NEW PUBLICATION. – The Hay Historical Society is proud to announce
the publication of Rene: Photographer of Hay, a stunning collection
of the best photographs of Miss Irene Brown, one of Hay's most renowned
photographers. Rene Brown's work shows scenes of Hay and district in the
1920s and 1930s, and includes many of her views of the 1931 floods, as
well as pictures of people, events and historical happenings. Photographs
previously held by the National Gallery in Canberra are included, some
of them never before publicly shown. Rene is 72 pages in length,
A4 in size, and printed on high quality art paper. It is a limited edition,
and sure to be a collector's delight. The cost
of Rene: Photographer of Hay is $25 (plus $5 for postage and handling within Australia).
More information can be found here.
RECOMMENDED READING. – A scholarly article, written by Don Boadle
(Director of the Charles Sturt University Regional Archives), interrogates
the "link between the kinds of writing an historian does and the kind of
archival records he or she acquires and preserves". Boadle’s paper, entitled
‘The historian as archival collector: an Australian local study’, focuses
on the writing of local Wagga historian Keith Swan (1916-1996) and the
collections he created for the Wagga Wagga and District Historical Society
and Charles Sturt University. The paper was originally published in March
2003 of AARL (Australian Academic & Research Libraries), Volume 34
No. 1. The full text of the article can be found at http://alia.org.au/publishing/aarl/34.1/full.text/boadle.html
ASPECTS OF HISTORY: HAY AND DISTRICT.
EARLY PHOTOGRAPHERS AT HAY.
Introduction
By the 1860s the pre-eminent photographic technique involved the production of a glass negative using the wet-plate collodion process. The wet-plate method achieved the detail of the earlier daguerreotypes, with the added advantage of a reproducible negative of superior quality to the paper calotype negative. The wet-plate process was also cheaper than the earlier methods, allowed for substantially reduced exposure times and attained a greater nuance of light and shade. The drawback with wet-plate photography was the intricate process involved in the preparation of the glass photographic plate prior to exposure. The plate was coated with collodion (nitrocellulose, or gun-cotton, dissolved in alcohol and ether), combined with chemicals such as iodide and bromide salts. In a darkroom, while the collodion was still wet, the plate was bathed in silver nitrate, which binds with the iodide and bromide to form a light-sensitive silver-halide coating. The photograph needed to be taken within the space of two or three minutes while the plate remained wet (most surviving plates have the photographer’s thumb print in one corner).
 |
The wet-plate was placed then in a light-proof holder, taken from the darkroom and fitted into a slot at the back of the camera (see picture). After the exposure of the image in the camera the plate was taken back to the darkroom, where a developer solution (usually iron sulphate and acetic acid) was poured over it, converting the exposed silver-halide grains to metallic silver. The unexposed silver-halide was removed by immersing the plate in fixing-agent, and the glass plate was varnished to preserve the image. The resulting glass negative enabled multiple photographic prints to be made. Initially only contact prints were produced (of the size of the original negative), but during the 1870s devices to enable negative enlargement became available. Travelling photographers needed to carry chemicals and accessories (including the glass plates), and have access to some form of darkroom (often a covered waggon or a portable bag-like device on a stand). The required equipment and the number of steps involved in the preparation of the glass plate made outdoor photography troublesome. Many photographers devised their own variations to the methods and chemicals used, though the process of wet-plate photography was essentially as described above. |
Early efforts to develop dry photographic glass plates were hampered by the long exposure times that were required. During the 1870s advances in dry-plate technology, using a gelatine-based emulsion combined with cadmium bromide and sensitised with silver nitrate, reduced exposure times significantly. By the end of the decade dry-coated glass plates had supplanted wet-collodion plates in Europe. In Australia evidence suggests the transition to dry-plate photography took place during the 1880s as technical information was disseminated amongst photographers and mass-produced plates became available. One of the first manufacturers of dry-plates in Australia was Thomas Baker of Melbourne who, in 1884, began selling the plates he had been making for himself.
