Woolloomooloo Bay
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Where: 43 Cowper Wharf Roadway, Woolloomooloo NSW 2011, Australia
Try to find the spot where the photographer was standing.
When: 01 January 1864
Try to find the date or year when this image was made.Dated: No date
Digital ID: 4481_a026_000812
Rights: www.records.nsw.gov.au/about-us/rights-and-permissions
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This image is part of our "Moments in Time" blog series where we ask you to help us date the photos or identify the location where the photo was taken. If you can help with this image please head over to the post at our Archives Outside blog. We have included the larger version here on Flickr to help show more detail.
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Owner: MHNSW - State Archives CollectionSource: Flickr Commons
Views: 11298
4 years ago a contributor from Vaucluse, Australia suggested this image location is -33.8692, 151.221
4 years ago a contributor from Vaucluse, Australia suggested this image is from 1864
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
See the blog link above for a heap of interesting research and opinions.
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
Must be a PIRATE SHIP . . . Somebody stole an 'Arrrrrrrr' ! (HaRbour)
MHNSW - State Archives Collection
Yikes, we did it again! #typingfailure Good one, beachcomberaustralia...pirates :)
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Photographer John Degotardi Snr thoughtfully provided us with the reverse view (from the tower of St Mary's Cathedral in 1869-70?). The other side of this sawmill can be seen middle right - artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail-LRG.cfm?View=LRG&IRN=1278... . And he also provided a closer photo of St George's - artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail-LRG.cfm?IRN=127828&View=LRG
MHNSW - State Archives Collection
Thanks again to all your comments at the Archives Outside blog. The general consensus is Woolloomooloo Bay!
pellethepoet
You wouldn't believe it, but I just came across this photo in 'From the Quay' by Harvey Shore (Kensington, NSW University Press, 1981), p. 109. This indicates there is a copy in the Marine Services Board (formerly Sydney Harbour Trust) glass plate collection. Although most of their collection were original, some were copies of existing photographs, which is likely to be the case here. Of course, maybe the glass plate got orphaned from the collection in the transfer to State Records and ended up in the Government Printing Office collection ... This is Harvey Shore's caption: "Woolloomooloo Bay in 1864. The progress of reclamation work is clear to see, and Cowper Wharf (the first in the area) is complete. There is hardly any development in the area, although the Municipal Fish Markets are just being built (left rear); these would stay in the 'Loo until the late 1890s. Sheehy's boatyard is in the foreground. The vessel anchored in the bay is a colonial barque, possibly the Woollahra." The Sydney Morning Herald, Tuesday 21 March 1865, p. 5.: "The most successful yacht builder, however, is Dan Sheehy, of Woolloomooloo Bay. His last vessel, the Xarifa, buillt for Mr. Parbury, is about as handsome a model as one would desire to see. He was also builder of the Blink Bonnie, also the Australian, a 6 ton open yacht; and the Sibyl, and Thought, 22 feet open boats, all of them winners. His work lies solely amongst pleasure yachts, and in this way himself and four men are constantly employed, and have been so for the past two years. He is about the only boatbuilder in this particular line of work." Harvey Shore credits Dan Sheehy with discovering the principle of streamlining in the hull design of yachts, but this is incorrect. He did build the boat, the Australian, but the design was Richard Harnett's. Harnett wrote of his design: "I caught a mackerel in Woolloomooloo Bay for the purpose of obtaining correct lines. Opening its mouth, I cut the fish into two parts. Leaving the back, and laying the incised portion on a sheet of paper, I took for my load-waterline the horizontal lines of the fish, which were segments of a circle, the garboard strake corresponding with the waterlines and the midsection of a right-angled floor." - 'Picturesque Sydney Harbour' by Robyn Howard (Sydney : View Productions, 1984), p. 36.
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pellethepoet Terrific find. 1864 it is (before the Cathedral fire - the gothic arch must have been showing due to the extensions under way?). My thoughts are those gents are too smartly dressed for boat builders at work. Two of them have unusual hats on, with what looks like mosquito netting gathered at the back. The children behind look typically bored.
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
And you know why it's called a 'barque'? 'cos of all the ol' sea dogs on board . . .
pellethepoet
http://www.flickr.com/people/beachcomberaustralia/ Perhaps your're right - they could be wealthy clients come to commission a pleasure yacht from the master boatbuilder. There's a man lurking in the background that could be one of the workers.
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
Better image of the Pugin School / Chapter Hall (it's his bicentenary in 2012) - acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/album/ItemViewer.aspx?itemid=823409&am... (from the Pickering 1872 Album - acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=442753)
pellethepoet
It would seem our 1864 date was correct - http://www.flickr.com/photos/state-records-nsw/8579018794/
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
There is an engraved view from across the bay of the new wharf published in the Illustrated Sydney News of 15/10/1864, p.8 and an interesting blurb on p.9 - trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/63512125 (you have to go back a page for the illustration, but it's worth it!). Which might suggest the reason for this photograph - a record of the new wharf for the relevant Government departments, as Harvey Shore's book suggests.
pellethepoet
This photograph also appears in [New Zealand, Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney / from an album of photographs with the inscription] "Colonel Trevor, 14th Regiment, November 10th, 1869", and has been attributed to John Degotardi senior by the State Library of NSW - acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=421465 - "Nos. 76,79 & 94 attributed to John Degotardi, 287 George St., Sydney from: Photograph album : Sydney, Newcastle and Bathurst views (Mitchell Library PXB 258)" See page 9 in album view ... 76. Sydney Harbour [i.e Woolloomooloo Bay]
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Ten years later in 1874 (also Degotardi?) via https://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryofnsw/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryofnsw/49871882993/