Archives Outside

For people who love, use and manage archives

Archives Outside - For people who love, use and manage archives

Sydney’s Beaches Launched [archival research in action ]

Dr. Caroline Ford at the launch

Background

In 2009 Dr Caroline Ford was the inaugural winner of the NSW Archival Research Fellowship. The scholarship enabled her to expand her research on Sydney’s relationship with its ocean foreshores, originally undertaken for her 2007 PhD at the University of Sydney. On 23 October 2014 the Hon Rob Stokes, MP, Minister for the Environment and Minister for Heritage, launched Caroline’s book Sydney Beaches: a History.

 Caroline described her book as an ‘environmental, cultural and political history of our much-loved ocean coast’. Although the thesis only went up to 1920, the book includes up to the present day.

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View of Bronte Beach, Sydney Dated: late 1930s

Working with the archives

Relying heavily on the State Records collection, especially NRS 8258 Letter received [Miscellaneous Branch, Department of Lands], she ‘read thousands of pages of original government records that explained why particular governments made critical decisions that changed the shape of our beaches forever…’. One of these government decisions that comes as a surprise to modern readers was to buy the beaches back from the land owners in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries including iconic beaches like Tamarama and Bronte, ensuring that Sydney beaches are free to the public.

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View of Milsons Point and Luna Park (NSW)

Despite the difficulties of locating files within NRS 8258, it contains some surprising material. For example in one file Caroline found a rejected proposal from the early 1930s to build a Luna Park on Bondi Beach which included an evaluation and report on St Kilda’s Luna Park. She has written about this in another forthcoming publication. Other files from the same period detailed community and government opposition to enclosed shark nets planned for Bondi and Manly ocean beaches, and the battles campers faced along the coast in pitching their tents close to their favourite strips of sand.

View of Neilsen Park, Sydney (NSW)

View of Neilsen Park, Sydney (NSW)

Behind every good researcher ….(there is a good retriever)

It was lovely to see that the book contains a thank you to our tireless retrieval staff who Caroline acknowledged as having ‘delivered dusty files and huge crumbling registers by the trolley load with unrivalled grace and efficiency over several years…’

Retrieving the record. Image by Anthea Brown

What are your Easter memories – church, show bags and chocolate eggs? [Easter Encampments]

In the late Nineteenth century Easter also meant military training at the ‘Easter Encampment’. Volunteers in the NSW military forces came together for mass training utilising the public holidays. Encampments were held from 1873 to 1900, although not every year. Camps for the infantry were held at Hamm Common near Richmond (1873), near Campbelltown (1874, 1891), Victoria Barracks at Paddington (1879, 1888, 1895, 1897), Windsor (1883, 1884), Middle Head and South Head (1885), the Royal National Park (1886, 1887, 1889, 1890), and Rookwood (1898, 1899). In 1900 a number of smaller camps in and around Sydney ended with a parade at Centennial Park. While the 1884 camp was attended by 1500 men, the 1898 camp hosted 5000 men.

Sergeants of the 2nd Regiment of the Voluntary Infantry. Easter Encampment

State Records NSW has a number of images of volunteers training and we believe these images are all from the one encampment at Windsor, in either 1883 (22-28 March) or 1884 (11-16 April). One of these images has definitely been identified as the encampment in 1884 by Bob Meade. Thank you, Bob. However other images have been identified as troops training for the 1885 Sudan contingent. We know that these images are taken after February 1883 when the new helmet plate was issued. This helmet plate featured the colony’s badge on a red background. The badge is still at the centre of the state’s coat of arms.

State Crest

Examples of the helmet plate can be found at the Australian War Memorial. (e.g OR’s white cloth covered helmet: New South Wales 1st Infantry Regiment ; Helmet plate : Sergeant S Holmes, 4 Regiment New South Wales Volunteer Infantry )

Colour Sergeant Milton

Work: Colour Sergeant Milton

 Weekending at Windsor

The Windsor camps were held at an area variously referred to in newspapers as Gosper’s Paddock, Windsor Farm and Fitzgerald’s Farm. In 1883 the area was described as a quarter a mile from the railway on the east of the town of Windsor, in a valley bounded on the north by the railway line, on the east by South Creek with its willow trees, and on the west by a common. The 1884 camp was held in approximately the same area but ‘its position is changed with advantage. It is on the crest of an elevation dipping at about 300 yards from the railway …'(SMH 11 Apr 1884, p6).

