Item MM 39258 Photograph - Bourke Street, Melbourne, Victoria, circa 1890

Summary

Black & white photograph of Bourke Street, Melbourne, looking east from Queen Street towards Spring Street, taken by the studio of Nettleton & Arnest, circa 1890.

This photograph is part of a collection of 47 photographs of Melbourne taken in the late nineteenth century by the commercial photographic studio of Nettleton and Arnest. The collection comprises of 47 photographs from a single album, and taken circa 1890. They feature significant Melbourne buildings and streets including Parliament House, the Treasury Buildings, St Patrick's Cathedral, the Royal Exhibition Building and Melbourne University Colleges. Few people feature in the photographs, which are predominantly focused upon architecture. The collection is significant as it provides a visual record of Melbourne's early development, and also reveals the work of an important local photography studio.

Charles Nettleton was a prolific outdoor photographer who worked over a period of forty years in Australia, after moving to Melbourne from the United Kingdom in 1854. In 1867, he was appointed official Royal photographer in Australia and he also worked as the official police photographer for over 25 years in the 1860s - 1880s. His photographs were exhibited at international exhibitions in Dublin in 1865, Paris in 1867 and Sydney in 1879. Nettleton retired in 1890, as new dry plate photographic technology made the wet place process he employed redundant. His photographs are held by major institutions around Australia.

John Mond Arnest's history and association with the firm of Nettleton and Arnest is more obscure. Arnest emigrated from America to Melbourne in the 1880s and was employed by the large photographic firm of William Nutting Tuttle and Co in Elizabeth Street. He operated a photographic studio in Hamilton, before settling in Colac where he lived and worked as a photographer until his death in 1920.

Description of Content

A view of Bourke Street, Melbourne, looking east from Queen Street towards Spring Street. Various buildings are visible including the G.P.O, Parliament House and a number of shops and offices. Several cable trams and horse drawn vehicles are travelling along the street.