Historical information

The original postcards in this series (2013.002 to 2013.018) were generously loaned to Williamstown Botanic Gardens by a private collector for copying.

Significance

The postcards are evidence of the interest the gardens held as a subject for postcard publishers. The text and images provide a snapshot into fashions, social interests and concerns of the time. The professionally produced images provide a pictorial history of Gardens including changing planting styles, various structures and features of the Gardens eg the aviary, cannons, the fountain, the second Curator’s Lodge and gates. The images offer an opportunity to compare garden vistas with the present day.
This postcard is evidence of the location of one of the cannons relocated from Fort Gellibrand in 1906. They were removed from the Gardens in the 1960s. These same cannons remain a feature on the Williamstown waterfront in 2013.

Physical description

A sepia postcard depicting a winding path lined with rocks. There is a cannon on the right hand side of the card beneath a spreading palm tree. There is a tall pine and a cypress tree in the background. The cannons were relocated from Fort Gellibrand to the Gardens in 1906.

Inscriptions & markings

Front: ‘THE ROSE SERIES, P. 1030 THE GARDENS, WILLIMASTOWN, VICTOORIA / copyright’. Reverse: Left side vertical ‘Published by the Rose Stereograph Co. / Armadale, Victoria’. Across the top of the card: ‘POST CARD / The “Rose” Series A Real Photograph / De Luxe Produced in Australia’. There is an image of a rose and stem with three leaves in the centre of the card. In pencil on top right hand corner: $5 [believed to be inserted by the vendor of the card]