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Details



Print
825772
  • Title
    Glass plate negatives forming part of the panorama of Sydney Harbour and its suburbs taken from the tower of Holtermann's residence in St Leonards
  • Call number
    XR 45a
    XR 45b
    XR 46
  • Level of description
    file
  • Date

    1875
  • Type of material
  • Reference code
    825772
  • Issue Copy
    Digitised
  • Physical Description
    3 negatives - glass - 160 x 96.5 cm or smaller
  • ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

    These three glass plate negatives form part of a set of four large wet plate negatives that constituted a panorama of Sydney Harbour and suburbs.

    Intended for display at International Exhibitions they were made by the professional photographer Charles Bayliss with the help of Bernhardt Holtermann, and taken from Holtermann’s purpose-built camera in the tower of his mansion in North Sydney.

    Two were 160 x 96.5 cm (5.1 ft x 3.08 ft) and formed a panorama of Sydney Harbour from Garden Island to Millers Point. The other two were 136 x 95 cm (4.4 x 3.1 feet) and were of the Harbour Lavender Bay and Fort Macquarie and Berry’s Bay and Goat Island.

    References:
    Wikipedia. "Holtermann collection". Last modified October 3, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holtermann_collection
    "The Largest Photographs in the World", Illawarra Mercury, November 5, 1875, p. 4
    Crombie, Isobel. 1985. The Holtermann panorama : Sydney in 1875, Australian National Gallery Canberra, PXD 533/no. 451
  • Scope and Content
    Three large collodion wet plate negatives from the Holtermann panorama of Sydney Harbour and its suburbs by Bernard Otto Holtermann and his assistant Charles Bayliss

    XR 45a
    View of Sydney Harbour from Pyrmont, Goat Island to Mort Bay, 1875
    Includes positive and negative image
    1.35 x 0.9 metres

    XR 45b
    View of Sydney Harbour and Lavender Bay from Garden Island to Bennelong Point and Government House, with St Leonards Public School in the foreground, 1875
    Includes positive and negative image
    1.35 x 0.9 metres

    XR 46
    View of Sydney Harbour and Lavender Bay from Garden Island to Circular Quay, with St Leonards Public School in the foreground, 1875.
    151.7cm x 96.5cm
    Includes a copy negative, reconstructed negative, digitally restored image by UTS, positive and negative images
    1.60 x 0.9 metres
  • Access Conditions

    Access via appointment
  • Copying Conditions
    Out of copyright:
    Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
  • Finding Aids
  • General note

    These items are listed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, as 'Giant Glass Plate Negatives of Sydney Harbour'.
    35 mm negative copies available at: ONCY 25: Box 55 (i,ii, iii)
    5 x 4 inch negative copies available at: FM2/1424-FM2/1426

    These three images are believed to form part of a panorama of Sydney Harbour, this is unconfirmed as a middle section appears to be missing. See Also items PXA 4999/Box 61 nos. A-J for panorama of a similar view.

    Copy Prints available at PXA 4999/Box 55 (i, ii, iii)
    Digital order no:Album ID : 997103
  • Conservation note

    XR 46 was broken in 1980; the copy at FM2/1426 was taken before it broke.

    The broken negative was reassembled by the Collection Care Branch in 2016 and digitised.

    The Library also collaborated with University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Big Global Data Technologies Centre to create a reconstructed digital image using artificial intelligence mapping techniques.

    The silver gelatin copy print is held at ML 849. The contact print has been coloured to resemble an albumen print.
  • Creator/Author/Artist
  • Subject
  • Topic
  • Place
  • Exhibited in

    ONE hundred : celebrating the Mitchell Library centenary - State Library of New South Wales (9 March - 16 June, 2010). Applies to: XR 45a
    UNESCO Six - State Library of New South Wales (October 2018 - May 2019)
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