Photographs are known to have been taken of both Windsor encampments. In June 1883 it was reported that Mr Edward Day had been presented with an album of photographs of the 1883 camp, prepared under the direction of Major Richards, the Government Printer. Day was given the album for allowing his land to be used for training.  We know that Joseph Bischoff, the Public Works photographer, took images of the 1884 camp.

The newspapers of the time describe in detail the activities captured in these images – drill, parades, family day, and war games or mock battles. On Easter Sunday in 1883 four trainloads of visitors (estimated at 4,000 people) arrived and settled down to picnics while watching the mock fight. The 1884 camp attracted several thousand visitors on Saturday and Monday and featured mock attacks on Saturday and Monday in practice for a final battle on Tuesday. I wonder if the 30 rounds per man given to each soldier in 1884 for the mock battles means they were using live ammunition. Picnicking Victorian style, watching live bullets being fired!!!

Believed to be NSW volunteers Easter Encampment at Windsor April 1884 - spectators watching soldiers

Can you help us confirm that these images are at Windsor in 1884? Perhaps the lay of the land, the buildings in the distance, the type of rifles or artillery guns speaks to you? Any information welcomed!

 

 

Crying in the Archives [Two Historians’ Experiences] #Historyweek

Take my hand

 

‘Crying in the archives, joy and exhilaration in the archives, are all part of the experience of being there’ state Ann Curthoys and Ann McGrath in How to Write History That People Want to Read (UNSW Press, Sydney, 2009). Rejecting cliches about ‘dry and dusty’ history and historians, they present the view from the other side of the counter: the ‘excitement of libraries and archives’, the ‘tactile encounter with surviving evidence’, the ‘pure joy of sitting in the peace and quiet of a library with a wonderful manuscript’, and ‘encounters with real people from the past’. Curthoys and McGrath describe libraries and archives as places where ‘Living participants are as close as they will ever come to speaking to us directly… The poignancy of some archives can also make us cry… Relatives can become aware of shocking oppression or private tragedy suffered by their mothers and fathers; they can find the key to family omissions and mysteries. They can feel reunited with loved ones… Archives give you the closest thing to a flashback anyone is likely to have – except perhaps Dr Who and other time travellers’ (pp.66-68).

Sydney Harbour Bridge celebrations

It is all too easy to see archives as just ink and paper, to count them as statistics: with over 28,000 original items issued to 5,348 individuals in the State Records reading room in 2012/13. But Curthoys and McGrath remind us that archives effect present lives because they are evidence of past lives. Staff in our reading room routinely help people access records about mental health, court cases, prisoners, coronial inquests and divorces. And yes I have seen people crying in the archives.

Further information on what we hold on these topics may be found in our Archives in brief

Award for Professor Ann Curthoys

I had the pleasure on Tuesday 10 September of seeing Professor Ann Curthoys receive the History Council of New South Wales Annual Citation for 2013 ‘in recognition of her outstanding contributions as an historian to teaching, scholarship and the community’. This event took place as part of History Week 2013.

Do you have an archive story to share?

What item in our collection has had an impact on your life? Why not tell us about it?

“Gone but not forgotten”

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Empty beer bottles on Norfolk Island, 1 December 1942, presumably emptied by DMR employees

During World War II the NSW Department of Main Roads built defence works for the Commonwealth government in the Northern Territory and Queensland and for the United States Army on Norfolk Island. It compiled photographs taken by its employees in albums, neatly labelling them.

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Construction operations, Northern territory, 1940-1941.

I made use of these albums when putting together the World War II section of the Australia and War digital gallery. But I could only include a small number of these fascinating photographs. Now the albums have been digitised and are available through Photo Investigator. They record the construction methods and equipment, the working conditions and the effects of heavy rains on the work, as well as including picturesque touristy shots. They are well worth a look even if you are not into old cars and trucks.

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Plant bogged after rain, possibly Belyando River area, 1942-1943 (cropped image)

 

World War II Trench Art & Workplace Signs…. yes, really

Last year we featured records created during World War II by the NSW State Government on our website. They have included examples of the NSW government reaction to the bombing of Darwin, NSW Preparations for war  as well as NSW under attack, we hope that you have enjoyed seeing these.

We would like to post something completely different to highlight the fourth and last part of our War and Australia: World War II digital display. This part of the display features the work of manufacturing and transporting defence supplies within NSW, especially by the NSW Government Railways.

