Steve Miller

Steve Miller, Education Officer of Aboriginal Projects at the Powerhouse Museum, talks to Anita Heiss about photographs of Aboriginal people taken by Charles Kerry at the turn of the century which are now in the Tyrell Collection at the Powerhouse Museum

Steve Miller:

"So within the photography section we have a brilliant collection called the Tyrrell collection: 6,000 glass plate negatives from the turn of the century that are - were given to the Powerhouse museum some years ago - ended up in our collection. Now a lot of those photos relate to Sydney, not necessarily indigenous photos. But within that collection there is a section of photos of Aboriginal people of the turn of the century, taken in studio shots. It was a bit of a vogue thing at the time, because photography was just taking off, and a lot of these photos were made into postcards of exotic people and sent around the world. So unfortunately a lot of the photos aren't identified, as in where the Aboriginal people come from. And they are very staged shots and they are of their era. But they have an interest in themselves. And they belong in the collection and, you know, people can come and have look at them. And we have had people come from the South Coast in fact, and had a look through and think that possibly they've been able to maybe identify one of the people."

Anita Heiss:

"So do you know where those studios were and who any of the photographers were of those photos?"

Steve Miller:

"Yeah, those particular photos were by Charles Kerry, who was a significant photographer of the time in terms of commercial photography and was particularly interested in photos of Aboriginal people. And his studios were in George Street."

 

 

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