50 Glass Slides digitised
A collection of 50 gelatin coated plate glass negatives were donated to us over 30 years ago, by Brian Gales who at the time was caretaker and trustee of the Brighton Cemetery. Brian lived in the caretaker’s lodge at the cemetery from 1967 until 1995. We don’t know if the slides were Brian’s or he found them when he left the lodge in 1995.
The slides are street scenes, people, a cricket team, various vehicles and some slides appear to be of interstate scenes. There is a link to politician and racing identity/horse breeder Agar Wynne (1850-1934). Agar was the Federal Member for Balaclava and the State Member for St Kilda. He also served as Post Master General in the Cook Federal Government in 1913. He is pictured in one of the slides and is named on a sporting shield.
The slides were recently digitised by Peter King Restoration with funding provided by the Bendigo Bank in Murrumbeena. Overall the slides are in good condition though the effects of mould can be seen with some damage to the photographic emulsion.
Gelatin coated plate glass negatives were in use from the 1880s to the late 1920s. These slides are negatives and were used to print as photographs. They are not the glass slides used in the early projectors known as Magic Lanterns, according to John Semmens, an expert in this field.
We are working to identify as many of the images and the collection of slides will be catalogued onto Victorian Collections in the near future, and available online. In the meantime, you will find some of the images below.
Agar Wynne, back row, 2nd from right, deep in conversation
South Suburban Churches Association cricket team in Brisbane 1910.
The team travelled to Brisbane by ship on the SS Wyandra with a couple of days in Sydney on the way. It was reported they were overwhelmed with the Queensland hospitality to the sacrifice of their cricket.
Where is this?
The Agar Wynne Challenge Shield to be presented to the winner of the Commonwealth Football Association.
The CFA (soccer, not Australian Rules) formed in 1911 and the first international matches for the Australian Men’s Team were played in 1922. The association changed its name to Football Association (Australia) in 1923 ahead of a proposed 1925 tour of England. This may be why there are no names engraved on the shield.
Sydney GPO, we believe