During the first period of Hay’s existence there is no direct evidence of photographers at the township, though there were photographers at the nearby established township of Deniliquin during this time. Names gleaned from references and advertisements in the Pastoral Times are:
| Harry Houdin "a photographer and vocalist by profession" [27 January
1860, 3(1)]
Mr. Kipling, photographer [8 April 1865, 3(1)] Mr. Beals, photographic room (advertisement) [28 April 1866, 3(4)] |
William Fearne: photographer from Wagga Wagga
In late July 1867 William Fearne, a photographer from Wagga Wagga, arrived at Hay and took portrait photographs during his visit.
| Mr. Fearnes, the well-known photographer, is staying amongst us for a few days only. We cannot speak too highly of his abilities as an artist. The lifelike portraits which we have seen speak for themselves, and remind us of the old proverb that "Good wine needs no bush." [‘Hay Intelligence’, dated 30 July 1867, Pastoral Times, 3 August 1867, 2(6)] |
No photograph from William Fearne’s visit to Hay is known to exist, though a description of an image (almost certainly taken by Fearne) has been recorded. A photograph of Thomas Simpson’s cottage, workshop and storage shed located on "a portion of the Wharf Reserve" is described in an article about Simpson, published in the Riverine Grazier, 4 February 1955:
| [The] photograph shows three orderly and commodious weatherboard buildings, the verandahed house having a shingled roof; the smithy a combination of shingles and corrugated iron; and the newer storage shed what appears to be a plain iron roof. Eight men and one woman are standing in front of the cottage in attitudes characteristic of the day, the men, with one exception, with folded arms or hands on hips,and the woman with arms primly at her sides. The one departure from the customary stances is reclining against a small, white picket fence with arms falling loosely, in an attitude many years ahead of his time. Pulled up before the smithy are six horses in a team harnessed to a waggon loaded with bales of wool. Underneath the sign above the smithy, "T. Simpson, Blacksmith, Wheelwright," there is another "Lemon, the King’s galvanised iron worker." A fish trap is in evidence, and also three mobile water tanks. Needless to state, there is the ever-present dog. |
| Though a copy of this photograph apparently existed in 1955, it is unfortunately not known to exist today. A copy of the photograph was included with a petition sent to the New South Wales Minister of Lands by Thomas Simpson. Simpson had been residing at Lang’s Crossing-place since December 1857 when he began erecting his cottage and blacksmith’s shop. Since the first sale of land at Hay in October 1859 Simpson at various times had made efforts to obtain freehold title to the land upon which his buildings stood. The petition on this occasion was dated 20 July 1867 and signed by over fifty townspeople of Hay in support of Thomas Simpson’s claim. Simpson’s accompanying letter, outlining the history of his case, concluded: |
| If the Government should object to my being allowed to purchase the two acres of land for which I applied I shall be content with a fair and reasonable quantity, such quantity to embrace a frontage to Lachlan Street and to include my improvements. [quoted in the article in Riverine Grazier, 4 February 1955] |
| Simpson’s petition (or memorial) was reported in the same issue of the Pastoral Times as William Fearne’s visit to Hay. |
| A memorial has been numerously signed, addressed to the Minister of Lands, requesting him to permit Mr. Thomas Simpson to purchase the ground adjoining the Wharf Reserve, and on which his residence and blacksmith’s shop are erected. We trust the prayer of the memorial may be granted. Mr. Simpson may be looked upon as the founder of Hay, and it would be hard if he were not permitted to purchase the small quantity of land he is applying for and which can in no way interfere with the interests of the townspeople, part of it being subject to inundation. [‘Hay Intelligence’, dated 30 July 1867, Pastoral Times, 3 August 1867, 2(6)] |
William Fearne is listed as a photographer in Fitzmaurice Street, Wagga
Wagga in Grevilles Post Office Directory for 1872.
[see also Newsletter V for further information about William Fearne]
"Public Men of Hay in 1869"
In September 1868 advertisements appear in successive issues of the Pastoral Times for the photographer W. H. Oliver at Hay [5 September 1868; 12 September 1868]. Oliver’s photographic studio adjoined the store of the jeweller and watchmaker John Henry Bates, whose store was located beside Tattersall’s Hotel in Lachlan Street [Pastoral Times, 24 October 1868]. It is not known whether W.H. Oliver was still at Hay in February 1869 when Bates’ store was destroyed by fire (resulting in the death of Jessie, the wife of J. H. Bates). In the account of the fire it was recorded that some of Bates’ property, including a photographic room, were pulled down in order to prevent the fire from spreading to the adjoining Tattersall’s Hotel [Pastoral Times, 13 February 1869, 2(6); 20 February 1869, 2(5)]. It has not yet been determined whether J. H. Bates himself was a photographer, making use of these facilities.
