Historical information

An early black and white photograph of the main road in Marysville in Victoria taken by Nicholas John Caire.

Significance

An early black and white photograph of the main road in Marysville in Victoria showing the Keppels Australian Hotel which was built and opened by the Keppel Family in 1865.
The Keppels Australian Hotel was the first hotel to be opened in Marysville. The Keppel Family were among Marysville's earliest pioneering families.
This photograph was taken by Nicholas John Caire. N.J. Caire had a great love for the area in and surrounding Marysville and in the late 1800's took many photographs of Marysville and its surrounds. N.J. Caire was born in 1837 in Guernsey. He arrived in Adelaide about 1860 along with his parents who encouraged his early interest in photography. He opened a studio in Adelaide in 1867 after traveling extensively throughout the Gippsland taking photographs. After marrying in 1870 he moved to Talbot in Victoria until 1876 when he opened a studio in the Royal Arcade in Melbourne. After 1885 N.J. Caire gave up his city work and made his home in South Yarra and devoted the rest of his life to outdoor photography, specializing in the bush, the gullies and the mountains of south-eastern Victoria.