Can you date this photograph? [Lismore Post Office]
Posted on September 14, 2009 by Rhonda Campbell
A moment in time……
We hold thousands of photographs of which a large number are undated. This is the first in a series of posts in which we ask you, the reader, to help date, locate or verify photographs from our collection.
My name is Rhonda Campbell and I am the Project Officer for Digitisation at State Records. My job is to project manage the digitisation of selected record series from our collection. I hope to post here on a weekly basis and look forward to your help and interest.
Below is an image of Lismore Post Office. We know the what and where but we don’t know the when. Can you help?
Lismore Post Office
We have many other undated photographs in Photo Investigator and on our Flickr account. If you know the dates or any other interesting facts about these images please let us know.
Also of interest:
Comments (10)
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Hi Rhonda,
There is a copy of the same image in the National Archives dated 1904.
Image no. : C4076, HN5204
Cheers!
Felicity
Thanks Felicity. I wasn’t expecting an answer that quickly.
Gas street lighting, no automobiles, telegraph wires, no elec power poles. From those facts the Local Council and local History society could make a very close estimate of date.
1904 as advised by Felicity looks OK. A 1904 Oldsmobile was in Sydney 100 plus years ago.
A.
The Richmond River Historical Society in Lismore has six copies of this photograph. One is annotated that it was taken during the time that BJ Martin was postmaster, that is, before 1906. The tower was erected in 1899 and the clock installed in mid-1900.
Around 1904, as per some other comments, is probably as close as it is possible date the image.
The post office is of art nouveau design by the wonderful and prolific Government Architect, Walter Liberty Vernon, in 1897, so the photograph is definitely post that date.
Hi Alistair, Geoffrey and Jill…thank you for all your comments. I think its great how everyone has commented on different aspects of the image…such as the architecture, who the postmaster was at the time, and the fact that there is gas lighting in the street. We could almost create a story about the photograph.
You could try contacting the Telstra Museum at Bankstown NSW and check with them. Their web site is..
http://www.truelocal.com.au/business/telstra-museum/bankstown
The Post Master Generals Department or PMG was both the Post Office and the the fore runner of Telstra. On the left side of the photo is a pole with telephone or telegraph wires supported by it’s cross arms. Going by the number of wires, it would have to have been after 1920 and probably before 1960 as underground cables started replacing ‘open wire’ routes about then, due to them constantly being damaged by fire,floods, aeroplanes etc.
Thank you to everyone who made a comment on the photograph of Lismore Post Office. The general consensus is that our photograph is c.1904.
The gentlemen in the buggies look like Cab Drivers as my Mum described a G. uncle in the early 1900’s
Regards Rhonda
Thanks Rhonda, that definitely ties in with most of the feedback we’ve had to date.