Category: Photographic History

On 25 May 1870 the bushranger Fred­erick Ward (popularly known as ‘Thun­der­bolt’ or ‘Cap­tain Thun­der­bolt’) was shot and killed by a police trooper named Alex­ander Walker at Ken­tucky Creek, near Uralla, in northern New South Wales. In the following days an Armi­dale photographer named Andrew Cunning­ham captured at least ten photographs pertaining to Ward’s death. Some of these photos (particularly three of Ward’s cadaver) are well known; however, virtually no investigation has been undertaken of at least four other photos of the site where Ward was shot. These include two staged re-enactment images in which Walker participated. I also look at the visual representation of Ward’s ‘capture’ in the colonial illustrated press, noting the ways in which these images diverge from reported reality. [About 2,800 words, 31 footnotes, eight images].

The All England cricket team’s tour of 1861–62 generated unprecedented interest and excitement in the Austra­lian colonies. This articles examines the visual documentation of one of the matches held before large crowds at Syd­ney’s Outer Domain, near the Royal Bot­anic Gar­den. An enormous and likely unprecedented six-frame photo­graphic panorama of the match captured by Thomas Glaister hasn’t been noted by scholars to date and doesn’t appear to have survived in original form; however, a likely excerpt was published in the Sydney Morn­ing Herald half a century later. Reportedly ‘instan­taneous’ photographs of the match were also captured by Glaister representing early steps in the evolution of sports photography. [About 2,800 words, 41 footnotes, 9 images, one plan and one map].

Remarkably, a pioneering photographic record survives of the culmination of one of the most significant days in English mid nineteenth-century political history—William Kil­burn’s fascinating Daguerreo­types of the Char­tist mass meeting held at Kenning­ton Common (now Kenning­ton Park), Lon­don on 10 April 1848. In this article I look at the two extant images in some detail as close study reveals interesting new evidence relating to historiographical debate upon the supposed insurrectionary intent of the Char­tists. I also look at Kil­burn, his relationship with the Royal family and some of the potential reasons why he captured these very early images of mass political action. The paper concludes with a short discussion of whether the Char­tist photographs were the first of a crowd. [About 4,400 words, 74 footnotes, nine images and one map].