Trench Art

Firstly a contribution from a staff member. When my colleague, also called Jenny, first heard back in February 2012 that we were mounting a display about the war in Darwin, she brought in these salt and pepper shakers to show us. They were made from American .50 BMG cartridges by her grandfather, William Howard, whilst he was stationed at Darwin. He enlisted in the Australian Army on 12 October 1941 and was discharged on 1 September 1945.

The .50 caliber cartridges were manufactured by Remington Arms in 1942, as shown on their headstamps, and were of the type used in the Browning M2 machine gun. They are 14cm long in total. The length of the casing (10cm) provides plenty of space for salt or pepper. Thanks to Andrew, another staff member and Army Reservist, for helping us identify them. More information about this type of ammunition can be found at this site . We thought the salt and pepper shakers were extraordinary and deserved to be seen. And here they are!

They are an example of trench art. See the Australian War Memorial’s website for other examples of trench art using bullets including a Trench art cross and a Bullet Casing cigarette lighter.

 Workplace Signs

Secondly, a collection of signs found in the background of images of the Aircraft Production Factory at the NSW Government Railways Chullora Workshops. We have used one of these images in the latest part of the display. But the others were just too interesting to ignore! These signs vividly convey what was at stake. Did they work as a daily reminder or did they just become part of the scenery, like safety signage in our modern workplaces?

 

 ‘You can’t spell Victory with an absent “T”‘ detail from NRS 17420 item 603/27 showing staff during the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester to the Chullora Workshops 9 March 1945.

‘Near enough is not near enough. Be exact!’ detail from NRS 17420 item 603/57 Aircraft factory, Chullora, c.1943.

‘A concealed mistake is a crime! It may cost a brave man his life’ detail from NRS 17420 item 603/58 Aircraft factory, Chullora, c.1943.

Care to share?

Do you have examples of trench art or reminiscences that you would like to share? Or maybe a link to a favourite example on the web. Let us know in the comments.

Jenny Sloggett is an Archivist working in the Archives Control and Management section of State Records NSW.

A Degotardi album?

Album cover

The name Degotardi is well known to those with an interest in photography. John Degotardi senior (1823-1882) photographed Sydney in the 1860s and 1870s, after arriving in Sydney in 1853. His interest in photography grew out of his occupation as a printer and engraver. His son John Degotardi Junior (1860-1937) worked at the NSW Government Printing Office and was photographer with the NSW Department of Public Works from 6 January 1897 to 1919.

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Employment card for John Degotardi jr

Among the material held at State Records is NRS 15344 “Photographs of Sydney taken between 1860 and 1880” from the Navigation Department. This album includes photos of Sydney Harbour and environs, major buildings in Sydney, provincial centres and rural New South Wales. The album has a note inside the cover saying: ‘This album was purchased from J. Degotardi, Department of Public Works, in 1913 – price £20’.

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An image from the album

So are these works by his father John Degotardi senior? After all the Department of Public Works photographic section begins in 1883 and these photographs are clearly 1860s and 1870s. Also as a public servant John Degotardi junior would not have had the right to sell Public Works’ photographs in 1913. We know there are some keen Degotardi fans out there and we welcome your input!

Browse the album on Photo Investigator

Valuable for other reasons: the survival (or not) of glass negatives

Glass is generally more stable from a conservation viewpoint than film when used as the support or medium for a negative (despite the brittleness of glass). So I was interested to read Sandy Barrie’s essay ‘Why no Negs or records survive?’ in his book Australians Behind the Camera: directory of early Australian photographers 1841 to 1945 (The author, 2002).

Barrie’s work continues the listing of Australian photographers begun by Allan Davies, Peter Stanbury and Con Tanre in The Mechanical Eye in Australia : photography 1841-1900 (Oxford Uni Press, 1985).

Children at Foreshore, Speers Point, NSW, 26 January 1904

Children at Foreshore, Speers Point, NSW, 26 January 1904

This image was scanned from the original glass negative taken by Ralph Snowball. It is part of the Norm Barney Photographic Collection, held by Cultural Collections at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia.(Note the silvering around the edges of the negative as the emulsion deteriorates.)

Survival of the fittest?

As a practising photographer who worked in major studios, Barrie offers some insights into why negatives did not always survive.

