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Panoramas

Panoramas gained great popularity in Australia in the 1870s, largely as a result of the work of Charles Bayliss, one of Australia’s finest early Photographers. Bayliss was renowned for his panoramas of Sydney and suburbs and is represented in the exhibition with a stunning example from 1879, measuring nearly five and a half metres long.

Then, as now, Sydney’s geographical features and superb harbour-side site were ideally suited to the panoramic format. Bayliss’s panorama exudes confidence; it is a testament to the triumphs of civilisation which the city of Sydney itself represented, and to the possibilities of the photographic medium.

Also on display is a wonderfully detailed panorama of Sydney taken in 1885 by Francis Robinson, as well as panoramic views of the Federation celebrations held in Centennial Park in Sydney in 1901 and attended by thousands of people.

 

Introduction
1860s and 1870s
A love of order
Panoramas
Photography & war
Communities
A people's history