tranquil

Great these early colour images. Colour photography did not come cheap in the 1950's.

WOW! PowerhouseMuseum, I think you have a gem in your hands! This is one of the early footbridges (looking east) across Mosman Bay on the north shore of Sydney Harbour. The run-down buildings are part of the original whaling station; no longer there, except for 'The Barn', out of shot. See www.afloat.com.au/afloat-magazine/2008/august-2008/Mosman... for more footbridge information. More importantly, the buildings are in the famous Tom Roberts painting of "Mosman's Bay" 1894. See save-mosmans-bay.com/painting.html and an enlargement save-mosmans-bay.com/images/Mosmans Bay-1.jpg . The photograph and the painting seem to be at a similar time (1894) judging from the similar costumes and lack of other buildings. There are a lot of pictures in this collection of Mosman and Cremorne. Could it be that the photographer knew Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, and others at the artists' camp at Little Sirius Cove just over the hill behind? A huge leap of the imagination, I know, but what if those people, who are appearing in several group shots, are Streeton, Roberts, etc.?!

There are several discrepancies, which I suppose you put down to artistic licence. For instance a missing chimney and wharf wooden railings on the painting. The painting also has a large black (incongruous imho) sign in front of the buildings - the back of it shows up here on the persistent URL magnification. The more I research, the more I have a hunch that a lot of these pictures were taken by Tom Roberts, who is described as an artist AND photographer. The same-ish group of people and boats pop up in many photographs - they are obviously friends of the photographer, and 'pose' for the pictures looking directly at the camera (except the women!). Many of the picures are beautifully composed, like a painting. I am having no luck (yet) getting a match with faces from biographical websites. Presuming Tom Roberts is behind the camera, but the other men could include Arthur Streeton, Charles Conder, Fred McCubbin, Girolamo Nerdi, AH Fulwood, Julian Ashton, etc. HELP NEEDED please from an expert! More about the Heidelberg School, links to paintings and biographies: www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/heidelbergschool...

A painting by Albert Henry Fullwood (1863-1930) "Mosman's Bay" [ca.1904] clearly showing the bridge, looking north up the bay: nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an2288936

Here's another photograph of the bridge, bay, and buildings viewed from up the hill to the left: www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=385883

beachcomberaustralia - you are corerct about the location. It is Mosman Bay. The are some very good comparison photographs in the collection of Mosman Library. Go the this search page: www.photosau.com/Mosman/scripts/home.asp and search for these image numbers as keywords: 4016964 4017069 4022561 4022578

Built in Germany before WW1 as SS Imperator she was seized by the Allies as war reparation for the torpedoed RMS Lusitania.

Those old ocean liners were beautiful ships especially compared to the cruise ships of today. My dad was one of the British Home Children who was sent to Canada at the age of 13. If I can find the name of the ship he sailed on perhaps you could find a photo of it. He was born in Newcastle so I think there's a chance the ship might have been built there. I remember the name of the ship started with the letter M.

Hola, tu excelente fotografía fue vista en el grupo AQUELLOS MAGNÍFICOS NAVÍOS

I found the information I was looking for. The name of the ship he came to Canada on was the Montrose which sailed out of Liverpool and docked in Quebec arriving on 30 June 1922. He was 13 years of age at the time and one of a group of 100 children.

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