The Holtermann Collection photos - amazing details of gold rush days.

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Copper

Copper

Matt
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Follow link. As far as I can see so long as its for personal use you can save and print these. Very interesting insight into the days of old.

B.O. Holtermann archive of Merlin and Bayliss photographic prints of New South Wales and Victoria [picture].
between 1872 and 1888. 988 photographs : sepia toned ; 22.3 x 28.6 cm. and smaller

Click the link and see NSW and the goldfields from 1872.

http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.pic-vn4395104&chunk=1&x=16&y=12
 
Check these photos if you like to see what it really was like in gold rush days. You can zoom in so close that it's almost like you are there. You can zoom in to the windows of the shops and read the prices. That is amazing and the detail beats digital photos.
Thank got someone found the glass plate negatives. Apparently they were found in an old shed somewhere in Sydney.
Enjoy. :)

http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/society_art/photography/holtermann/
 
Some great photos in that collection, we are very lucky they were saved.
 
We are very lucky that Mr Holtermann hire the photographer to follow him around and document it. That's 1800's technology you are looking at. Pretty impressive. :)
 
My past life just flashed before me!......... (The second horse in the mud outside William Meare's Criterion Store ;) ).

A great find Beagleboy, I enjoyed viewing those.

The lads posing with those massive specimens from the 'Star of hope' mine.......you would think they would be smiling broadly, no one ever smiled in those old shots.

That bloke in the middle, Richard Ormsby Kerr, looks like he would disembowel anyone who dared touch them without approval. Hehe!

Cheers
 
Henry Beaufoy Merlin, I was always in awe looking at the old photos when visiting Hill End as a child..and still to this day. Amazing work.
Beaufoy Merlin receives a great amount of recognition by the tour guides of the various groups that run tours in Hill End..and rightly so.

Eventually he was killed by his profession, many years of inhaling fumes from potassium cyanide took its toll.

Thankfully Bernard Otto Holtermann had to vision to want to document the happenings of the old timers for us to see in latter years.
I for one appreciate the efforts of them both, along with Charles Bayliss...the assistant of Beaufoy Merlin.
 
Metamorphic said:
My past life just flashed before me!......... (The second horse in the mud outside William Meare's Criterion Store ;) ).

A great find Beagleboy, I enjoyed viewing those.

The lads posing with those massive specimens from the 'Star of hope' mine.......you would think they would be smiling broadly, no one ever smiled in those old shots.

That bloke in the middle, Richard Ormsby Kerr, looks like he would disembowel anyone who dared touch them without approval. Hehe!

Cheers
Click to expand...

Those days with the cameras they used the exposure took a long time. That's why you never see anyone smiling in very old photos. ;)
Did you try to zoom in on the details? You can see their clothes and everything else in such a detail. It's amazing. I am glad you enjoy them. :D
 
I love the history of Australia and it plays a big part in why I like prospecting. The other think that amazes me when you look at old pictures is the lack of trees and vegetations. There are no blackberries or any other rubbish weeds to be seen. They used timber for making stuff, building, heating and their steam engines. I believe the old timers looked after the land better than we do today in spite of the logging. There would not be so much bush fire danger like it is today with everything overgrown and un managed.
 
Beagleboy said:
Metamorphic said:
My past life just flashed before me!......... (The second horse in the mud outside William Meare's Criterion Store ;) ).

A great find Beagleboy, I enjoyed viewing those.

The lads posing with those massive specimens from the 'Star of hope' mine.......you would think they would be smiling broadly, no one ever smiled in those old shots.

That bloke in the middle, Richard Ormsby Kerr, looks like he would disembowel anyone who dared touch them without approval. Hehe!

Cheers
Click to expand...

Those days with the cameras they used the exposure took a long time. That's why you never see anyone smiling in very old photos. ;)
Did you try to zoom in on the details? You can see their clothes and everything else in such a detail. It's amazing. I am glad you enjoy them. :D
Click to expand...

I zoomed...checking out how much I could see.
You can nearly read their minds....superb quality images.
 
Holtermann used huge plates for his photos and this will explain the high resolution. When Holtermann built his estate and mansion in North Sydney part of the mansion was a tower where he spent time taking panoramic photos of the Sydney skyline. The camera used for this work used plates of 5' x 3' (rumoured to be the largest available) and it would not have been easy dragging them or the camera up the narrow stairs inside the tower, an equivalent of six storeys. The tower with its original stair case and viewing platform still exists and is part of Shore School now.
 
Quite a few years ago a mate bought an old house in Sydney. Amongst other interesting things in there was a copy of the Holtermann Sydney Panorama 1875 taken from his tower. Measuring about 4'6"x2' on hardboard, it has the full panorama of 23 plates along the bottom and enlarged plates 7-11 across the top.

Mate was going to throw it out, has no sense of nostalgia.
It now happily hangs from our dining room wall and always a source of interest to visitors.

I also have the 3 volumes of The Hill End Story (Harry Hodge) which has many good reproductions of the photographic work of Beaufoy Merlin.

In the late 80's NPWS decided to lease quite a few of the old Hill End cottages. We contemplated this, but the conditions were too onerous. Still have the catalogue around somewhere.
The infamous Tim Moore was the then Minister.

Mike
 
I guy I used to work with showed me some photos or prints of a photos about 15 years ago of the Holterman nugget that he had showing some if his relative's that were involved in the discovery of the nugget. I wasn't into prospecting or history at the time and just glimpsed at the photo's, now I wish I paid more attention to them. :(
 

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