jamesbarnet

Love the trolley bus. Seems to be a panorama with the next photo.

Fascinating short history of trolleybuses in Sydney - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolleybuses_in_Sydney , including another photo of this trolley bus, No. 4 - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sydney_trolleybus_number_4_-_1... It is an AEC 761T, bodywork by Syd Wood, two axle double deck, in service 1936/37 - 1956.

Wonderful panorama dated January 1871 (see note). I think the photo was originally made for an album sent to the Colonial Office in London, showing the achievements in NSW. That went into the National Archives UK who have also posted their version on Flickr, which happily includes all the ships' names! See - And the three individual photos which make up the panorama -

It should be relatively simple to find out which day in January 1871 this was using Trove. About 10 or 11am by the warehouse shadows on the right!

Hmm - That's not going to work. All the named ships were at Circular Quay wharfs on the 20th and 27th January 1871, ie for at least a week. See these excellent SMH alphabetical lists of "Vessels in Harbour" - 20 Jan 1871 - trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/13216860 27 Jan 1871 - trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/13218966 And all the ships except 'Chance' were there the previous week - 13 Jan 1871 - trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/13221911

beachcomber australia Well aren't I glad I posted this pic. Thanks for identifying the connection, its so great we can name all the vessels so accurately! The SLNSW has the same photograph, attributed to Charles Percy Pickering. It's not cropped & looks like it has the ships names pencilled beneath.

Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons I had a feeling it was by Charles Pickering, or at least attributed to him. He was probably under the direction of James Barnet, the NSW Colonial Architect. The date "Jan 1871" on this version makes it extra special! I wonder where the original glass plate negatives are? Probably buried in State Records NSW Series 4481 with completely odd titles ...

"Young men propping up walls" ... I'd like to think they are loitering and up to no good :), but more than likely they are providing perspective at the direction of the photographer.

Yes, you are probably right! Here is a link to the Woolloomooloo Gates into the Royal Botanic Gardens. Same ones, do you think? maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&...

Yes, that sure looks like the one! According to the State Library the gates were erected in 1873. Note the roadside guttering present in both photos, but not here - and now there's a fountain, a lawn, and no roadway. If we could date the erection of the fountain and the removal of the road it may give us a very narrow time period in which the photo could have been taken.

Or is it? Check out this [search: 37996]. Now were they really moved to the other side of the gardens to Macquarie Street? Doesn't make sense. Or were they merely shifted further up Mrs Macquarie Rd? Okay, I'm off right now to check it out!

Okay, the physical structure is the Woolloomooloo Gate, but the location itself is today in mid-air above the Cahill Expressway! There are some great photos of the construction here. And I don't know how I missed it, but the left and right pillars are emblazoned with '1873' (the year of construction), and the centre pillars with 'The Botanic Garden'.