Names to Faces

Tug-o-War at Northern (Rhondda) Colliery Picnic, 1957

This wonderful photo appeared in The Newcastle Herald on Saturday 19 November in its excellent  A moment in time series. The photo is of a tug-o-war and was taken at a works picnic attended by management and workers of Northern (Rhondda) Colliery, near Teralba, New South Wales. It was taken by the late Vic Ash and provided to us by Barry Howard who identified some of the people as follows:

On the rope, from right to left – Jack White (at front, closest to camera), Peter Murray (Mine Manager), Norm Ward, unidentified man, Dawson Robertson.

The man holding the little girl, third from right, is “Nugget” Hayden.

Since the photo appeared in The Newcastle Herald, more information has been supplied by members of the public. On Saturday 26 November, The Herald reported:

Argenton’s Francis Fenwick called in to say his daughter had recognised him in the photo (above) published last week, standing on the very right behind the boy with dark hair.
Known as “Fenno” and now 87, Fenwick was a bulldozer driver for carrying company Hawkins and worked at the Rhondda Colliery for two and a half years.
He said he remembered manager Jack White and superintendent Peter Murray as if it were yesterday.

On Saturday 3 December, The Newcastle Herald reported:

Elaine White recognised her late husband Jack White at the front of the rope in the picture of the Miners Picnic at the Northern (Rhondda) Colliery in 1957.
Mr White died in 1979.
The man behind him, Peter Murray, died six years ago.
“I can tell you it was the staff versus the miners and the staff did pull the miners across the line,” she wrote.”

On Saturday 10 December The Herald reported:

Patricia McBlane sent an email to point out her husband Norm McBlane in the photo published on November 19 of the Northern (Rhondda) Colliery picnic in 1957.
She said her husband, then 14, is pictured at the far right of the photo.
His father Doug (Jock) McBlane worked in the mines and called events from the microphone at the picnics.

It is great to receive information about the people in our photos. Our Flickr site has been a boon in this regard, and now the publication in The Newcastle Herald of this and other photos from our collections has added greatly to our knowledge, and given pleasure to those who recognise themselves or loved ones in the photos.

Our thanks go to Helen Gregory of The Newcastle Herald for publishing the photo, the late Vic Ash for taking it, Barry Howard for supplying it to us, and, of course, Mr Fenwick, Mrs White and Mrs McBlane for giving us the information.

You can see the full sized scan of the photo on our Flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/uon/5569587548/sizes/o/

Local Treasures: The Athel D’Ombrain Collection

Athel D'Ombrain

Day Shift – 15/11/2011 – 02:10 PM – forthcoming
Presenter: Carol Duncan
Interviewee: Gionni Di Gravio, Archivist, Newcastle University

University of Newcastle Archivist Gionni Di Gravio discusses the recent digitisation of the Athel D’Ombrain Collection comprising of over 2,500 negatives, and talks about his life and extraordinary contribution to the Hunter Region.

Broadcast Notes:

The Athel D’Ombrain Collection was deposited with the University of Newcastle Archives in 1982.

The following notes are from an 1981 article in the University News entitled “University Post” (Vol. 7 No. 12 July 1981 p.[3]) supplemented with further notes from a variety of websites. He left an incredible and varied legacy in the wider Regional community. These photographs are an outstanding document of his life’s work and contribution to the natural world,  history, architecture, science and art. They document many historical buildings throughout the Hunter Region, prior to restoration. They also document buildings and structures no longer extant.

The negatives were digitised by Sharon Mee and Michael Sherriff, and both should be congratulated for scanning the two and a half thousand odd negatives that are very challenging to handle. Sharon is currently uploading the negatives to our flickr site here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/uon/sets/72157627892125061/

Here is a selection:

Athel D’Ombrain A.M. (1901-1985) was a photographer, optician, naturalist, author, cricketer, pioneer angler, game fisherman and historian.

