Reference: see Douglas Stewart Fine Books catalogue October 2017: WRIGHT, George Parkinson; and various other photographers
Queensland. Photographic views. [Cover title: Photographic views. Queensland]. [Brisbane : s.n., circa 1875]. Oblong folio photograph album, original full red morocco with gilt lettering and ornament (wear to corners and edges, leather splitting along spine), all edges gilt, marbled endpapers, [1] lithograph printed title page with contents list of 38 photographs (foxing, some silverfishing, small loss at bottom corner and tear along gutter), followed by 38 albumen print photographs of topographical views of Brisbane and Queensland, each 200 x 255 mm, individually mounted on the rectos only, with contemporary manuscript numbers in the lower margins that correspond to the numbered titles on the contents page; an additional [34] albumen prints in various large formats of a later nineteenth century date (between 1888 and 1890) were mounted on the versos by the album’s owner, which include thirteen uncaptioned views, possibly taken with a private camera, of the Darling Downs Pastoral Company station at Ayrshire Downs, near Winton, and views of Egypt, Malta and Gibraltar; the album leaves with foxing and occasional silverfishing, but the albumen prints in uniformly good condition, the majority being strong prints with excellent tonal range.
A number of the photographs in this souvenir album of Queensland views are attributable to pioneer Brisbane photographer George P. Wright; other copies of them are held either individually or within albums in Australian collections, most notably the John Oxley Library and the State Library of New South Wales. Wright established his business in James Street, Fortitude Valley in 1874, and worked in Brisbane up until 1883. Around 1875 he was appointed official Vice-Regal photographer. He produced a popular album containing original photographs titled Brisbane Illustrated (1875) (Oxley APU-43); a Photographic Panorama of Brisbane (1874-76) (Oxley APA-66); and an Intercolonial Exhibition Photograph Album (1876) (Oxley APU-34). However, we can trace no other extant example of an album with the title Queensland. Photographic views, or indeed any album with this particular configuration of 38 photographs. The present album is therefore unique in two respects: it not only appears to be a sole survivor of the original issue, but it also contains important additional photographic material – which may well be unrecorded – relating to the Winton district of Central West Queensland in the late 1880s.
It is likely that the album was originally purchased in Brisbane, either from George P. Wright or an agent, by a Queensland resident in the mid 1870s. A little over a decade later the owner added photographs from other sources, mounting them on the facing pages. The additional Queensland albumen prints appear to have been taken by the owner, using his own camera, while the others were clearly acquired on a voyage back to Europe. The first of these additional photographs is a view of the P & O passenger ship S.S. Oceana, which made its maiden voyage in 1888, and was presumably the ship on which the album’s owner made a voyage to Europe around 1890 or slightly earlier; the next thirteen photographs, also dating to the late 1880s, were all taken on and around the Darling Downs Pastoral Company station at Ayrshire Downs, near Winton, and show administrative staff, shearers, machinery, wool sorting, artesian bores, stock, and a local jockey mounted on a racehorse; there are also eleven views of Egypt, including the Suez Canal, Port Said and the pyramids at Giza, by Zangaki; three views of Malta, by Agius; five views of Gibralter (photographer unidentified); and a view of the P. & O. passenger ship S.S. Valetta, probably the owner’s vessel for the voyage back to Australia.
The printed captions for the 38 albumen prints of Queensland views dating to the 1870s, which include a wonderful image of Ingham’s boats and Aboriginal group on the Herbert River (16), are as follows:
1 Brisbane, from Kangaroo Point
2 Brisbane, from Kangaroo Point
3 Petrie’s Bight and Shipping
4 Brisbane, from Wickham Terrace
5 Victoria Bridge, Brisbane
6 North Quay, from William Street
7 Milton Reach and Toowong Road
8 Bowen, Centre View
9 Bowen, Centre View
10 Bowen, Right-hand View
11 Gowrie Creek
12 Beaudesert Scrub
13 Jimboomba Run, Beaudesert Road
14 Dalrymple Gap near Cardwell
15 Westminster Abbey, near Cardwell
16 Ingham’s Boats on the Herbert River
17 Mount Graham, Herbert River
18 Mount Cordelia, Herbert River
19 Fern Island, Botanic Gardens
20 Cycus Palm, Botanic Gardens
21 Bread Fruit and Date Palm Tree, Botanic Gardens
22 Coco Palm, Botanic Gardens
23 Cocas Plumosa Palm, &c., Botanic Gardens
24 Government Hose, from Botanic Gardens
25 Tropical Foliage, Fern Island, Botanic Gardens
26 Bottle Tree, Gladstone
27 Bunya Bunya Walk, Botanic Gardens
28 Terra Cottas and Foutain, Bowen Park
29 Macnade Sugar Plantation, Lower Herbert
30 Rocks
31 Bridge no. 58, Central Railway
32 Bridge no. 59, Goganjo Range ; length, 146 feet ; height, 50 feet
33 Bridge no. 60, Goganjo Range ; length, 230 feet ; height, 65 feet
34 Dawson Approaches – Elevation of Main Trusses, over ana-Branch
35 Dawson Valley, Bone Creek Bridge
36 Bridgewater Creek Bridge
37 Walton Creek Bridge
38 Comet Bridge
Publishing details:
Location: 1000