  1. Commercial photographers were a business. Anything that would not generate continuing profit over time was a liability. Images that had long term commercial value were portraits of prominent people, landscapes and in Barrie’s words ‘newsworthy shots’. As historians the images that we search for may either have not been taken in the first place or if they were taken, were not judged as valuable enough to retain for the long term.
  2. There is the volume of negatives produced by studios. Barrie notes that the Tuttle Studios of Sydney took 30,000 portraits in 1897 alone. To add perspective to this statistic there were 57 photographers operating in the Sydney area in 1897 according to the Trade section of the Sands Directory.
  3. There is the large amount of space needed to store negatives, particularly if you were renting prime city real estate.
  4. Glass is heavy. As Barrie states ‘when you shoot several thousand negs a year, that adds up to a large Tonnage. There were even some notes in the early RPS journal of studio buildings collapsing under the weight, when photographers stored negs in their attics.'(p234) This led some photographers to store their negatives under their premises. For example if it is estimated that each 8″x10″ glass negative weighed 0.3kg, the output of Tuttle Studios for 1897 (see above) would weigh approximately 9,000 kg.
  5. Negatives could be cleaned of their image and recycled into two products that had value – the glass itself and the silver emulsion used to create the image. Companies would buy back negatives from commercial photographers to recover the silver. Photographic silver was rare during World Wars I and II and almost all silver was reserved for defence purposes in the latter. The Great Depression also saw large scale cleansing of glass negatives as commercial photographic sales fell and photographers needed income. Mr Barrie has told us that towards the end of World War II, Kodak had no means of making film base for cellulose negatives in Australia and many commercial photographers actually went back to using glass negatives.
Orange Post Office and Land Survey Office

Despite the breakage it has suffered this 1885 Bischoff image still retains its informational value.

I have always valued the images that survived. Now I will also value the glass negatives’ bulk and weight as a testament to that survival.

Help Sandy Barrie with his Research

Sandy Barrie can be contacted on apbarrie@dodo.com.au and is keen to hear from the relatives of Australian photographers. He is preparing a new edition of his book, which thanks to the National Library of Australia’s Trove will contain almost three times the data despite the impact on his research of the January 2011 Queensland floods.

Jenny Sloggett is an Archivist working in the Archives Control and Management section of State Records NSW.

Joseph Bischoff – The man behind the camera

Looking towards Fort Denison from Farm Cove, Sydney

Crowdsourced Research

Prompted by comments from Gael Newton and Megan Martin, we are looking again at Joseph Philip Bischoff, the first recorded photographer for the Public Works Department. Megan and Gale have let us know that he married Isabella Mary Lincoln on 24 August 1868 at Sydney when he was a stable keeper, was an active photographer from the mid-1870s, sold his business premises and equipment in January 1901, and died on 18 May 1903. He was born at Athaldensleben, Germany [Althaldensleben] in approximately 1832 and was the son of Friedrich/Frederick Bischoff, farmer or tailor, and his wife Elizabeth nee Haber. Joseph Bischoff photographed the Transit of Venus in December 1874 and the Grose Valley in September-October 1875. See Gael’s book Shades of Light: Photography and Australia 1839-1988 (Australian National Gallery, 1988) for more information on the latter. According to his funeral notice in the Sydney Morning Herald 20 May 1903, p12, Joseph was buried at Concord Cemetery, which was later transformed into Henley Park under the Concord Cemetery Act, 1937 (Act No.15, 1937). Any bodies and headstones were supposedly moved to Rookwood Cemetery.

Naturalization

Memorial or Application for a Certificate of Naturalisation - Joseph Bischoff 1-2307-75-7966p1Memorial or Application for a Certificate of Naturalisation - Joseph Bischoff 1-2307-75-7966p2

Joseph Bischoff’s Memorial for Naturalisation, dated 8 November 1875, states that he was a native of Prussia, Germany, 43 years old, a landscape photographer and living at Woolloomooloo Street, Sydney. It also records that he arrived on the ‘Alfred’ about 1862. His Certificate of Naturalization was issued on 18 November and he signed the oath of allegiance on 26 November. (NRS 905 Main series of letters received, 1826-1982 [Colonial Secretary]; Item 75/7966 [1/2307]; NRS 1040 Registers of Certificates of Naturalization; Item [4/1203] p17; Reel 130; NRS 1039 Certificates of Naturalization, 1975 Joseph Bischoff [4/1198] Reel 2699)

