Sepia photograph on thin card. Commercial Hotel c1900; features horse-drawn buggy; men; streetlampsT. Hunter Taturatatura, buildings

Bazeley's Victoria Hotel 1899, Hogan Street. Features two women posing on balcony; horse trough; streetlamp attached to hotel.tatura, buildings, historic, costume, female

Taken from Sturt Street, this photo shows Cobb's Corner and Craig's Hotel.lydiard street north, ballarat, sturt street, streetscape, cobb's corner, craig's hotel, streetlamp, buildings

View looking east across the Glen Park Bridge and the railway crossing towards Main Road circa 1920. The bridge was originally built as a replacement for an older private bridge built by a man named Foley around 1880. In 1911 Heidelberg and Eltham agreed to share the costs to build a new bridge (the Diamond Creek was the border between the two). Construction began in June 1915 and it was officially opened by Cr. Taylor on Cup Day, November 1915. This photo, dated around 1920, is of the Glen Park Bridge crossing over the Diamond Creek about 50 metres north of the present-day Wattletree tree Road Bridge. Glen Park Road intersected Main Rain Road along an alignment following present day Coleman Cresent. In this this picture we see the narrow wooden bridge over a high flowing Diamond Creek at Glen Park, now Eltham North. In the background is a railway crossing sign. There is a self-contained carbide streetlamp situated in front of the bridge. In the early 1900s, carbide (acetylene gas) streetlamps emerged as a lighting technology for regional towns across Victoria, Australia, before municipal electricity grids were widely established. During the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras, major hubs like Melbourne relied on centralized coal-gas infrastructure. However, small regional Victorian shires lacked the funds or population density to build large gasworks. When the commercial production of calcium carbide became viable around 1900, it offered a quantum leap in brightness over traditional kerosene streetlamps. Acetylene gas burned with an intense, crisp white flame—significantly brighter than oil or candles. Many rural towns used self-contained lampposts. A lamplighter had to climb each post daily to manually place calcium carbide pellets in a lower chamber and fill an upper chamber with water. The water dripped onto the carbide, producing acetylene gas to feed the burner. Lamplighters carefully measured the fuel amounts so the chemical reaction would naturally exhaust itself and "turn off" around midnight. While carbide streetlights provided unparalleled visibility for early motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians, they were incredibly labour-intensive and inherently volatile. The gas was highly explosive, prone to leaks, and left behind a pungent, sulphur-like odour. By the end of World War I, local Victorian councils rapidly phased out acetylene infrastructure in favour of safer, independent electric powerhouse generators. In the context of Eltham's local history, the Eltham Shire and surrounding Yarra Valley region actively relied on carbide streetlamps and kerosene lighting during the early 20th century before the expansion of the Melbourne electric grid. Eltham was an outer-rural, heavily timbered farming and orchard district at the turn of the century, it faced unique civic infrastructure challenges. In rural Eltham, early streetlamps were exceptionally sparse. The community relied heavily on "innkeeper laws" which dictated local hotels—such as the historic Eltham Hotel—were legally required to keep external oil, kerosene, or acetylene lamps burning through the night to illuminate the main roads for travellers and coaches. The volatile carbide and kerosene lamps on Eltham's main thoroughfares were progressively phased out during the 1920s. The district steadily transitioned to electricity, which allowed for developments like the installation of modern electrical wiring at the local fire station on Arthur Street by 1928. The Glen Park Bridge was a low structure and subject to flooding readily. In 1959 Eltham Council erected a new crossing over the Diamond Creek and realigned the road to the present-day Wattletree Road Bridge. Construction was not fully complete when on Sunday, 20 September 1959, heavy flooding occurred in the stream and at 3:53 pm the old bridge was washed away forever. - Research by Peter Pidgeon, EDHS, June 2026Photograph copy eltham north, wattletree road, coleman crescent, bridges, diamond creek (creek), bridge, carbide streetlamp, floodwater, glen park bridge, street lamp, glen park road, glen park estate