During 1869 a group of 31 oval-shaped portrait photographs entitled "Public Men of Hay in 1869" were compiled. The ‘head-and-shoulders’ portraits are of prominent men of the township. The photographer of these portraits is open to conjecture. If the photographs were taken before mid-February 1869 the photographer may have been W. H. Oliver (if he was still at Hay) or perhaps John Henry Bates. The labelled portraits have a few of the names misspelt, suggesting that the compilation may not have been the work of a local photographer. It is possible that William Fearne, on a subsequent visit from Wagga Wagga, was the photographer, or perhaps J. B. Jefferson from Deniliquin [advertisement, Pastoral Times, 8 May 1869, 1(7)]. Another possibility is that the portraits "Public Men of Hay in 1869" were taken by Henry Geyer, soon after his arrival at Hay from Bourke in 1869. As a newcomer to the township it is feasible Geyer may have been unfamiliar with the spelling of several of the men’s names.
[Two of the portraits from "Public Men of Hay in 1869" are reproduced on the following web-pages here (Frank Johns) and here (Thomas Simpson)]
Henry Geyer
[Unless otherwise stated the information
and quotes derive from the article ‘The legacy of Henry Geyer’, published
in the Riverine Grazier on 28 August 2002 (page 11), and based on
research by Gloria Lumley.]
Heinrich Christian Fredrich Geyer was born in 1822 at Lautenthal-am-Hartz in Germany, the son of Erebert Geyer. He migrated to Australia on the SS Herjeebhoy Rustomjee Patel with several other German families in 1846. Heinrich Geyer lived in the Burra region of South Australia (possibly working in the copper mines).
| It would appear… that Henry’s mining experience at Burra and other places was in engineering work, and he may well have come to Australia with engineering qualifications. |
Heinrich Geyer married Johanna Henrietta ("Fredericka") Knippert at Blakiston (?). The couple lived at Mount Gambier in South Australia where they had four children: Wilhelmina (born on 26 June 1853 at Mount Gambier); Harty; Julia (born at Mount Gambier); and another child who possibly died as an infant in 1857. Fredericka Geyer was ill for some time prior to her death in 1857. During his wife’s illness Heinrich Geyer employed a young woman called Anne Coghlan to care for his young children. Fredericka Geyer died early in 1857, possibly during childbirth. Later that year Heinrich ("Henry") Geyer and Anne ("Annie") Coghlan were married. Between the years 1858 to 1880 Henry and Annie Geyer had ten children: Anne (born in 1858 at Mount Gambier); Henrietta (born in 1860 at Mount Gambier); Victoria N.; Mary Catherine (born in 1864 at Echuca, Victoria); Erchert (or Erebert) (born in 1869 at Bourke, NSW); William (born in 1871 at Hay); Humphrey (born in 1873 at Hay); Matilda (born in 1875 at Hay); Christina Frances (born in 1878 at Hay); and, Godfrey (born in 1880 at Hay).
Henry and Annie Geyer lived at Mount Gambier until at least 1862. In 1864 the couple’s fourth child was born at Echuca, after which the Geyer family lived at various places along the Darling River.
| [The family] lived in Victoria for a time, and then went to the NSW outback – Wilcannia, Bourke and "Netley" station. Anne became a well-known mid-wife and from the west Darling country they moved ‘inside’ to settle in Hay. |
Geyer placed the following advertisement in the first issue of the Hay Standard (1 November 1871):
| H. GEYER, WATCHMAKER, JEWELER AND PHOTOGRAPHER, Lachlan Street, Hay. Whilst thanking his patrons for their support, trusts by attention and moderate charges, to still merit their favours. Wedding rings and keepers made by order to FIT. |
In May 1872 a newspaper item recorded that Geyer had taken a photograph of the Hay Bridge, at that stage in the course of construction.
