Historical information

Joseph Wilder, a professional photographer, came to Warrnambool in 1860 and took a series of photographs, two of which survive today. One was of the local Volunteer Corps and the other was a series of photographs taken from Cannon Hill showing Merri Street and the town and buildings beyond. It seems that copies of these last-mentioned photographs were framed to produce a large panoramic view of 1860 Warrnambool and one of these was given to the old Warrnambool Museum in the 1880s by James Astley Bromfield. He had established a chemist’s shop in Warrnambool in 1854 and showed his interest in the history of the young town by producing a map in 1856 showing the first landowners, a seminal resource today for historians. He again demonstrated this interest when he included the names of the people and places in the 1860 photograph he gave to the museum in the 1880s. The frame fragment was found amongst the collection of items from the old Museum at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and brought to the Historical Society to accompany the original series of photographs. Bromfield went to live in Melbourne in the 1880s. It is presumed that the plastic cover has been placed on the frame fragment at a much later date than the 1880s.

Significance

This frame fragment is interesting and very important for several reasons:-
1. It is one demonstration of the interest that James Astley Bromfield had in local history
2. It came from the old Warrnambool Museum and shows how that institution kept items of historical interest
3. It gives us the names of the people and places in the Joseph Wilder photographs of 1860 that placed together form a panorama that reveals what a major section of Warrnambool looked like only 13 years after its foundation. The list enables us to correctly identify the early places and people and so is invaluable for research purposes
4. It links a Museum exhibit of the 1880s with the original 1860 photographs which are held by the Historical Society

Physical description

This is a piece of wood broken from a frame containing a photograph. It has jagged edges. It contains the list of people and places depicted in the Joseph Wilder panorama photograph of Warrnambool in 1860. The list is handwritten in ink on paper which has been attached to the frame with a piece of plastic.

Inscriptions & markings

Warrnambool in 1860 Photographed by Wilder. Showing children of the late Andrew Semple etc
In red pencil – ‘Keep’, in ink, ‘Keep’
On separate piece of paper - Presented to Warrnambool Mechanics’ Muzeum by James Astley Bromfield, August 3rd 1886