Stawell Post Office on corner of Wimmera and Main Streets. Erected 1875. Telegraph pole and streetlamp in foreground. Akins store visible at right of photo. The building has 3 arched doors & 6 arched windows on the ground floor and 8 square windows on the top story. Two chimneys on the roof and a wrought iron square fence on the roof. The outside of the building has not changed while the interior has been remodelled several times. The early Postmasters and their families lived upstairs. The main room originally included the Telegraph office where operators worked at machines, sending and receiving Morse code messages. Later alterations were made for a telephone switchboard room downstairs, with trunk line equipment upstairs. In 1965 the telephone system was converted to automatic.Black & white photo of a two story building on the corner of Wimmera & Main St. The building the Stawell Post and Telegraph Office. Out the front of the Post office is a telegraph pole and a light post. Next door in Main St is a single story building with a sign over the building Argus Australasian, underneath Akins, Age/Leader possible a newsagent. stawell

sturt street, lydiard street north, ballarat, alex marks, craigs royal hotel, cobbs corner, streetscape, buildings, public buildings, commerical, streetlamp, flegeltaub

Main Road, Eltham, south from Brougham Street to Dalton Street, c.1911 View looking down Policeman’s Hill on Maria Street (Main Road) from near Brougham Street towards Dalton Street, site of the Avenue of Honour established in 1916-1917 in memory of the soldiers who served in the First World War, 1914-1918. At the bottom of the hill on the right is White Cloud Cottage, home of the Jarrold family, three women standing out front observing the photographer. The road passes over a culvert which runs to the west in front of the cottage. The cottage was originally located closer to the Diamond Creek but was subject to flooding. It was dragged by horse to the present site shown, which was chosen for the higher ground that had been created as a result of land fill being deposited here from the quarry further around the bend on Main Road (site of present-day Eltham Primary School carpark) where the stone had been quarried for building the State School in Dalton Street. Immediately at the end of the straight section of the main road can be seen the gas streetlamp in front of the Jarrold home and the pond at the bottom of Dalton Street. The cottage had previously been rented for use as a Police Station / residence prior to the building of the permanent police house and station at the corner of Maria and Brougham streets in 1859. At the time of collection of photos for the centenary of the Shire of Eltham (1971) the cottage was owned by the Skipper family and remains in the family to present day (2021). On the left is the Grant house on the corner of Main Road and Dalton Street now the present-day site of Eltham Clinic. Cross Ref: 0749 for another view of the Jarrold family home Photographer: J.H. Clark John Henry Clark was the youngest of three boys born to William Henry Clark (1823-1877) and Maria White (1843-1914). He and his brothers, William Charles Clark (1872-1945), Clement Kent Clark (1874-1912) operated a photography business (Clark Bros.) from 25 Thomas Street, Windsor near Prahran during the period c.1894 to 1914. Following death of Clement in September 1912 and their mother in 1914, the Clark Bros business appears to have dissolved, the premises demolished, and a new house was under construction in 1915. John set up business independently in 1914 operating out of 29 Moor Street, Fitzroy where he is registered in the 1914 and 1915 Electoral Rolls. By 1916 John had relocated to Eltham where he continued his practice as a photographer and took many of the early images around the district of Little Eltham. Around 1930 John changed professions and opened a small cobbler's shop in 1931 near the pond opposite Dalton Street adjacent to the Jarrold family cottage. He never married and continued his profession as a bootmaker from this little shop, maintaining a close relationship with Mrs Jarrold for the rest of their lives. His bootmaker shop remains today beside the Whitecloud cottage and is one of only three remaining shops in the area from the early 20th century. There are a couple of images of Eltham taken by Clark Bros. in the Eltham District Historical Society collection, one such example being Hunniford’s Post Office with Miss Anne Hunniford out front (EDHS_00140 - marked on the back of the print, Clark Bros., 25 Thomas St. Windsor), which would date this image between c.1894 and 1914. Other early images of Eltham taken by John Henry Clark are marked on the face “J. H. Clark Photo” and it is assumed these are dated between 1914 and 1930. It is noted that the Grant of Probate for John H Clark of Eltham South dated 5 April !957 (513/387) records his occupation as "X Photographer".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 image 4 x 5 inch B&W Negshire of eltham pioneers photograph collection, eltham, main road, jarrold family, dalton street, j.h. clark photo, white cloud cottage, avenue of honour, eltham clinic, gas lamp, grant house, jarrold cottage, 1900