded Indigenous men both holding long spears and wearing loin cloths, standing in front of a painted backdrop. The second photo entitled "Group of Australian Natives" shows an Indigenous group of various ages with both genders in European dress, including two men holding boomerangs.

Most photographs include a caption beneath, and are signed and/or stamped by Australian photographers Stephen Spurling II and Charles Rudd.

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