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Tyrrell Collection

Collection Title
Tyrrell Collection
Repository
Powerhouse Museum
Reference
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/tyrrell
Date Range
c. 1884 - c. 1917
Description

The Tyrrell Collection held at the Powerhouse Museum consists of 7903 glass plate negatives from the studios of Charles Kerry (1857-1928) and Henry King (1855-1923) who had two of Sydney's principal photographic studios in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Prints of these images are available from the photographic service at the Museum. Charles Kerry opened his own studio in 1884, this evolved into Kerry and Co (c. 1893-1901), Kerry and Co closed in 1917. Digital copies of images from this collection are provided courtesy Powerhouse Museum.

The Tyrrell Collection consists of 7903 glass plate negatives from the studios of Charles Kerry (1857-1928) and Henry King (1855-1923) who had two of Sydney's principal photographic studios in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The collection was bought by the Sydney bookseller, James R. Tyrrell, in 1929 for a proposed floating ethnographic museum moored in Sydney Harbour. Although the museum never eventuated, Tyrrell kept the collection intact, eventually selling it in 1980 to Australian Consolidated Press who donated it to the museum in 1985.

The Tyrrell Collection provides an important record of city and country life at the time with a number of broad themes: Sydney and suburbs; south coast; Blue Mountains; transport; rural New South Wales; shipping; caves; sports; Indigenous peoples of Australia and the South Pacific. Although all the New South Wales photographs were taken by Kerry or King (or their employees), there is no evidence that they or their employees took the South Pacific images. Instead, these were acquired from local photographic studios and missionaries for the lucrative postcard trade.

All the photographs in the collection were intended for sale: first as prints, and later as postcards when the craze for collecting them began. Both Kerry and King also exhibited at international and intercolonial exhibitions. Charles Kerry began his career as a photographer in about 1875, working for the Sydney portrait photographer, A.H. Lamartiniere. By 1884, Kerry had taken over the business and had his studio at 308 George Street, Sydney. In 1890 he was appointed official photographer to the Governor of New South Wales, Lord Carrington. In addition to his portrait work, Kerry took on a number of government commissions, including travelling through New South Wales to photograph Aboriginal peoples, their camps and corroborees and taking detailed interior views of Jenolan Caves. Kerry's work was greatly facilitated by the invention of the dry-plate process in Europe in 1878. Where once photographs had to be developed on the spot, now they could be taken and developed later in the studio. Kerry's photographs of New South Wales were exhibited at the 1893 Chicago International Exhibition. In 1913, Kerry retired to take up mining. Although his nephew took over the business, increased competition and changing tastes meant that Kerry & Co closed in 1917.

Henry King was apprenticed to J. Hubert Newman before opening his own studio in partnership with William Slade in 1879. Although much of his early work was studio portraiture, the development of the dry-plate process allowed him to undertake landscape photography. He travelled throughout New South Wales and Queensland in his horse drawn caravan/studio, and was particularly interested in landscape photography. He won a bronze medal for his photographs at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. In contrast to Kerry, King's images were more carefully planned and positioned.

See also

Related Images

isSourceFor

Title
Chinese farm workers harvesting tobacco
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1884 - c. 1917
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Tumut?
Details
Title
Chinese men washing or scouring wool
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1884 - c. 1917
Place
Australia - New South Wales?
Details
Title
Four men with tobacco harvest
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1884 - c. 1917
Place
Australia - New South Wales
Details

Prepared by: Sophie Couchman

Created: 3 May 2003, Last modified: 12 October 2005