Photographic record by Russ Haines, RDHS, in 2008.

Digital photograph

jim connor collection, eltham shopping centre, main road, thompson's pharmacy

The Great Kantō Earthquake of 1 September 1923 devastated the major cities of Tokyo and Yokohama, as well as five other surrounding prefectures and was one of the world’s worst natural disasters of the early twentieth century. In terms of loss of life and material damage, with an estimated 140,000 deaths and countless homeless, it is still Japan’s worst national disaster. Nearly 90% of the newspaper printers were destroyed in the earthquake. These postcards were not produced for aesthetics but as a major tool for the spread of information. Seeing how newspaper companies were left with their offices in shambles, postcard publishers tried to fill the gap hence some were in three languages. A very small number of publishing companies were fortunate enough to survive, one of them being Mitsumura Printing, which took advantage of its remaining resources to churn out postcards. When the Ōsaka Mainichi Shinbunsha published its bilingual three-volume photographic pictorial of the Great Kantō Earthquake just two weeks after the event, the calamity had already been captured in thousands of images that circulated on a national and international media highway. Commercial photographers and photojournalists produced the most abundant and immediate images of the quake, which were transmitted in newspapers, special-issue newspaper pictorials, commemorative photography collections, illustrated survivors’ accounts, and sets of commemorative postcards. These photographic images functioned as both news and souvenirs, rendering their consumers/viewers, inside and outside the devastated locale, into both witnesses and voyeurs. Images in the news media and those issued by respected publishing houses carried the visual authority of supposed facticity. As such they both produced and became the historical record of the event. Since the vast majority of 1923 disaster postcards that survive have no writing on them, they were likely treated more as collectibles than as a form of postal communication. Many were put into albums, creating new ways to combine images and create visual cultures of disaster for home viewing. Accordion-style albums allowed for personalized, serial organization of images that produced unique, imagistic narratives of the event. The album pages were also two-sided and could be stretched out to view a series of images on recto and verso. References: Imaging Disaster: Tokyo and the Visual Culture of Japan’s Great Earthquake of 1923 震災をイメージ化する　東京と1923年関東大震災のヴィジュアルカルチャー - The Asia. (2024, March 31). Retrieved from https://apjjf.org/2015/13/6/gennifer-weisenfeld/4270 The Great Kanto Earthquake: Postcards of Tragedy. (2024, March 31). Retrieved from https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/japanese-culture/the-great-kanto-earthquake-postcards/ See also: Postcards from Hell – Glimpses of the Great Kantō Earthquake; M. William STEELE (International Christian University, Japan) 14th Conference of the European Association of Japanese Studies: Visual Culture and Postcard Research Papers – East Asia Image Collection Blog. (2024, March 31). Retrieved from https://sites.lafayette.edu/eastasia/2014/09/01/14th-conference-of-the-european-association-of-japanese-studies-visual-culture-and-postcard-research-papers/] And https://icu.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/4503/files/ACS44_01Steele.pdfThis item, a souvenir from Japan from between the wars (circa 1923) was brought home to Research, Victoria by Bill Teagle who was serving in the Royal Australian Navy (1919-1945). Bill Teagle's sister Violet Amelda Teagle had married Theodore (Curly) Feldbauer in 1933. Bill's brother-in-law Curly was taken as a Prisoner of War by the Japanese and died at Sandakan in March 1945. The family did not learn of Curly’s death till months later and Bill's sister, Violet, herself could never forgive the Japanese for what happened to Curly. Curly is remembered on the Eltham Roll of Honour Board and his son, Albert Feldbauer (Bill’s nephew and youngest child of the children of the soldier fathers attending a school in the district), was given the honour of turning the first sod for the Eltham War Memorial Infant Welfare Centre Building. Despite this, the family maintained this cherished souvenir from a time of previous foreign friendship with Japan. The item was possibly given by Bill Teagle to his sister Margaret Rose (formerly Ingram) who later married Richard Edward (Eddie) Fielding in early 1948. (Eddie had been engaged to someone else before he went to war, but his fiancée broke it off before his return to Australia.) It was cared for by the Teagle/Fielding family for approximately one hundred years. It is of particular significance given the family's connection to the Eltham War Memorial and the significance of that memorial to the local community and represents that despite the horrors of war, former friends then foes can become friends again.tom fielding collection, japanese postcard, postcard, 1923, great kanto earthquake, japan, tokyo, yokohama

Eltham Uniting Church and former CBA bank (later Opportunity Shop) in centre left. The building on immediate left has since been demolished and is now the site of Goodstart Early Learning Eltham kinder120 format 6x9 clr positivecba bank, john street, main road, pitt street, uniting church

Other photos of Were St featuring the Dandy family dated 8 October 1950 show an unsealed road with concrete kerb and channeling. The surrounds look very similar but no concrete kerb and trees in footpath significantly younger and smaller in size; hence c.1940Roll of 35mm black and white negative film, sectioned into frames; copy of print photograph Ilford FP-4montmorency, railway station, were street

