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GYMPIE, Queensland |
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This site was created
15 August 1999 and was last updated 10 September 2006
© Marcel Safier 2001-2006 |
| Index
of Photographers and Studios listed on this site: Acme Studio Adair & Co Henry Anson Aspinall A. Bell Bell Studios Agrippa Bevan Thomas Bevan Bond Studio Hugo Durietz James W. Fegan Edward H. Forster Francis Gympie Portrait Rooms Lawson Insley Nelson IXL Studio Thomas Mathewson Jack Monks Fred Murray Murray Studios Poul Poulsen G. E. Richards Tosca Arthur Lamb Walker Joey Way |
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A
History of Photography in Gympie
still under construction... |
| EARLY PHOTOGRAPHERS/STUDIOS | ||||
| STUDIO/PHOTOGRAPHERS NAME | ADDRESS OF OPERATION | DATES ACTIVE | NOTES incl. types of photographs produced | |
| Lawson Insley | travelling photographer | 1860 | Originally from Sydney where he took daguerreotypes,
later travelled in New South Wales, then Queensland. Operated in Brisbane,
Ipswich and then moved north.
ambrotypes |
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| Thomas Mathewson | travelling photographer | 1868 | Later worked with his brother Peter in the
long running firm of Mathewson & Co in Queen St, Brisbane. Peter's
sons also ran studios in Charter's Towers and Mackay. A great dynasty of
Queensland photographers.
cartes de visite |
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| Henry Anson | 1868 | Anson of the photographic firm Anson and
Francis travelled up from Adelaide in search of gold, initially finding
employment with Muller (q.v.), then set about photographing the Gympie goldfields
and town but eventually returned to his wife and family in Adelaide and
resumed photography there in partnership with Francis.
cartes de visite |
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| Thomas Bevan | Mary St | 1870-1894 | Previously worked in Adelaide, Melbourne and
Brisbane. Bevan's studio was the longest running in Gympie in the 19th
century and passed to his son Agrippa (see below) cartes de visite, cabinet photos |
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| Edward H. Forster | 1876-1879 | Previously in Maryborough
where he operated a branch of the American & Australian Photo Co. Forster
returning to Maryborough after his tenure in Gympie certes de visite |
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| Hugo Durietz | Mary St | 1879-1882 | Swedish photographer who also worked as a
draftsman and in the dairy industry in Gympie.
cartes de visite |
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| G. E. Richards
(Gympie Portrait Rooms, IXL Studio) |
Mary St | 1884-1893 | After Bevan, Richards was one of the longer
serving Gympie photographers of the 19th century. cartes de visite, cabinet photos |
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| Agrippa Bevan | Young St Mary St |
1889 1896-1912 |
Son of the above Thomas Bevan cartes de visite, cabinet photos |
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| Joey Way | Mary St | 1892-1893 1898 |
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| Adair & Co | Mary St | 1895-1896 | cabinet photos | |
| Aspinall | ||||
| Francis | ||||
| Poul Poulsen | Kent St | 1890s | A branch studio set up by Poul Poulsen of
Queen St , Brisbane and run by his brother Anders. This studio employed
the Poulsen's cousin Ethel Hill who married photographer Arthur Walker
who also worked in the studio. Fred Murray (see below) was employed in this studio
at one time and is believed to have purchased Poulsen's negatives, some
of which he later published as postcards.
cabinet photos |
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| Acme Studio | 1896 | |||
| Tosca | Mary St | 1897-1911 | A branch of the Tosca studio operation that
included studios in Brisbane, Charters Towers,
Rockhampton, Townsville and Sydney. cabinet photos |
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| Bond Studio | 190? | cabinet photos | ||
| Arthur Lamb Walker | A marital relation of the Poulsens in whose studio he worked for a while. Operated his own studio for a time but further details not yet known. | |||
| James W. Fegan | 1906 | Fegan, previously from Port Pirie in South
Australia opened a studio in Brisbane in 1897 and later opened a branch in
Gympie that was managed by Fred Murray (see below) mounted photos |
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| Fred Murray
(Murray Studios) |
Mary St | 1906-1945 | Murray initially worked for Poul Poulsen in
Brisbane, then Fegan in his Brisbane studio, then managed Fegan's branch studio
in Gympie. Murray set up for himself in 1906 as a studio photographer and postcard publisher, mainly of the
real photo type. He opened a branch studio in Queen St, Brisbane around 1917
that operated in opposition to Fegan.
