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85/1285-178 Glass negative, full plate, entitled 'Manly Steamer, 'Fairlight', Sydney', depicting the Manly ferry paddle steamer 'Fairlight' on Sydney Harbour heading to Manly, King, Sydney, Australia, c. 1885. Click to enlarge.

Glass plate negative of Manly ferry paddle steamer 'Fairlight' on Sydney Harbour heading to Manly, c.1885

Made
This image from a glass plate negative produced around 1885 shows the Manly ferry P S 'Fairlight' on Sydney Harbour working up to full speed on the Manly service. The paddle steamer has completed her swing around Bennelong Point and is now lining up for the turn at Bradleys Head. 'Fairlight' was built in 1878 and used steam and an auxiliary sail rig to make the passage from Scotland to Sydney. In 1908 she was converted into a Sydney-Manly cargo ferry and was retired in 1912 and converted into …

Summary

Object No.

85/1285-178

Object Statement

Glass negative, full plate, entitled 'Manly Steamer, 'Fairlight', Sydney', depicting the Manly ferry paddle steamer 'Fairlight' on Sydney Harbour heading to Manly, King, Sydney, Australia, c. 1885

Physical Description

Glass negative, full plate, entitled 'Manly Steamer, "Fairlight", Sydney', depicting the Manly ferry paddle steamer 'Fairlight' on Sydney Harbour heading to Manly, King, Sydney, Australia, c. 1885

Silver gelatin dry plate glass negative in landscape format. The caption, studio number and studio mark are inscribed on the reverse of the negative.

47/39 Tyrrell Inventory Number, 228 King Studio Number

Dimensions

Width

215 mm

Production

Notes

Henry King became sole proprietor of a photographic studio in George Street in 1880. Henry King's studio closed around 1900 and Charles Kerry acquired some of his negatives.

History

Notes

This photograph is one of 1334 Henry King photographs which are also part of a larger collection of 7,900 negatives once owned by Sydney bookseller, James Tyrrell. After King's death in 1923 the studio collection of glass negatives was purchased by Tyrrell.

In addition to the Henry King images, the Tyrrell Collection at the Powerhouse Museum includes glass plate negatives published by Kerry & Co. Studio and a number of other negatives by unattributed photographers. James Tyrrell used the images by Kerry & Co. and Henry King to produce his own booklets and views of New South Wales but although full of iconic Australian images, the collection does not appear to have been fully utilised by Tyrrell.

The photographic collection acquired by Tyrrell was purchased by Australian Consolidated Press and its new owners almost immediately set about producing a limited series of complete sets of contact prints of the collection for libraries and museums in New South Wales. Housed in boxes copies of these were given to the State Library of New South Wales and the Macleay Museum at the University of Sydney.

In 1985 Australian Consolidated Press donated the collection to the Powerhouse Museum. The collection at this time consisted of 7,903 glass plate negatives and 7,916 contact positive prints. Of these 493 glass plates were damaged but usable and 13 plates totally broken.

Geoff Barker, Curatorial, December, 2008

Source

Credit Line

Gift of Australian Consolidated Press under the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme, 1985

Acquisition Date

18 July 1985

Cite this Object

Harvard

Glass plate negative of Manly ferry paddle steamer 'Fairlight' on Sydney Harbour heading to Manly, c.1885 2022, Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, accessed 7 June 2023, <https://ma.as/30882>

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://ma.as/30882 |title=Glass plate negative of Manly ferry paddle steamer 'Fairlight' on Sydney Harbour heading to Manly, c.1885 |author=Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences |access-date=7 June 2023 |publisher=Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, Australia}}