Powerhouse Museum

A few seconds (!) earlier than this -

I think the date has to be ca. 1903-04...but I'm not quite 100% on that...we don't get to see the various date markers in good enough detail...

I think the earliest date has to be ca. mid 1903...

trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/165190993/16808491 - the Sydney Mail, 13th May, 1903... the bottom pic here shows the Eastern end of the Sydney Ferries Ltd wharf building under construction...in the PHM Kerry & Co pic it looks complete...which suggests that at the very least the PHM Kerry & Co pic was taken in ca. the second half of 1903...

Some of the other date markers stack up with this...

The Customs House shows the 1896-1903 Walter Liberty Vernon additions, which look complete...though I dare say it's possible there could still be some work in progress that isn't visible here...

Another date marker is the 'Goldsbrough Mort & Coy Limited' signage on the former Mort & Co wool store at Circular Quay ...which we see here. Although Goldsbrough Mort & Co came into being in in 1888, the 'Goldsbrough Mort' signage appears not to have been added until the earlier 20th century...from what I've managed to establish so far, the 'Goldsbrough Mort' signage appears to have been added some time in the period 1902-06...

- My sources re the 'Goldsbrough Mort' signage dates are at this pic...

As for a latest date...my theory is ca. early-mid 1904...

If it were there...at the top of Loftus St, we should see the Colonial Sugar Refining Co's building at the corner of Bent/O'Connell Sts...but I don't think it's there yet...the CSR Building was evidently built in 1904-05...the construction work was well under way by April 1904...it evidently took 17 months to complete...and was finished by ca. August 1905...read the details here...

Instead, at the top of Loftus St, I suspect we see the Dalgety's Building (completed 1899), which was on the opposite corner of Bent/O'Connell Sts...if the CSR Building were there I think it would obscure the Dalgety's Building...

trove.nla.gov.au/work/190009370 - the O'Connell St facade of the Dalgety's Building appears on the right in this 1911 NLA Fairfax pic...If you zoom in at the PURL on PHM's pic and take a screenshot and then blow that up...you discover there's a good match-up with the Dalgety's Building...

11th August, 1908

Comparison photograph taken in July 2008 shown here:

(I think it's colonnade.)

This photograph is featured in the Indicommons.org post Interview: Paula Bray and Sebastian Chan, Powerhouse Museum, illustrating the first uploads from the Powerhouse.

Harold Cazneaux, in 1932 - nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an2384453

Thanks beachcomberaustralia, that's a great comparison from a master.

We may be able to date this photograph.

The scaffolded spire is of Christ Church St. Laurence.

The spire was completed in 1855, however this photograph was taken much later than 1855, from the clothes and trams.

On 18 August 1905, there was a serious fire in the Church, after which major reconstruction was undertaken, including work on the spire. The restored church was reopened on 14 April 1906.

Hence this photograph would have been taken between those two dates.

Here is the story of the reconstruction:

www.ccsl.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=vie...

Here is a matching photograph from 1905 of the scaffolded spire:

www.ccsl.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=vie...

next doors marcus Clarkes tower was completed in 1906. so that may help. at the time is was sydneys tallest at 43m high.

Similar view a few years earlier (late 1890's, no Marcus Clarke building):
www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/history/sydneystreets/Then_&a...

The "octagonal Jennings Patent 6 person cast iron urinal" has disappeared in this later picture!

^that photo is great. see the hghrise building behind St Laurence. thats the furniture warehouse of anthony horderns.it was sydneys tallest when completed in 1893. its 7 storeys rose 40m high. it sadly burnt down in july 1901.

Thanks uminarampart, I wondered what it was.