In 1945 the business was taken over by Murray's nephews Tom and Sam and expanded into
the production of postcard folders and other printed souvenir material and it continues
to operate
as Murray's Views, but the studio photography side of the business has long
since been sold from the family and still continues to trade.
postcard photos and various mounted types |
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| A. Bell (Bell Studios) |
1913-1915 | postcard photos | ||
| Jack Monks | postcard photos | |||
| Nelson | 1916-1919 | postcard photos | ||
| EARLY POST CARD PUBLISHERS | ||||
| PUBLISHER/SERIES | DATES PRODUCED | NOTES | ||
| Coloured Shell Series | 1905-1914 | Series of Queensland views, publishers details unknown. | ||
| Intelligence and Tourism Bureau, Brisbane | c.1905-1915 | Titles:
A View of Gympie From Court House Tower |
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| James W. Fegan | 1906 | Printed B&W views of Gympie | ||
| Fred Murray
(Murray Studios, Murray Views) |
1906-1945 | Produced many real photo postcards of Gympie as well of all other parts of Queensland and NSW as well as postcards of local business people, theatrical groups, sports teams and sportsmen. | ||
| Notes:
Some of the year ranges stated may not be complete as
the information is limited to what has appeared in trade directories and
newspapers and what was written on photos. Trade directory entries took
some months to appear in print, and businesses opening after publication
date did not appear until the next issue. The above list should be reasonably
complete for photographers who established studios in Maryborough but may
be deficient in coverage of travelling/itinerant photographers who
visited the region as they often left little record of their activities
although sometimes they did announce their arrival in a local newspaper.
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| Sources:
Private research by site author through contacting the
descendants of photographers. Most of the photographs studied and
used on this site are from my private collection.
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| Thankyou to Sandy Barrie, Harry & Ken Poulsen, Nancy Edwards, Liz Smith, Jack Mathewson, Glen Durietz, Robert J. Noye, Gympie Library, Murray Views | ||||
| Anyone with further information about the above photographers or with names of and information about other photographers not listed is welcome to contact me. Due to the large number of such requests I am no longer able to date your photos personally. If you are seeking historical photos of Gympie I would suggest the organisations listed below or the John Oxley Library in Brisbane as my collection consists mainly of family portraiture. | ||||
| GUIDE TO PHOTOGRAPH TYPES | |
| Daguerreotype | Invented by Louis Daguerre in 1837 and introduced to the world in 1839 developed in parallel with the calotype, the other tying first form of photograph. The daguerreotype was produced on highly buffed silver coated on to a brass plate and cannot be easily viewed unless turned at the right angle. The image was mounted under a brass mat and glass and placed in a leather bound folding case (imported from the USA, France or England) or sometimes framed. Ninth, sixth, quarter and half plate sizes were the most popular - the former two being those most commonly found. |
| Ambrotype | Underexposed and sometimes bleached photographic negative on glass backed by black paper, dark velvet or black paint directly on the plate to make the negative appear positive. This was then mounted in a brass frame and placed in a papier-mâché or leather bound folding case or sometimes framed. Ninth, sixth and quarter plate sizes were all popular - half and full plate images are sometimes seen. |
| Carte de Visite | Paper photograph from glass plate negative mounted on card board mount 2 1/2" x 4" - popular from 1861-c.1895 |
| Cabinet Photo | Paper photograph from glass plate negative mounted on card board mount 4 1/4" x 6 1/2" - popular from mid 1870s-c.1905 |
| Tintype | Small postage stamp sized photograph on metallic tin usually mounted in carte de visite sized cardboard frame (gem tintype) or unmounted carte de visite sized photo on tin (2½" x 3½"plate) - popular 1879-1885 |
| Opalotype | Photograph on white opaque "milk" or "opal" glass. Commonly 12" x 14" and framed. |
| Postcard Photo | Photograph on paper with printed post card back, so that it could be mailed if desired taking advantage of the penny post. This paper was used by professionals (where it was mainly used for studio portraiture or for views specifically for the postcard market) and by amateurs alike. Size 5" x 3 1/2" |
| Gympie and district historical organisations/libraries/museums and internet links: | |
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Gympie Historical &
Mining Museum
215 Brisbane Rd GYMPIE QLD |
The Museum houses a vast collection of documentation, artefacts and photographs from the discovery of gold in 1867 by James Nash. |
| Gympie Library
8-14 Mellor St GYMPIE QLD Phone: (07) 5481 0859 Fax: (07) 5482 1205 Email: library@cooloola.qld.gov.au |
The Gympie Library is the central branch, responsible for the
purchasing, processing of collections, and coordination of services for all of
the Cooloola Shire Libraries. The local history collection includes:
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