In the 1860s printing technology did not allow for photographs to be published in newspapers so photographs were copied by artists and turned into etchings – a kind of engraving that could be used as a stamp. The quality of … Continue reading Spotlight: Ben Hall, The Bushranger (etching)
The folk song The Wild Colonial Boy is known around the world and has been sung by artists as wide ranging as the Clancy brothers and Mick Jagger. Despite the popularity, very few know of the inspiration for the song: seventeen year old John Doolan. Continue reading Spotlight: Mugshot of Jack Doolan
This engraving and accompanying text were featured in the Sydney Mail, December 13, 1879. Continue reading Spotlight: Special Police Parade
A studio portrait of Jimmy Nesbitt of the Wantabadgery bushrangers. Continue reading Spotlight: Portrait of James Nesbitt
As technology did not exist to replicate photographs in print at the time, artists employed by publications were given the task of dramatising events in illustrations or producing portraits of the key players based on descriptions or existing photographs. Continue reading Spotlight: Scott (Moonlite)
This engraving of Ben Hall was published twenty days after his death. Continue reading Spotlight: Ben Hall, the Bushranger.
In 1867 Thomas and John Clarke were the most wanted men in Australia. With a reward of £1000 for Thomas and £500 for John, the hunt was on for two of the most notorious bushrangers in New South Wales. Continue reading Spotlight: “Thomas and John Clarke, bushrangers, from a photograph taken in Braidwood gaol”
“Presently we noticed a very tall figure in white, stalking slowly in the direction of the hotel. There was no head visible, and in the dim light of morning, with all the steam rising very heavily from the ground, it looked, for all the world, like the ghost of Hamlet’s father with no head, only a very long, thick neck.” Continue reading Spotlight: Ned Kelly at Bay
Sergeant Arthur Loftus Maule Steele with the Wangaratta police who helped destroy the Kelly Gang at Glenrowan. Continue reading Spotlight: Wangaratta contingent of police at capture of Kelly Gang, 28 June 1880.