| HAY BRIDGE. – Mr. Geyer, the local artist, has taken a photograph of the new bridge works, 8 x 10". It is exceedingly well done, and makes a beautiful landscape picture. [Hay Standard, 22 May 1872] |
In August 1872 Geyer wrote a letter to the Hay Standard complaining of the behaviour of a local police constable:
| SIR, – I wish to enquire what is the duty of the police in this township. A person came into my shop one Monday morning in a state of intoxication. Whilst speaking to him a police constable came past, and on my telling him to take the person away from my premises, he immediately said that if I did not hold my noise he would lock me up. If this is the way persons are to be treated by those who ought to protect the people, it is about time something should be done. HENRY GEYER. [Hay Standard, 28 August 1872] |
On 15 February 1874 Henry Geyer’s daughter Wilhelmina married James Hurst, a local stockman. The marriage was performed by the Presbyterian minister, S.A. Hamilton. [Marriage registration – James Hurst & Wilhelmina Geyer (Hay 1874); Riverine Grazier, 18 February 1874, 2(2)]
In August 1875 Henry Geyer branched into engineering and the erection of mechanical equipment at Hay.
| Henry Geyer begs to inform the public
that he is prepared to undertake the erection of Wool Presses, Pumps (hydraulic and others), Windmills, &c. Henry Geyer having had 25 years of practice as an engineer, will inspect the place, make plans for the erection of any of the above named and will contract for same, guaranteeing all work
that may be entrusted to him to complete. Testimonials of efficiency – David Power, Esq., Mt. Gambier, SA, Messrs. Broadmill and Carter, near Mt. Gambier, Messrs. Rochfort and Fisher, Mt. Shank, SA, Mr. Carter, Mosquito Plains, SA and many others for whom work of the above description have been erected by HENRY GEYER, Lachlan Street, Hay. [Riverine Grazier, 4 August 1875] |
On 23 October 1876 Humphrey, the three year-old son of Henry and Anne Geyer, died at Hay of "convulsions", from which he had suffered for 24 hours. Dr. H. Macmullen attended to him during the illness. The child was buried on 24 October in the Hay cemetery. [Death registration – Humphrey Geyer (Hay 1876)]
The construction during 1877 of the new Australian Joint Stock Bank, on the corner of Lachlan and Bank Streets, provided a new vantage point for photography, allowing spectacular views of the township from its 45 feet high parapet. During September 1877 a correspondent from Hay sent a copy of a photograph taken from the AJS Bank to the Town and Country Journal to accompany an article about Hay. The photograph, probably taken by Henry Geyer, shows the township viewed to the south along Lachlan Street towards the newly constructed bridge (this image illustrates the home-page of the Hay Historical Society web-site). An engraving of the photograph was used to illustrate the published article:
| I send you a photo, of our main street…, taken from the parapet of the A.J.S. Bank, and showing Esplin’s Hotel [Tattersall’s], and with a view taken from the walls of the one reflecting the proportions of as handsome an hotel as can be seen out of a city. I may also add that Cobb and Co. have a large factory here, and have removed the plant from Deniliquin to here. [Town and Country Journal, 13 October 1877, p. 600] |
On 4 March 1878 Julia, Henry Geyer’s daughter by his first marriage, married George Welton, a labourer, at Henry Geyer’s house at Hay. Witnesses to the marriage were Henry Geyer and the bride’s sister Wilhelmina Hurst. [Marriage registration – George Welton & Julia Geyer (Hay 1878)]
In mid-1879 Henry Geyer was recorded as taking a series of photographs of district homesteads [Riverine Grazier, 26 July 1879]. Later in the year Geyer exhibited photographs of Hay at the Sydney International Exhibition held in the Botanical Gardens (which opened on 17 September 1879).
| [Geyer] was awarded a Medal ["Commended"], and the citation reads "For his photographs of Hay". |
| Henry Geyer had an impeccable reputation as a photographer of Hay. |
| The list of photographs accredited to him include Tattersall’s Hotel going to its second storey 1877, Cobb & Co. factory built 1877, Westpac Bank completed 1878, old Bank of NSW built 1878 (demolished 1933), Temple Chambers built 1886 for Mr. Trevena, present Post Office completed December 1882, London Bank built 1891 (finished after his death), old Telegraph Office demolished 1895 (Lands Board office site). |
Henry Geyer’s premises in Lachlan Street were immediately north of the Crown Hotel in Lachlan Street [1879 Water Rates listing, Riverine Grazier, 18 January 1879]. In June 1886 it was announced that Henry Geyer had "reopened his photographic studio – See advt." [Riverine Grazier, 25 June 1886, 2(2)]
Henry Geyer died on 17 March 1891 at Hay after "a long-protracted period of suffering", aged about 69 years.
