Photo Album 1870-1892 including many images of Queensland

1892. Albumen photographs, about 68 photographs of varying sizes, most interesting for their association with Gympie, Queensland and panoramic photograph of Brisbane. Most helpfully, the album has a handwritten key for the photographs, which are numbered in roman numerals with their location and the date. The photos of Queensland date from 1870 to 1890 and appear to be private photographs, with no commercial photographers identification or numbers. They include:
I Parliament House Brisbane 1879; II Queens St. Brisbane 1880; III "Iona" Gympie about 1880; XXXIV Near Toowoomba Queensland 1887; XXXV Settlers Hut Queensland 1887;
XXXVI Iona Queensland about 1875; XXXVII Mary St. Gympie about 1870; XXXVIII Victoria Bridge Brisbane 1883; XXXXIX Caledonian Hill Gympie 1875; LIII Alfred Hospital Melbourne Australia 1886; LIV Church of England Grammar School Melbourne 1887; LV Collins St. Melbourne 1887; LXXI "Iona" Gympie Queensland 1880 ( 30 x 22 cm silver gelatin).

Most interesting is number LVIII, a four panel panoramic photograph "View of West and South Brisbane looking South 1889" measuring 35 x 94 cm. The images appear to be taken from the Old Windmill / Observatory on Wickham Terrace. Places of note are marked carefully with roman numerals and keyed to these sites- I Government House; II St Pauls Cathedral the bells are on the skeleton at the left; III the Museum; IV The Grange House our abode; V the Australian United Steam Navigation Company Wharf; VI Longreach Hotel; VII the Supreme Court; VIII St..... our place of worship; IX Victoria Bridge. The State Library of Queensland holds many panoramas, but we were not able to ascertain if this was among their recorded holdings.

There is a heraldic bookplate "Inconcussa Virtus". This may be the bookplate of the family of James Rea Benson, (1807-1885), a Canadian businessman and political figure. His son Frederick William Benson (1849-1916), fought as a volunteer in 1866 in the Fenian Raid; was educated at Upper Canada College and R.M.C., Sandhurst, served in India (1877-1890) commanded Egyptian Cavalry (1892-1894), the Boer War (1900-01). He married Caroline Georgina Jane Elizabeth Couper Benson (1854-1924). (Find-a-Grave). However, we have been unable to locate a record of Maj. Gen. Frederick Benson as having been in Australia.

In 1890-92, the family visited Switzerland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, via Suez. The photographs of those venues are largely numbered studio images including Frith's Series of Switzerland; the Isle of Man by J.V. and Edinburgh by G.W.W.

Views of Switzerland include Lausanne 1890, Grindelwald, Nordentcher (sic) Lloyd boat in Suez Canal 1888; Street Scene in Colombo 1888; Swiss Chalet, Berne clock, Reichenbach Falls, Glion & the Territet; Thun, Interlacken & Jungfrau; Gorge, Zermatt, Mt. Cervin & Hornlu; Kandersteg & Blumbis Alp; Evolene et Dent Blanche; Swiss Lion near Lucerne, Staubbach Falls, Lucerne, Chateau de Chillion, Sion, Brunig , Passage de Gemmi; Wilstrubel Panorama des Alpes de Valai.

4pp Folded Index sheet. There are about a dozen loose photographs of the family and interiors of homes, including in front of a building named "Brandon". There are six views of Edinburgh & surrounds dated 1889-92; Suez Canal, Port Said, Isle of Man; 1891(4).

Sml. folio, (29 x 37 cm); red diced calf, spine present with small chip at base, front board detached. Mostly albumen photographs, ranging in size from 15.5 x 10 cm to 30 x 22 cm. The Queensland photos range from the smallest 6 x 9.5 cm; most 15 x 10 cm; the plate LXXI of "Iona" in Gympie, the largest (see above).

An interesting family album with a significant number of private photographs of Queensland.