[ABORIGINES; WESTERN AUSTRALIA] Australien. King Georges-Sund Wohnungen. by RIEMER, Gustav Adolph (1842-1899)

Stereoscopic albumen print photograph (78 x 74 mm each image) on orange card mount (85 x 175 mm); recto of mount with printed caption across lower margin: 342. Australien. King Georges-Sund. Wohnungen; in the left margin: Photographie von G. Riemer, Zahlmeister S.M.S. Hertha. Verlag von Gustav Lierach & Co, Berlin S W 48; and in the right margin: Marine Reise S.M.S. Hertha nach Ost-Asien und den Südsee-Inseln; verso with a sequence number '30' inscribed in ink, in period hand; both prints are in fine condition; the mount is clean and stable. An exceptionally rare and early photographic image of Western Australian Aborigines. This photograph of four Noongar people at the entrance to their dwelling was taken in 1876 by Gustav Riemer, the paymaster of the German ship S.M.S. Hertha, during its visit to the Western Australian port of Albany. In 1878 Riemer self-published a photographic album of the voyage, Tagebuchs-Auszug betreffend die Reise S.M.S. ""Hertha"" nach Ost-Asien und den Sudsee-Inseln, 1874-1877 (Wilhelmshaven : G. Riemer, 1878), copies of which are held in the National Library of Australia and State Library of New South Wales. The image is reproduced in Riemer's book with the variant title: Australien. King Georges-Sound. Wohnung der Austrl. Neger. Other examples of this stereoview - albeit with different mounts and imprints - are held in the NLA and SLWA.