Photography
Photographs represent tangible and direct links with the past. Each image is an intriguing record of technological, social and artistic change.
The State Library was one of the first institutions to collect photographs as documentary records. The collection, of over 1 million images, ranges from historical subjects, including the earliest known photograph taken in Australia (an 1845 daguerreotype of Dr William Bland), to more recent documentary photographs made in the last few months.
Dr William Bland, ca. 1845, by George Baron Goodman
Daguerreotype
Dr William Bland, an ex-convict, was a prominent surgeon, humanitarian, social reformer and inventor.
Take a look at our 2 online collections relating to photography:
Sydney Exposed
Sydney Exposed takes the first step in providing an online gateway to thousands of images highlighting the history and changing nature of Sydney, Australia's first and largest metropolis.
Holtermann Collection
From 1872 to 1875, Bernard Otto Holtermann, a successful gold miner and merchant, commissioned Beaufoy Merlin and Charles Bayliss of the American & Australasian Photographic Company to document towns in New South Wales and Victoria.