He was born in Casterton in the Western District of Victoria in 1901. His father, a general practitioner, was one of the pioneer ornithologists of Australia, and had helped in the formation of the Royal Australian Ornithologists’ Union. It was through his father, and the excursions they shared together, that Athel learnt about the natural world. His interest was further developed by living on the north shore in Sydney at a time when the suburb was sparsly settled and a fine place in which to study birds and animals.

He attended Shore College, Sydney between 1913-18. After being educated at Shore, and realising that his interests were not academic,  he later studied agriculture at Hawkesbury Agricultural College, and worked on the land at Somersby, garnering much success as a citrus-grower. He was part winner of a Wembly Medal and winner of several prizes in local citrus shows.

Athel had also studied optometry and when his brother, Arthur, an opthalmic surgeon, said he should move to Maitland and work with him as a manufacturing optician he said he would. In 1929 he moved to Maitland to work as an optical dispenser at his brother’s practice, and for over 20 years was associated with his brother in Maitland, and later for some years in Newcastle.

Athel was a well respected cricketer with the Northern Suburbs Cricket Club. Known as ‘Dorn’ to his fellow cricketers, his first A Grade season (1929-1930) marked the beginning of an association with the Club that would last over fifty years.

Besides playing, he was also served as Secretary from 1930-36, and later conducted Coaching Classes. In recognition of his long playing and administrative services, he was made a Life Member of the Club in the early sixties and Patron from 1968.

In 1934 he, along with Wallace Fitness, approached the secretary of the Hunter River Agricultural and Horticultural Association Show Society, asking whether they could display some local photographs in the Fine Arts Pavilion at the 1934 annual Maitland Show. The request was accepted, and so was founded the Maitland Salon of Photography.  In 1946 Maitland Salon became an Australian Photographic Society approved Salon and then in 1958 became an International Salon with approval from the Photographic Society of America and finally in 1982 the federation International De L’ Art Photographique granted its patronage.

In February 1936, he married Esma Drew, of Clarencetown, by whom he had a son, Robin, who later became a Technical Officer in Chemical Engineering. Esma died in May 1980.

Around 1950 Athel retired from optometry and became a photographer for The Maitland Mercury. After the 1955 flood hit his home he left the newspaper and established a commercial photographic business in Maitland. Concurrent with these activities he was a “photo-finish operator” at the Maitland Showground and a stringer cameraman.

Through the efforts of Athel and Newman Silverthorne, the Newcastle and Port Stephens Game Fish Club was formed with Headquarters at Bundabah on the northern side of the Port. In 1935 the fishing enthusiasts built a clubhouse at Shoal Bay. “There was not one house at the bay at this time – nothing but bush”, he says. The Fish Club was taken over by the Army in the Second World War, following which it was incorporated into the Country Club Hotel. He was renown as a pioneer angler who adopted a scientific approach to the sport and who was very successful in the post war years. He is credited with devising the now widely accepted tag and release concept for big game fishes, commencing his first experiments in 1938.

Athel was an expert naturalist especially on Port Stephens and its flora and fauna. For example, he visited Cabbage Tree Island regularly for 44 years observing and banding the sea bird called Gould’s Petrel. The island is the only known nesting place of the species.

He also enjoyed looking at the birds in the wetlands at Hexham as he travelled between Maitland and Newcastle in the train. Previously he had contributed several articles to the Newcastle Morning Herald. In 1965 he wrote a piece about the birds at Hexham, which came under the notice of the Herald’s Editor at the time, Mr E.K. Lingard, who liked the story so much he asked Athel to write a weekly column. For some time he became a Saturday correspondent for The Herald. He also authored a number of published books, ‘Game Fishing Off the Australian Coast’ and ‘Fish Tales’, and an unpublished account of Gould’s Petrel, called ‘North East of Toomaree’, and an unpublished autobiography

His newspaper articles and books contributed a great deal to the unfolding of the wonders of nature. Moreover, he was continually identifying specimens found in the bush and backyards for individuals.

