By developing new coding techniques, Hidden Melbourne is able to show you a 360° Panoramic view of Melbourne over time, captured from a church which has been in place since early settlement.
We start with Samuel Jackson's highly detailed 1841 Sketch of Melbourne from Scots Church.
The young architect is said to have used the stave of a barrel to align his viewpoint as he sat on the church under construction.
Using a Camera Obscura to project onto a sheet of paper, he sketched the view in front of him in great detail. He then rotated the camera and continued to sketch section by section to create a seamless 360° view of Melbourne on a sheet of paper 18″ high by 18ft long. This magnificent panorama recently featured in the “Colony” exhibition at the NGV.
We then allow the viewer to switch to an 1875 panoramic view from the same location (albeit a newer, higher church tower). Ten highly detailed photographic plates were captured by the Paterson Bros and show a bustling Metropolis, the second largest city in the British Empire (after London), funded by the gold rush. We can only imagine how tough it was to carry large glass plates up to the spire, sensitize them and expose while wet, then chemically fix them to preserve the image.
In 2017, Hidden Melbourne made the climb up the tower via the narrow winding spiral stone staircase (thanks to Scots Church) and captured a sequence of images on a Sony A7R2, CMOS sensor, which were then developed and joined into a 360° panoramic using a computer. No glass plates or nasty chemicals involved!
Utilise the attached Google map to show you the viewing direction.
Please enjoy this walk through time https://www.hiddenmelbourne.com.au/ScotsChurchThenAndNow
This grand old hotel from 1884 is visible in old panoramic photos from 1887 and the view from the Eastern Hill Fire Tower in 1905
as well as in the 2016 view from the Fire Tower
Today, we look back from Hotel Windsor towards Heritage Melbourne and can clearly see the lookout Tower of the former Eastern Hill Fire Station, the Royal Exhibition Building, St Patrick's Cathedral, Parliament, Treasury, Princess Theatre and also the Imperial Hotel on the NW corner of Spring St and Bourke St, the lower floor of which is visible to us in 1862 in a panorama from the roof of Parliament House. We also have views of this hotel from Parliament in 1870 and 1880, which clearly show the plaque on the second floor – Erected 1863. Image courtesy of State Library of Vic H624 http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/69518
Of course, the most natural thing to do for Hidden Melbourne, was to knock on their door and obtain permission to capture a modern view from the rooftop bar of this very old hotel!!!
Hidden Melbourne historic tour now includes a photographic panorama of Melbourne captured by Walter Woodbury in 1855 from the 195 ft high chimney of the new gasworks, thought to be an Australian first. These were the years of the birth of modern photography. At the age of merely 21 he took his wet-plate camera, tripod, portable darkroom and his chemicals and was hoisted in a ‘proper cradle’ by means of the ‘small steam-engine’ up to the room at the top of the chimney.
An early adoptee of the new Collodion Process, he used a glass plate coated with a collodion (cellulose nitrate) solution to which a soluble iodide was added. Prior to exposure the plate was immersed in a solution of silver nitrate to form silver iodide. The plate, still wet, was exposed in the camera and then had to “fixed” immediately because once the collodion film had dried this could not be done. The panorama required 4 overlapping photographs.
How much easier it is for Hidden Melbourne, using a Sony A7R2 with a CMOS sensor, “developing” the images in Photoshop!!! This highly detailed panorama has been enhanced to show features not visible on the old prints made on silver gelatine paper. Many thanks to the State Library of Victoria for making these images available, and for the sterling job they do to preserve our history.
Read the fascinating story in the LaTrobe Journal linked to this scene and have a detailed look at Melbourne 1855 through an old lens. Click on this image to see the instructions, use the link to see the panorama in detail.
https://www.hiddenmelbourne.com.au/VTNode/1855_Woodbury_Gasworks_Tower
