Historical information
This item is part of a larger collection donated to the Kew Historical Society by Anna French. The collection includes personal items from the donor's family, as well as items given to the donor and her mother by a family friend, Lucy Merritt (Jean) Hornby. The item is from that part of the collection inherited or assembled by Jean Hornby. The collection is significant given Jean Hornby's mother's descent from Robert Hornby (1854-1935) and Eva Merritt (1865-1959); her mother the chid of a family who settled in Kew in the 1850s, thus providing a chain of provenance for items dating to the mid-nineteenth century, when her maternal forebears arrived in Melbourne. Other items represent Jean Hornby's contribution to her local and wider community.
Physical description
Sepia photograph, labelled 'BRYANTS CREEK' at lower left. The creek is bordered by a white post and rail fence on one bank. On the other side of the creek are two men. The creek is bordered with remnant vegetation [ie Eucalypts]. Coleraine, in Western Victoria, was initially settled by Europeans in the 1840s. The developing township was aligned with Bryant's Creek with a north-south orientation.
Inscriptions & markings
Reverse - Inscribed in ink: "Taken by H Bower with Student camera" / Printed: "C.G. Greenham Photographer, Hawthorn / The Herodotus Studio"
Subjects
References
- Chances Rule Men, Not Men Chances: the story of Charles George Freeman (1852-1925) [Early Australian commercial photographer] / by Michael Freeman, 2023. 'Charles George Greenham was a travelling commercial photographer in Western Victoria from 1888-1894, with a business name of ‘Herodotus Studio’ and a base in Oak Street, Hawthorn. For much of 1891 he was working out of Camperdown, where he engaged a [young?] local assistant, H. [Henry John Ardlie?] Bower. During 1892, Greenham relocated to Coleraine , then Casterton and retained the services of Bower [and obviously trained him in the photographic art given the attribution on your print.] Early in 1894, Greenham moved to Western Australia to capitalise on opportunity provided by the Coolgardie gold rush, and soon established a prominent photographic business. Bower also went to Coolgardie, but by late 1895 he had returned to Camperdown.."