On the 9 June 1975, in recognition of his service to photography and the study of nature, he was awarded Member of the Order of Australia.

In 1981 he was invited to become a Convocation Visiting Scholar at the University of Newcastle, the third to hold the position since its inception in 1977.

As a result of his photographic work over many years, he amassed a monumental collection of photographs relating to the Hunter Valley. One of his roles as Convocation Visiting Scholar was to work in association with Denis Rowe (University Archivist) in the Archives in the Auchmuty Library, cataloguing his photographs and organising the articles about nature that he had written for the Newcastle Herald.

He continued to write his columns up until a few months prior to his death at age 83 in 1985. According to his son, Mr Robin D’Ombrain, he wrote a total of 995 articles for the Newcastle Herald.

He was a member of the Royal Australian Orthnologist’s Union, an Associate of the Australian Museum and a Member of the Order of Australia.

Climate archive to help predict extreme weather events

Algernon Belfield's 1882 Meteorological Observing Book for the year 1882

Click Here to View Images from the Belfield Ceremony 9th March 2011 on Flickr

Historic climate data never before used by researchers may provide the key to helping communities better prepare for extreme weather events, such as the recent Queensland floods.

The data, collected between 1877 and 1907, by a New England pastoralist, will be used by University of Newcastle researchers to map the future climate of the region.

“The Bureau of Meteorology did not start collecting detailed, official climate data in the New England area until 1961,” University meteorologist Martin Babakhan said.

Sample page from the 1882 Meteorological Observing Book

“This data could be applied to create an early warning system to help climatologists and meteorologists better predict the extreme weather events that we have seen across Australia in the last six to 12 months.

“The information is extremely detailed and will help fill significant gaps in knowledge, and when applied to computerised climate modelling, will help us better predict climate and weather events in that region.”

The research will help predict adverse and beneficial climate events for the agriculture industry, as well as for planning, development and business investment in rural and regional areas.

“Climate management is all about knowledge. With this information we can understand why and how our climate is changing and the likely impacts, which are vital to better understand the climate of tomorrow,” Mr Babakhan said.

Sample page from Belfield's 1877 Meteorological Observing Book

Sample page from Belfield's 1877 Meteorological Observation Book

The climate data, collected by astronomer and meteorologist Algernon Henry Belfield at his Eversleigh Station in the New England region, has been donated to the University of Newcastle Cultural Collections and it is also being archived by the University of New England Heritage Centre.

Mr Richad Belfield, grandson of Algernon Belfield, examining his grandfather's records

“Most families on the land have detailed historic data about weather and climate that can be used by scientists to answer important questions about our climate,” Mr Babakhan said.

“It is important that they come forward with this information to help fill the gaps in knowledge and answer these vital questions about our nation’s future.”

Researchers, climate change believers and sceptics will attend a launch of the Mapping our Climate collection at the University of Newcastle, Cultural Collections, Level 2 Auchmuty Library, Callaghan, at 10am on Wednesday 9 March.

Meteorological Observing Book(s) for the Years 1877 – 1907

Compiled by Algernon Henry Belfield (1838-1922)
Eversleigh Station New England District

Linked from this page are optimised PDFs for the 27 extant Observing Books compiled by Algernon Henry Belfield on his Eversleigh Station in the New England District.

The original books were deposited in the Heritage Centre of the University of New England by Algernon Belfield’s grandson Mr Richard Belfield.

The original booklets were digitised for Cultural Collections, University of Newcastle by William Oates, University Archivist at the Heritage Centre University of New England.

NB: Meteorological Observing Books for 1879, 1880 and 1881 are missing.
NB: Each PDF file is around 14-16MB in size. So you might wish to right mouse click on the link and select ‘save link as’ to download the file to your computer.

