Photographs of the National Park, 1888

A commercially produced album containing mounted prints, measuring approximately 275 x 220 mm, with one printed page of introduction and one page of brief printed captions to the photographs. The introduction is by the Government Printing Office.
The photographs are possibly by Charles Kerry of Sydney, and certainly possess enough quality to be his work. Jack Cato states: 'In 1895 Kerry advertised that he would take, free of charge, 'Likenesses of volunteers bound for the Soudan'... At the same time he spent many weeks making records in the National Park for the Government, and on another assignment, etc...' (1955, page unknown). Unfortunately the ambiguity here does not make distinction as to whether 'at the same time' is used chronologically or merely to emphasize the diversity of Kerry's work.
The introduction gives a brief history of the park, which dates back to 1873 when a survey was made of the land for railway purposes. On completion of the survey the government blocked the sale of all adjacent land, amounting to about 36 square miles and in 1879 Sir John Robertson dedicated 18,000 acres as a National Park. The area was increased the following year to 36,300 acres. A few roads were driven through the area, trout and perch were introduced into the streams, and part of the denser forest cleared. The area is now known as the Royal National Park, after the Queen's visit in 1954, and is situated on the south of the Port Hacking river estuary, with frontage onto the ocean.

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Includes index.

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.

This collection is available on microfiche: Australasia, fiche numbers 39-41.

The prints are of a high quality and are generally in good condition, although alll are faded to a greater or lesser degree.

Some prints also occur in Y3086J.

For further information on Kerry see: Cato, Jack (1955), The story of the camera in Australia, Melbourne : Georgian House.

This collection level description was entered by KS using information from the original typescript catalogue.

DateText: The introduction is dated March 1888..

Kerry, Charles, 1858-1928, photographer ?