Historical information

Murray Comrie Collection.

Copy of an 1866 photograph by Aimé Marchand.

Thomas Comrie's Exchange Store was at south end of Commercial Road, it has since been destroyed.

In June 1866, Aimé Marchand (1846-1910) made a series of fourteen photographs which were submitted to the 1866-67 Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition, where they earned a 1st Class Honorable Mention. This is one of those fourteen images. Of French or Belgian origin and possibly formerly an assayer in California, Marchand appears to have begun his practice of photography in Tarnagulla around 1865 as an assistant to A.B. Clay. By the following year he had settled in Portland, where he opened the Royal Photographic Studio in Gawler Street. From his base in Portland he toured surrounding districts, offering portrait and view services. Little else is known about his life. He appears to have left Australia in 1878. A misprint of his name in a local directory as Annie Marchand created the misconception that he was one of only a few named women photographers in the colonies.

Physical description

Monochrome photograph looking north down Commercial Road, Tarnagulla from the Wayman Street corner, opposite Thomson and Comrie's Exchange Store (at south end of Commercial Road).