• Meteorological Observing Books for the years 1877-1878
• Meteorological Observing Book  for the Year 1882
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1883
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1884
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1885
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1886
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1887
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1888
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1889
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1890
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1891
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1892
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1893
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1894
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1895
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1896
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1897
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1898
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1899
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1900
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1901
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1902
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1903
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1904
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1905
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1906
• Meteorological Observing Book for the Year 1907
• Register of Meteorological Observations taken at Eversleigh 1908-1922 (63 MB PDF File) Discovered in December 2011.

Highlights of the Ceremony

RARE CLIMATE DATA HELPING PREDICT WEATHER EVENTS
NBN TELEVISION – BROADCAST 9 MARCH 2011

One farmer's observations to help others - Newcastle Herald 10 March 2011 p.14

Highlighting our Special Collections

The Special Collections at the University of Newcastle, Australia

At present, Cultural Collections at the University of Newcastle houses more than 32,000 volumes, many of which are very valuable and unique to Australian libraries. The existence of these Collections is largely due to the generosity of a number of benefactors as most of the items have been acquired by donation, or purchased from bequest funds. Collectively, they not only form a major resource in their own right, but also enrich our capacity to support a multitude of research programs. Some of the collections are:

• The Bishop’s Library is a collection of books dating from 1584 and was established by the second Bishop of Maitland, Dr. James Murray (1865-1909) and substantially augmented by his successor, Dr. P.V. Dwyer (1909-1931).
• The Cornell Collection is a collection of French works, part of the personal libraryof the late Emeritus Professor James Gladstone Cornell, M.A., Dip.Ed. (Melbourne), L.es L.(Paris), F.A.C.E., Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques, who was Professor of French at the University of Adelaide for some twenty-five years (1944-1969).
• The Hartley Collection, comprising some 600 books donated to the Library by Professor Kelver Hartley, Foundation Professor of French. Kelver Hayward Hartley (1909-1988) was Foundation Professor of French in the University of Newcastle, holding the Chair from 1965 until his retirement at the beginning of 1969.
• The James Joyce Collection is perhaps the strongest in Australia. It was begun in the 1960s at the behest of the internationally distinguished James Joyce scholar, Professor Clive Hart.
• The Light Collection comprises 130 items purchased with Light funding. Most are first editions printed in the nineteenth century and many of the items are very rare.
• The Morpeth Collection is a collection of some 2,700 volumes from St. John’s College Morpeth, generously donated by the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle, and includes editions of major theological and philosophical works printed in the 16th-18th centuries.
• Norman Talbot’s William Morris Collection was donated in November 2004 by Dr Jean Talbot  in memory of her husband who died earlier in the year. Norman Talbot was very much a scholar of the life and work of William Morris (1834-1896). William Morris was an author, poet, artist, manufacturer, and founder of the arts and crafts movement. The Collection consists of around two to three shelves of books, the substantial portion being two complete sets of William Morris’ Collected Works; a limited edition set published between 1910 -1915 of The Collected Works of William Morris. With introductions by his daughter May Morris. London: Longmans Green and Company, 1910-1915. Limited to 1,050 numbered copies (of which 1,000 only are for sale) in twenty-four octavo volumes, and the 1966 edition.
• The Renaissance Collection consists of volumes drawn in part from the Morpeth Collection and from the existing Auchmuty Library collections, but the majority were purchased through the Reta Light Trust Fund.
• The Sparke Collection comprises family books principally of Edward Sparke (1831-1902) and his family from Maitland, including a Bible and accountancy reference aids.
• The Tanner Library is the personal collection of some 6,000 works belonging to the late Professor Godfrey Tanner (1927-2002). Containing works on texts and commentaries on Latin and Greek classics, the Classical Tradition, the Christian tradition in antiquity, histories of the ancient world, its literature and ideas – religious, philosophical, social, political – studies in the form and development of ancient languages, commentaries on texts and so on in English, French and German and much more.
• The Tomson Collection is the private library of Brian Tomson who died in 1986. He was a lecturer in the English Department teaching in the fields of Old and Middle English studies as well as being a fine chess player.

A full list of the collections is also available.

These works are not for loan, but may be viewed in our reading room. Please contact us if you are interested in using any of these works.