| This afternoon, after a series of painful illnesses, the result of a stone in the bladder, Mr. H. Geyer, breathed his last. Mr. Geyer was one of Hay’s oldest residents, having arrived here prior to 1870. His death must have been a welcome release from a long-protracted period of suffering. [Obituary – Henry Geyer (Riverine Grazier, March 1891)] |
In 1892 Victoria, daughter of Henry and Annie Geyer, married Thomas L. Davies at Narrandera. Victoria and Thomas Davies settled in Western Australia when new gold-fields were discovered there. "Several years" after her husband’s death Annie Geyer also moved to Western Australia.
| Anne set up a Midwife’s Lying-In facility in Adelaide Terrace, Perth, until she retired. |
Henry Thompson Davidson
Henry Thompson Davidson and his brother Charles arrived at Hay in the early 1870s, possibly during 1873. Both the Davidson brothers were employees of the Australian Joint Stock Bank during their period at Hay, working as bank-clerks under the manager James Macgregor. Henry T. Davidson had been employed in the Wagga Wagga branch of the A.J.S. Bank previous to his arrival at Hay. James Macgregor later recalled Henry's first job at the Wagga branch: "he was raw from school then, but he speedily mastered the routine of banking business and became an expert in accuracy of details, beauty of finish, and promptitude" [Riverine Grazier, 10 June 1874, 2(4)].
Henry and Charles Davidson were the younger sons of the large family of Alexander Davidson and his wife Anne (née McCallum) of "Bullenbong" station, 30 miles west of Wagga Wagga. Alexander Davidson had arrived at the district in 1843 with his wife and two children and their possessions in a bullock waggon. Davidson and his partner George Robertson took up 22,400 acres of country along Bullenbong Creek in early 1844. By 1856 Davidson had purchased his partner’s interest. As the district developed with the township of Wagga Wagga its hub, "Bullenbong" became an overnight stopping place for coaches, and Alexander Davidson took advantage of this by building a hotel, stables and blacksmith shop just west of Bullenbong Creek at the intersection of the Lockhart and French Park Roads. [‘Davidson’s Bullenbong’ by Ray Bergmeier]
Unlike William Fearne, W. H. Oliver and Henry Geyer, each of whom derived at least part of their livelihood from photography, Henry Thompson Davidson was probably an amateur photographer. As a young gentleman from a well-established squatting family Davidson probably had the means to pursue such a hobby.
| As was the case in England, the first amateurs [in Australia] tended to be affluent, educated men and women who regarded photography as the ideal hobby because it offered the challenge of science in its technical difficulty, the pleasures of art in the choice and arrangement of subject matter, and also appealed to the empiricist’s penchant for collecting and ordering the visible world… By the 1860s and 1870s people from a wider spectrum of society were taking up photography as a hobby. [Willis, 1988] |
 |
Several of H.T. Davidson’s photographs taken during his residence at Hay have survived, including this image facing north towards the wharves adjacent to the Wharf Reserve (near the present Hay Tennis Courts). The photograph was taken near where the punt was located at Hay. This photograph has an especially pleasing composition with its rhythmic sweep of river-bank and the seated figure near the water on the bottom-right. |
In addition to photography Henry Davidson played cricket at Hay (as did his brother Charles). The Davidson brothers represented Hay on several occasions, playing in teams consisting of middle-class townsmen and young men from local squatter families. In February 1874 a team from Hay played Deniliquin (with a return match held on 25 May 1874) [Riverine Grazier, 25 February 1874, 2(3), 20 May 1874, 2(2); 27 May 1874, 2(3)]. On Saturday, 4 April 1874 a match was played at Hay "between an eleven of Hay, and a like number from Oxley".
| The weather was fine, and the ground was in tolerably fair order considering the recent heavy rains. [Riverine Grazier, 8 April 1874, 2(5)] |
Henry and Charles Davidson left Hay in June 1874 "to go into possession of a station purchased for them by their father".
