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85/1285-51 Glass plate negative, full plate, entitled 'Sydney Harbour from Dawes Point, N.S.W.', depicting Campbell's Cove, Fort Macquarie, Water Police base and Circular Quay wharves, photograph by Henry King, Sydney, Australia, 1883-1890. Click to enlarge.
  • Image 1 of 1, 85/1285-51 Glass plate negative, full plate, entitled 'Sydney Harbour from Dawes Point, N.S.W.', depicting Campbell's Cove, Fort Macquarie, Water Police base and Circular Quay wharves, photograph by Henry King, Sydney, Australia, 1883-1890. Click to enlarge

Glass plate negative of Campbells Cove, Fort Macquarie, Water Police base and Circular Quay, Sydney, 1883-1890

Made
This image from a glass plate negative produced between 1883 and 1890 is a view east across Sydney Cove from Dawes Point. The small craft in the foreground are mostly the pulling boats of the NSW Water Police which was based here for more than a century. This small cove had no name at the time this image was taken but is now known as Campbell's Cove. To the left in the distance is Fort Denison and beyond that, Bradleys Head. To the right Sydney Cove extends out of sight to the wharves of …

This object is part of

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Henry King photographs from the Tyrrell Collection
1880-1923

Summary

Object No.

85/1285-51

Object Statement

Glass plate negative, full plate, entitled 'Sydney Harbour from Dawes Point, N.S.W.', depicting Campbell's Cove, Fort Macquarie, Water Police base and Circular Quay wharves, photograph by Henry King, Sydney, Australia, 1883-1890

Physical Description

Glass plate negative, full plate, entitled 'Sydney Harbour from Dawes Point, N.S.W.', depicting Campbell's Cove, Fort Macquarie, Water Police base and Circular Quay wharves, photograph by Henry King, Sydney, Australia, 1883-1890

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

The negative is not fully catalogued.

1/124 Tyrrell Inventory Number, 70 King Studio Number

Marks

This negative is not fully catalogued.

Short URL

https://ma.as/31251

Dimensions

Width

215 mm

Production

Made

Notes

Henry King was born in England around 1855 but grew up in Sydney. He found work with the well-known Sydney photographer J. Hubert Newman and in 1880 established a studio in partnership with William Slade. Four years later he was sole proprietor.

King quickly established a reputation for himself due to the high quality of his finished work. While King's income, like many other photographers, was dependent on portraiture he, like Kerry, is best known for his outdoor work. These views, particularly his city views, are justifiably praised and seem more carefully framed and printed than Kerry's. Outdoor views of Sydney make up the main bulk of King's work in the collection although, like Kerry, he took a series of photographs of the Jenolan Caves using magnesium flares.

Henry King died aged 68 in Waverley War Memorial Hospital on 22 May 1923 following abdominal surgery

Geoff Barker, Curatorial, December, 2008

References
King, Richard, Australian Dictionary of Biography - Online Edition
Josef Lebovic, Henry King, 1855 - 1923, auction catalogue, Josef Lebovic Gallery, Paddington, Australia, date unknown
Newton, Gael, Shades of Light; Photography and Australia 1839 - 1988, Australian National Gallery, Canberra, 1988

History

Used

Used

Used

Used

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 Campbells Cove, Fort Macquarie, Water Police base and Circular Quay, Sydney, 1883-1890 2022, Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, accessed 9 February 2023, <https://ma.as/31251>

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://ma.as/31251 |title=Glass plate negative of Campbells Cove, Fort Macquarie, Water Police base and Circular Quay, Sydney, 1883-1890 |author=Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences |access-date=9 February 2023 |publisher=Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, Australia}}

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