The Scene shown
in the complete
panorama
|
The photograph is taken from Bourke Street in West Launceston, looking east towards High Street. In the foreground is the Church of the Apostles with its Deanery. The building to the right of the bell tower is the Presentation Sisters' first convent (1873). The weatherboard school to the right of the bell tower, with the tall chimneys, is the old St Mary’s School (1878).
The street extending from this church is Elizabeth Street. From the left, the panorama includes the old Launceston Gaol, where Launceston College now stands, between Margaret, Paterson and Bathurst Streets. The hexagonal roof of the Female Factory can be seen amongst the other buildings. Above this, with smoke coming from the chimney, is the Salisbury Foundry, between William St and the Esplanade. Smoke from the Mt Bischoff Smelting Works, at the corner of the Esplanade and Tamar Streets, can be seen to the left of the steeple of the Paterson St Methodist Church. The Smelting Works had been opened in 1875.
To the right of the gaol is the Court House (1835) with the four arched windows. Diagonally opposite is the Court House Hotel. Struan House, now the Supreme Court building, can be seen to the left. Above this can be seen Macquarie House, the Town Hall, the Paterson Street Methodist Church and St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. To the right of Windmill Hill in the centre is Victoria Terrace in Welman Street. The tower of St John’s Anglican Church is visible above the trees of Princes Square. Chalmer’s Church is on the next corner in Frederick Street, with St John’s Hospital, later Morton House, below it to the left. The Brickfields is the large park in the lower part of Frederick Street. To the right of the photograph is the old Launceston General Hospital, with St Paul’s Anglican Church at the extreme right.
|
The Photographer
|
Stephen Spurling II (1847-1924)
Stephen Spurling worked in his father’s studio in the 1860s, and established his own business in Launceston from 1873. He did both landscape and portraiture work and was regarded as an outstanding technician, chemist and darkroom operator. He is claimed to be the first person in Tasmania to use dry plates, from about 1879, after which his landscape business expanded greatly. By the turn of the century he had built up a large studio business, with a good collection of views released as lantern slides, prints and postcards. (For more information, see Chris Long, Tasmanian Photographers 1840-1940) |
The Photograph
|
To create his Panorama, Stephen Spurling would have taken three exposures on large dry plates and contact printed them in his studio. Enlargement was not an available technique at the time. The length of the exposure times could account for some of the features of the photograph, including the banded shadows in the foreground, the apparent blurring of the trees, the absence of people in the streets, and the smoke haze across the city.
The date of the photograph has been approximately established by dating a number of significant buildings. 24 Paterson Street was mentioned in the Examiner on 25/6/1881 as being completed. It is next to the Public Buildings on the corner of St John and Paterson Streets. Dunorlan Cottages, 98-102 Balfour Street were built in 1881. Buildings not in the Panorama include the Memorial Baptist Church in Wellington Street. (1884), Christ Church in Frederick Street (1885).
The original Panorama is part of the photographs collection in the Local Studies section of the Launceston Library. It measures 44½” by 11¾” and the sections are glued on canvas.
|
The Poster
|
The reproduction of Spurling’s Panorama as a poster is a project of the Friends of the Library, Launceston in collaboration with the Library. Friends’ objective is to publish significant items from the library’s collection in order to promote the collection and assist in the interpretation and understanding of Launceston’s past. Revenue gained from the publishing program will be used to conserve the collection, fund future publications and to promote the library, in particular its local studies collection.
Publication of the Spurling Panorama was made possible through a partnership with The Jackson Motor Company whose financial support enabled the Friends of the Library to print 1000 copies of the Panorama for sale.
Printing was carried out by Foot and Playsted, The Fine Printers in Launceston in November 1999.
|
Launceston in
the 1880s
|
Extracts from Hudson and Hopwood’s Guide to Excursionists between Australia and Tasmania, 1883
“The pretty little town of Launceston is situated at the junction of the North and South Esk, whose united waters mingling with the tide, flow for 35 miles to the sea under the pleasant name of the Tamar.”
“Launceston may be called the city of calms. Lying in a bay of hills, high winds and thunderstorms are very rare, and facing northwards so that the sun’s rays have full effect all day, in spite of occasional winter fogs it is a remarkably dry and healthy town.”
“The municipality of Launceston, has, during the last five years made rapid strides, and can now boast of some 45 miles of streets. Houses have gone up in all directions and on every side may be seen evidences of prosperity.”
“The town itself is unpretentious in appearance. The best houses are of modest dimensions, the shops handsome, and the public buildings respectable. The hotels are good, and excellent board and lodgings may be obtained at a moderate expense.”
“Launceston is well supplied with churches. With a population of 12,000 it has thirteen attached to 9 different religious bodies; so that in variety and number, it is capable of amply supplying the wants of both its inhabitants and its visitors.”
“The principal buildings lie in a group in St John Street, the Post Office, all the public offices, and the library are contained in one building of brick relieved with stone dressings.”
“The smoke from a number of lofty chimneys show that there is energy in the population. There are several breweries, bark and bone crushing mills, saw mills, iron foundries, tin smelting works, etc; and Tasmanians are now accomplishing wonders in developing the resources of the colony – the coal, iron, tin, timber and gold.”
|
