Jenolan Caves
One of the most cohesive and impressive groups of photographs by Bayliss in the National Library’s collection is of the Jenolan Caves, known in his day as The Fish River Caves. Located in the Blue Mountains, 170 kilometres west of Sydney, it is the oldest known open cave system in the world. It is not known exactly when European settlers discovered them but their beautiful stalactites and stalagmites ensured their popularity with tourists from the 1860s onwards.
Bayliss might well have visited the caves in the late 1870s on one of his photography expeditions to the Blue Mountains. His views of them, however, probably date from the 1880s, after the discovery of the Imperial Cave in 1879 and the Left Imperial Caver in 1880. Bayliss photographed both caves, issuing two sizes of prints, some of which have numbers inscribed on the negatives, and these were available for purchase by clients eager for views of unique aspects of the scenery of New South Wales. The limestone caves held great fascination for people interested in a variety of areas, including science, geology, art and tourism.
Jenolan Caves
Carlotta Arch, Jenolan Caves, New South Wales 1880s
albumen print; 28.5 x 23.8 cm
In ‘Charles Bayliss Collection of Photographs of
New South Wales, c. 1876–1897’ nla.pic-vn4193933
The Caves, the Mystery 1880s
albumen print; 20.3 x 15.2 cm
In the album ‘New South Wales’ nla.pic-vn4198480
From Nettle Cave, New South Wales 1880s
albumen print; 23.4 x 28.6 cm nla.pic-an24680762
Bathing Pool and Fall, Cave River 1880s
albumen print; 23.9 x 28.6 cm nla.pic-an24680718