Colour photographstreets, bridge street, eltham, main road

Colour photographstreets, bridge street, eltham, main road

35mm Colour positive transparency Mount - Agfacolor Service (Blue stepped)duplication, eltham, main road, road construction

Roll of 35mm colour negative film, 5 strips Also colour print Kodak GA100 5095diamond street, eltham, infrastructure, main road, streets

Roll of 35mm colour negative film, 5 strips Also colour print Kodak GA100 5095avenue of honour, dalton street, eltham, infrastructure, main road, streets

Viewed from outside present day Cafe Zen Den, which at the time was a nursery35 mm colour positive transparency Mount - Agfacolor Service (Blue)cafe zen den, eltham, eltham courthouse, main road

Printed line drawing of the Ballarat School of Mines and Ballarat Supreme Court House. ballarat school of mines, ballarat supreme court house, ballarat circuit court house

Colour photograph originally located in a magnetic style album titled 'Greensborough Bypass 1990s 5' suffering significant degradation. No information contained in album or on reverse of photos except where noted. Relocated to archival photosafe storage.greensborough bypass, road construction, greensborough, northern ring road, grimshaw street

Colour photograph originally located in a magnetic style album titled 'Greensborough Bypass 1990s 5' suffering significant degradation. No information contained in album or on reverse of photos except where noted. Relocated to archival photosafe storage.greensborough bypass, road construction, greensborough, northern ring road, grimshaw street

Negatives supplied by Marjorie North 1 July 1986 for Montmorency France albumRoll of 35mm colour negative film, 4 of 6 stripsKodak CP 100 5094montmorency, were street, shopping centre

Negatives supplied by Marjorie North 1 July 1986 for Montmorency France albumRoll of 35mm colour negative film, 3 stripsKodak CL 200 5093montmorency, were street, shopping centre

Greeting card from Neville Emerson and Staff with sketch commissioned by Neville Emerson Real Estate. A slightly cropped version was reproduced on a 1980 calendar issued by Neville Emerson Real Estate. Christmas cardart, bill caldwell, main road, eltham, bridge street, emerson real estate

Digital copy of black and white photograph38 beattie street, montmorency, john landy, stan rushbrook

Shows Eltham Stock and Poultry Feed Store. Site of current Le Pine Funeral Home In February 1968 an unknown person took a series of photos from the Eltham Hotel at Pitt Street heading north along Main Road through the shopping centre to just north of Elsa Court covering the length of the section of Main Road which was duplicated shortly thereafter. Shows the condition and environment of the streesscape of Main Road, Eltham immediately prior to the duplication between Pitt Street and Elsa Court through the shopping centre. Also shows a number of shops and businesses that operated at that time.Black and white photographduplication, eltham, main road, briquettes, fuel merchant, le pine funeral home, york street, a.r warren, eltham feed store

Shows Eltham Stock and Poultry Feed Store. Site of current Le Pine Funeral Home In February 1968 an unknown person took a series of photos from the Eltham Hotel at Pitt Street heading north along Main Road through the shopping centre to just north of Elsa Court covering the length of the section of Main Road which was duplicated shortly thereafter. Shows the condition and environment of the streesscape of Main Road, Eltham immediately prior to the duplication between Pitt Street and Elsa Court through the shopping centre. Also shows a number of shops and businesses that operated at that time.Black and white photographduplication, eltham, main road, briquettes, fuel merchant, le pine funeral home, york street, a.r warren, eltham feed store

Digital copy of black and white photograph38 beattie street, graeme landy, montmorency

Digital copy of black and white photographmontmorency, 36 beattie street, john landy, stan rushbrook

Digital copy of black and white photograph38 beattie street, montmorency, john landy, stan rushbrook

Reproduction of a sketch by Bill Caldwell on a Neville Emerson Pty Ltd calendar for c.1980hotels, eltham, main road, pitt street

Colour photographpitt street, eltham

Source: Bruce Burgoyne, Main Rd., Eltham This photo forms part of a collection of photographs gathered by the Shire of Eltham for their centenary project book,"Pioneers and Painters: 100 years of the Shire of Eltham" by Alan Marshall (1971). The collection of over 500 images is held in partnership between Eltham District Historical Society and Yarra Plenty Regional Library (Eltham Library) and is now formally known as the 'The Shire of Eltham Pioneers Photograph Collection.' It is significant in being the first community sourced collection representing the places and people of the Shire's first one hundred years.Digital imagesepp, shire of eltham pioneers photograph collection, eltham, main road

The framed photographs were presented to University of Ballarat to commemorate 140 years of Technical Education. The Ballarat School of Mines was the first site of technical education in Australasia.Framed photographs of two views of the Ballarat School of Mines Administration Building. The first was was taken c1901 and shows the former Ballarat Circuit Couthouse (now demolished) and the original front of the former Ballarat Wesleyan Church. The second photo was taken in 2010 and shows the former Wesleyan Church, the Administration Building and the Ballarat Technical Art School. Presented by the City of Ballarat in recognition of 140 years of Technical Education in Ballarat.ballarat school of mines, administration building, new classroom, ballarat circuit court, ballarat wesleyan church, a building, anniversary, available