stanwellpark

They need to attend Martin Wale's practical rope and knotting class

Biography of photographer Charles Bayliss (1850–1897) here.

Museums of History NSW - State Archives Collection I seem to recall this, or a picture very much like it, on display in railway carriages in NSW. These days we'd call it 'cross promotion' - but the railways always understood the value of "marketing the destination" long before Bali, Bangkok or Dubai!

John Cowper Yes - it very much has that tourist poster feel to it! It's a great image. - AG

It would not have changed much today if somebody were to take an photo from the exact position.

Superficially perhaps, but sadly the changes are many and profound. One example in this photo; you can see the northern lagoon before the environmental vandals turned it into a car park and the creek into an open sewer (though the latter is much better since the installation of the new sewerage system). Thankfully, the same never happened to Marely Lagoon, nicely protected in the Royal. Perhaps the changes are not all for the worse. There has been considerable regrowth of native trees in the gullies including gully rainforest species. But the sad part of that story is the understory; it is often mostly lantana, blackberry and other noxious weeds. On matters of regrowth, in this photo the buttresses to the southern escarpment are well timbered, but the tall timber on the most exposed ridge was killed by wildfires some 50 odd years ago, and it is only relatively recently that this has been allowed to regenerate with the removal of the cattle grazing these slopes. Love this place and love this photo. Thanks for sharing with all of us.

GoogleMapsStreetView - goo.gl/maps/VvlnT

The bridge in that Google Street view shot isn't the railway.

Museums of History NSW - State Archives Collection The shot shows the original line of the railway. Extract from Wikipedia The original rail line followed what is now Lawrence Hargrave Drive, curving around the southern headland and through Stanwell Park. The station opened on 14 March 1890 at its original site opposite Station Street under the footbridge. To the north the line followed Chellow Dene Avenue to the Otford Tunnel through Bald Hill. A platform was provided on the eastern side on 24 April 1890, and was moved to the western side to make room for a crossing loop which opened on 23 December 1901. Station buildings were added on 4 June 1903 and a signal box on 17 May 1909. A second platform was provided on 13 July 1909, and the footbridge over the station installed on 9 October 1911. To the north a steep grade of 1 in 40 faced up (Sydney bound) trains almost all the way to Otford. This combined with the 1,550-metre (5,090 ft) long Otford Tunnel meant that many trains were divided at Stanwell Park and taken through to Otford or Waterfall in stages. Refuge sidings were provided for up trains at Stanwell Park from 17 December 1912 so that the rear portion of divided trains no longer had to be left on the main line. In 1920 the original single line was replaced with a double track deviation. The deviation avoided the Otford Tunnel and steep grades by tracing around the Stanwell Park amphitheatre at a higher level, and the present station was constructed. The new line featured an eight span, 145-metre (476 ft) long, 42-metre (138 ft) high curved viaduct over Stanwell Creek south of the station which required over three million bricks in its construction.