Windows to another time – Ralph Snowball’s Glass Negatives

Top men, Raspberry Gully, NSW, 24 June 1898

Day Shift – 19/05/2009 – 02:10 PM
Presenter: Carol Duncan
Interviewee: Gionni Di Gravio, Archivist University of Newcastle

Newcastle University Archivist Gionni Di Gravio discusses the work to date on the Norm Barney Photographic Collection that was donated to the University’s Cultural Collections in June 2008. The Collection consists of around 990 glass negatives from Newcastle Photographer Ralph Snowball, and thousands more regular negatives from the Collections of Norm Barney and his friend and colleague Bert Lovett.

Broadcast Notes:

There are a number of collections of Ralph Snowball’s images throughout the region in private collections as well as public, most notable is the collection in Local Studies in Newcastle Public Library and available through Hunter Photobank.

This particular Collection of around 990 extraordinary glass slides forms part of Norm Barney’s Photographic Collection that was deposited with the University’s Cultural Collections in June 2008.

To view our progress to date and see the larger images please visit our flickr site (make sure to click the ‘all sizes’ tab:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uon/sets/72157608912691810/

These are the largest images of this kind available online anywhere, we are proud to present these photographic masterpieces to the wider community. They are so big you can pick the the breadcrumbs out of the beards!

Wallsend Number 1 tunnel, Wallsend, NSW, 11 June 1897

Originally more than 8,000 glass negatives were stored in the cellar of Ralph Snowball’s Clarence Rd house. Most had not seen the light of day since Snowball’s death in 1925 right up until the beginning of 1989 when around the 800 or so boxes were rediscovered by Norm Barney and Bert Lovett.

Most were of two sizes: whole plate, approximately 8 1/2 x 6 1/2 in (21.6 x 16.5cm) and half plate, approximately 6 1/2mx 4 1/2 in (16.5 x 12.7 cm).

All were examined and around 2000 were subsequently dumped due to being destroyed by a combination of age and dampness. We estimate that around 5000 were donated to Newcastle City Council’s local history library.

A total of around 990 glass plates remained with Norm Barney in 44 boxes, the ‘cream of the crop’ that was kept with the family to prepare Norm Barney’s publications. Included are also some archival registers and notebooks belonging to Ralph Snowball.

“]

Municipal Baths, Newcomen Street, Newcastle, NSW, [n.d.

Over the years these were cleaned, listed, wrapped in acid-free paper, reboxed and placed in metal cupboards and eventually deposited with the University in June 2008 by the widow of the late Norm Barney, Mrs Daphne Barney.

 

Norm Barney and Bert Lovett were able to identify most of the names, dates and places with the help of the surviving notebooks, details on some of the old boxes, and Ralph Snowball’s habit of writing on some of the negatives.

In addition to the Snowball Glass Negatives (990 images), inscribed box lids (3 boxes) and notebooks (1 box) the collection also includes negatives from the private collections of Norm Barney and Bert Lovett (approx 7000 items).

John Scholey's house, Mayfield, NSW, 7 November 1900

We currently have employed a qualified conservator to document the condition of the glass negatives, clean and re-house them. A digitiser to scan the glass negatives at a minimum of 300-600 dpi and import the jpgs (or optimised image files) in to our online Flickr site, and a cataloguer to create library catalogue entries for them in the University Library’s Newcat catalogue. After this process the glass negatives will be retired into the safety and preservation of archive boxes for long term storage.

To view more of these amazing images of Newcastle and the Hunter Region please visit our flickr site (make sure to click the ‘all sizes’ tab:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uon/sets/72157608912691810/

Gionni Di Gravio
University Archivist

Media Stories

'Glimpse of an era long gone' Newcastle Herald 11 September 2010 pp 22-23

 

'Found: the lost photos' Herald Feature by Mike Scanlon 18 September 2010 p.10

'Pictures for posterity' by Jill Stowell Newcastle Herald 18 September 2010 p.18