• Title
  Panorama of Hyde Park, Sydney / John Rae
• Creator
  John Rae, 1813-1900
• Call number
  ML 1591
  
• Level of description
  fonds
• Date
  
  probably 1890s
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Drawings, Watercolours, Photographs
• Reference code
  9668493
• Physical Description
  1 watercolour on 6 photographic prints - on paper mounted and stretched on linen, in oak frame with glass - 21 x 145 cm, in frame 42 x 166 cm
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  Born and educated in Aberdeen, Scotland, John Rae arrived in New South Wales in 1839 and was appointed by the newly formed Municipal Council as the city’s first full-time town clerk in 1843. He was a keen amateur artist and photographer who painted numerous watercolour townscapes in the 1840s. Rae produced his documentary images of Sydney using a small drawing aid known as a ‘camera obscura’, or sketching camera, which he constructed himself. Around 1893 a selection of Rae’s early watercolours were photographed and published in album format; he also hand-coloured a number of these photographs.
  
  References:
  Library correspondence file
  Australian Dictionary of Biography: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rae-john-4443 (Accessed 23 November 2022)
• Collection history
  O. E. Friend, Sydney (label attached verso) Sam Whitney, Sydney John Williams, Sydney, 28 August 2011, lot A28 Private collection, Sydney
• Scope and Content
  Six photographs, possibly salt paper prints, which have been overlapped and mounted on linen to form a 180-degree panorama of Hyde Park, viewed from Elizabeth Street, Sydney, New South Wales. The photographs have been hand-coloured with watercolour to mask the underlying photographic print which is barely visible.
• Access Conditions
  
  Access via appointment
• Copying Conditions
  Out of copyright:
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
• General note
  
  A label on the back of this copy of this panorama confirms its ownership by Sydney banking director and businessman, Mr Owen Esmond Friend (1881-1942), president of the Royal Historical Society from 1931-1933. An image of this work on display in Mr. Friend’s home is held by the National Library, and the item is listed in the catalogue of early Sydney pictures loaned by his widow for exhibition at History House in 1943 (DL 94/178).
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  Inscribed upper centre: 1842
  Inscribed lower centre: Hyde Park / Drawn with Camera by John Rae Town Clerk
  Inscribed upper left: Supreme Court and Watch House, St. James Anglican Church, General Hospital (now Mint), Hyde Park Barracks
  Inscribed upper centre: Campanile, Seminary, St. Mary's R.C. Cathedral, Markers Mill, Gerard's Mill, Victoria Terrace / John Alexander, Colonel Mundy, Judge Dickinson / Craigend Mill
  Inscribed upper right: The Museum, Darlinghurst Jail, Sydney College (now Grammar School), Hyde Park Terrace, Lyons Terrace
  Inscribed centre right: Prosper De Mestre / Liverpool St.
  Inscribed lower right: King / The Flying Pieman
  
  Also faintly visible on some parts is underlying print that would have been written on the negative.
• Date note
  
  Although the watercolours are dated 1842, some of the buildings depicted were not constructed until later in that decade, and it seems likely that Rae signed them retrospectively. Rae showed five of his panoramic sketches at the Calcutta International Exhibition (1883) and the Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition (1888-89), depicting areas in New South Wales including Newcastle and Wollongong, alongside his own contemporary photographic images, however it is not known if the Hyde Park panorama was also created and exhibited then. Retiring from his last public service position in 1893, Rae’s early views of Sydney were photographed and published in album format around this time (See Call Number ML F981.1/R (copy 2, 1891). See also items at Call Numbers DG SV*/Sp Coll/Rae/16-20).
  
  Reference:
  Library correspondence file
• Place
  Hyde Park (Sydney, N.S.W.)
  Supreme Court (Macquarie Street, Queens Square & Phillip Street, Sydney, N.S.W.)
  Hyde Park Barracks (Sydney, N.S.W.)
  General Hospital (Sydney, N.S.W.)
  Mint (Sydney, N.S.W.)
  St. Mary's Cathedral (Sydney, N.S.W.)
  St James' Church (Sydney, N.S.W.)
  St James' Vicarage (Macquarie Street, Sydney, N.S.W.)
  Australian Museum (Sydney, N.S.W.)
  Burdekin's Terrace (Elizabeth Street, Sydney, N.S.W.)
  Darlinghurst Gaol (N.S.W.)
  Lyons Terrace (Liverpool Street, Sydney, N.S.W.)
  Sydney Grammar School (College Street, Sydney, N.S.W.)
  Female School of Industry (Macquarie Street, Sydney, N.S.W.)
  Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary
  Elizabeth Street (Sydney, N.S.W.)
  Sydney (N.S.W.)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works.
  Sydney (N.S.W.)--Social life and customs--19th century.
  
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE21118133

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