A Modern Photographer
Lawrence Hargrave and unidentified man with
four box kites at Stanwell Park, New South
Wales, 1894
albumen print; 24.2 x 29.3 cm nla.pic-an12888301
Charles Bayliss’s work coincided with two key interrelated events: the dramatic increase of Australia’s population after the gold rushes in the second half of the nineteenth century, and the rise of the ‘view trade’. His images registered—indeed celebrated—the impact of modernisation on the colonies of Victoria and New South Wales. Like those of his contemporaries, Bayliss’s photographic views of Australian scenery, civic buildings, gardens, engineering feats and so on were acquired eagerly by a newly prosperous clientele.