 

Bischoff signature

The ‘Alfred’ arrived in Sydney on 26 November 1862, having sailed from Hamburg on 29 August, a voyage of 88 days. There is no listing on the ‘Alfred’ for a Joseph Bischoff but there is for a Hermann Bischoff as a passenger. As the passengers were not sponsored as immigrants by the NSW government, the only information about them and the crew is their name. The arrival information for the’ Alfred’ is available on the Mariners and Ships in Australian Waters website. The ship’s departure record from Hamburg confirms that his name as Hermann Bischoff, aged 30, gives his native place as Althaldensleben, Prussia, and his gewerbe or trade as ‘gaertner’ or gardener (Ancestry, Hamburg passenger lists, 1850-1934, Direkt Band 016 (1862) page 177, image 237).

Life in Australia

When Joseph Bischoff died on 18 May 1903, he did not leave a will. His probate packet is therefore concerned with the administration of his estate by his wife, Isabella, who was the sole person entitled to the estate. The packet contains no clues as to his background. He also has a Deceased Estate file, which relates to the assessment of the estate by the NSW Stamp Duties Office for the payment of death duties. Both the Probate Packet and the Deceased Estate file note that he had a house on Lots 57 and 58 Brunswick Parade, Concord, worth 200 pounds, furniture worth 20 pounds, a watch worth 3 guineas, wearing apparel worth 5 pounds, and money in the bank of 59 pounds, 1 shilling and 11 pence plus 17 shillings and 10 pence interest. The valuation does not mention cameras, photographs or negatives. (NRS 13660 Probate packets [Probate Jurisdiction Supreme Court of New South Wales]; Item Series 4, No 28817 and NRS 13340 Deceased estate files, 1880-1959 [Stamp Duties Office]; Item Joseph Bischoff Duty paid 8 August 1903)

Bischoff appears in Sands Postal Directories for 1868 and 1869 as a livery stable keeper, from 1873 to 1877 as a photographer/ landscape photographer, and again from 1884 to 1905. This prompts the question of what he did between 1877 and 1883. He is referred to in the Australian Town and Country Journal on 13 May 1876, p16, as having taken images of prize winning Lincoln rams belonging to Mr Fisher of Victoria and again on 9 September 1876, p28, as competing in the photographic section of the Queensland Exhibition with images of NSW’s mountain scenery. Was he working for another photographic company, travelling in the country or other states, or did he just not bother to list in Sands?

The elusive search for his career with Public Works

Then there is the puzzle of his employment with the Department of Public Works. The Blue Books, an annual list of the NSW civil service, state that he was employed in the Department from 1 May 1883. However he appears for the first time in the 1890 Blue Book, rather than in the 1884 Blue Book as one would expect. His name only appears from 1890 to 1894 inclusive.

However another list published in 1893 confirms that he was employed from 1883. On 7 June 1893 the New South Wales Legislative Assembly published a ‘Return respecting Foreigners Employed in the Department of Public Works‘ in the Votes and proceedings of the Legislative Assembly during the session 1892-3, Vol.3, pp133-5. This list provides the foreigner’s name, occupation, salary and length of service and whether naturalised. J Bischoff is described as a photographer, paid 250 pounds per year, has been employed for 10 years, and was naturalised on 26 November 1875.

Bischoff was a temporary employee, rather than a permanent one, despite being employed for approximately twelve years. The Blue Books state that he was appointed by the Secretary of Public Works, thus indicating he was temporary. Permanent employees were appointed by the Governor and Executive Council. Under section 31 of the Civil Service Act, 1884 (48 Vic No.24, 1884), employees who had not passed the prescribed civil service exams could be appointed as temporary for a maximum of two years. However this time limit does not seem to have been obeyed. Joseph Barling, the Under Secretary for Public Works, remarked when he appeared before the Royal Commission to inquire into the Civil Service on 26 February 1895 that ‘The Act gives, I think, only a tenure of two years, but that has been a dead letter from beginning to end, as you are all aware…’ Also in his evidence before the Royal Commission, Barling reveals that he was opposed to employing people over 60 years of age, even though the retiring age was 65. If Bischoff was born in 1832 he would have reached retiring age in 1897. (Report of the Royal Commission to inquire into the Civil Service, pp235-6, in Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly during the session 1894-95, Vol 3, pp367-8)