| Alexander Davidson purchased Mandamah West near the present site of Barmedman for two sons in 1874 [A History of Wagga Wagga by Keith Swan (1970), page 99]. |
| A supper to honour the departing Davidson brothers was held at the Caledonian Hotel on 5 June 1874. |
| Mr. James MacGregor, of the Australian Joint Stock Bank, Hay, gave a supper to a number of friends and influential townsmen, on the occasion of Messrs. H. and C. Davidson leaving the bank under his management, to go into possession of a station purchased for them by their father. About thirty gentlemen sat down at the Caledonian Hotel, to one of those elegant repasts which Host Cox knows so well how to get up - which charm the eye, and delight the palate of the favoured guests. [Riverine Grazier, 10 June 1874, 2(4)] |
| The gathering included a number of speeches and toasts "drank with musical honours", during which both young men were presented with inscribed gold watches. A few days later an "extensively signed" testimonial was presented to the brothers: |
| Hay, N.S.W., June 8th, 1874. To Messrs. Henry Thompson and Charles McCallum Davidson. Dear Sirs, - It is with sentiments of regret that we have heard of your intention to quit the Australian Joint Stock Bank, in which services you have been so long and creditably employed, recognising your worth, and, independently of other testimonials to be borne to your merits, we are indisposed to allow of your going away from the branch at Hay, to enter on a new, and we would fain hope, a prosperous course, without inscribing this memorial of our esteem; accept our united assurances that your business zeal, unvarying courtesy, and many social excellencies displayed in your intercourses with us and all classes of the people, during your residence in Hay, have inspired us with the graceful wish that we may ever be considered as your friends. [Riverine Grazier, 10 June 1874, 2(4)] |
Henry T. Davidson married Catherine M. Lewis in 1886 (registered at Wagga Wagga). The couple’s only child died in infancy in 1887. Catherine Davidson died in 1900 at Wagga Wagga and Henry Thompson Davidson died in 1929 at Chatswood in Sydney.
John Hadley
Another photographer who lived at Hay in the mid-1870s was John Hadley, who was in partnership with James Bath. Hadley was born in London in 1834 and had arrived in Australia in 1856.
At this stage little else is known of Hadley and his partner James Bath, except that on 13 January 1877 John Hadley died at Hay. Hadley and Bath had probably arrived at Hay during the year or so before John Hadley's death. Hadley was aged 42 years and unmarried when he died. The cause of John Hadley’s death was recorded as "disease of the heart accelerated by taking chloral hydrate". Chloral hydrate is the oldest of the hypnotic depressants (sleeping pills). It was first used as a medicine in 1869 because of its effectiveness in inducing sleep, acting as a depressant on the central nervous system. However the drug had the potential be become addictive after continuous use.
| Sleep induced by the drug will usually last four to eight hours and the user will feel very few after-effects, but continued use of the drug can result in addiction if taken for months at a time. Taken in small doses chloral hydrate produces minor euphoria, relaxation, etc. Larger doses cause tiredness, slurred speech and disrupted and skewed thought-processes. Symptoms of an overdose may include deep stupor, dilation of blood vessels, a fall in blood pressure, low body temperature and slowed respiration. In a severe overdose, death usually occurs within 5 to 10 hours. ['Recreational Drugs Information' web-site] |
General References:
Frizot, Michel, ‘The Transparent Medium: From Industrial Product to the Salon des Beaux-Arts’ (in) Frizot, Michel (ed.), A New History of Photography, 1998, Könemann.
McCauley, Anne, ‘An Image of Society’ (in) Lemagny, Jean-Claude & Rouillé, André (eds.), A History of Photography: Social and Cultural Perspectives, 1986, Cambridge University Press.
Tarne, Con, The Mechanical Eye: A History of Australian Photography, 1977, Macleay Museum, University of Sydney.
Willis, Anne-Marie, Picturing Australia: A History of Photography, 1988, Angus and Robertson.
For further information about wet-plate collodion photography the following web-sites are recommended:
| "Wet Plate" Collodion Photography
‘Wet-plate photography’ ‘Making a Photograph During the Brady Era’ (animated) |
A selection of early photographs taken at Hay can be found on the Hay Historical Society’s CD-ROM, ‘Portrait of Hay’.