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Bischoff was still presumably with the Department in 1895 when his name shows up in a ‘Return of Leave of Absence granted to Officers of the Public Works Department from January 1891 to December 1895’. This shows he took three weeks ordinary leave (i.e. not sick leave) each year in 1893, 1894 and 1895, although not in 1891 and 1892. (NRS 12294 Special Bundles [Public Service Board]; Public Works reorganisation [8/289.2])

Bischoff was not with the Department in 1897 when the next published list of all NSW civil servants appears. This was after the civil service, and the Public Works Department in particular, had undergone major upheavals. John Degotardi Junior who is listed as the next Public Works photographer was appointed on 6 January 1897 and this is confirmed by his staff record card. (Public Service Lists 1897, p72; NRS 12535 Staff record cards, c1890-1953 [Department of (Secretary of) Public Works]; [7/11491])

Bischoff’s name does not appear on two lists of Public Works employees produced in 1895-96 as a result of the reorganisation of the public service. During 1894 and 1895 the Public Works Department underwent a complete restructure. At the same time the Royal Commission of inquiry into the Civil Service, held from 20 November 1894 to 8 April 1895, resulted in the creation of the Public Service Board to control the appointment and promotion of civil servants. On 19 November 1895 a list of present and proposed staff and retrenched officers of Public Works was published in the Votes and Proceedings, with the information that 119 officers had been dispensed with during 1894 and 1895. Bischoff’s name is not on this list, either as retained or retrenched. (Votes and proceedings of the Legislative Assembly for the session 1895, Vol 1 pp541-550). During 1896-97 the Public Service Board evaluated and classified all civil service positions and employees and published the results in the NSW Government Gazette. Again Bischoff’s name is not listed as part of Public Works, not even with the temporary employees made permanent.

Identifying Bischoff negatives

Orange Post Office and Land Survey Office

From my experience with the Public Works Department glass negatives, Bischoff identified his negatives by scratching a number into the emulsion. Bischoff’s numbers are recognisable by his use of a European or Germanic number one – which looks like a number seven. Thank you to my colleague Anna Gray who pointed this out. Also Bischoff writes his number five with an extra stroke and a space at the top that makes it look like a three followed by a quotation mark. An example of a Bischoff number can be seen on the image of the Orange Post Office and Land Survey Office, Orange (NSW), 1885 which shows the number 160 in reverse in the left top corner. It also shows evidence of two other numbering systems: P33 and 704. 160 is the Bischoff number. This renumbering and reorganisation is the reason why what may be Bischoff’s original listing for the Public Work’s negatives cannot now be used to locate them (NRS 4489 List of glass negatives [Government Printing Office]; Item C2 list [4/8599A]).
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Examples of his numbers can also be found on negatives at the Powerhouse Museum and at State Library of New South Wales. The Powerhouse has a negative entitled Transit of Venus image 1874 (P3548-796) on which the number 175 may be seen on the top left corner. The State Library of New South Wales has an image of Fort Macquarie, Sydney, identified as being by Bischoff. The negative for this image was digitised as part of the NSW Government Printer Collection Disc 2 (Series C, Box 74), although it is not identified as being by Bischoff. The Fort Macquarie negative does not clearly show a Bischoff number, but there are others in Series C, Box 74 that do – using numbers from 149 to 155. Does this mean they date from before December 1874? Some of these images are described as Newcastle but that is doubtful, except for the image of Fort Scratchley which is scanned in reverse. Note the box also contains modern images such as kangaroos, swimming and cars under trees.
Some of Bischoff’s Public Work’s images were published in the annual report of the Department (Secretary) of Public Works from 1891 to 1895-6, although the prints do not show the numbering system. The annual reports are available at the OpenGov NSW website. Also a search of Trove pictures, photos, objects shows that the State Library of Victoria has posted images of Grose Valley and the Historic Houses Trust the images of Palmerston at Waverley referred to by Megan.
Newtown Court House
Thanks to the internet, the wonders of digitisation, to Ancestry and to the National Library’s Trove we can learn more about Joseph Bischoff and his work than we were able to previously. Especially when people like Gael and Megan are willing to share their information and organisations like the State Library of New South Wales, the State Library of Victoria, the Powerhouse Museum and the Historic Houses Trust are willing to share their images.

Jenny Sloggett is an Archivist working in the Archives Control and Management section of State Records NSW.