John Rae and Newcastle

It was an accidental delight this morning to come across an engraving of John Rae in the Illustrated Sydney News of December 1853. John Rae captured Newcastle in two famous panoramas, one painted in 1849, and again in a photograph circa 1880. These two images capture the changing landscape of the town and are among our artistic treasures. I have scanned the image and the accompanying text below to provide some insight into the artist and his work. It comes from the edition of the Illustrated Sydney News 17 December 1853 page 84, just a few years after he completed his painting of Newcastle. For further information please see Ann Hardy’s essay “A Timepiece of History” links are below. Click the panoramas to see the larger images.

 

Gionni Di Gravio
University Archivist and Chair Coal River Working Party

 

Rae, John, 1813-1900. Newcastle in 1849.
(Courtesy State Library of New South Wales.)

Rae, John, 1813-1900. [Panoramic photograph of Newcastle, 1878-1882, possibly taken from Jesmond House] — 4 albumen photoprints
from Sketches in New South Wales in the olden time 1842 – 1859 by John Rae, M.A. / album of watercolour panoramas and photographs of watercolour sketches.
(Courtesy State Library of New South Wales.)

For further information see:

Hardy, Ann. John Rae’s Newcastle “A Timepiece of History” (244KB PDF) Please note: The reader of these documents should be aware that further copying and use of images from collections of the State Library of New South Wales, National Library of Australia and the Newcastle Region Art Gallery, should not be done without reference to the particular institution from where they come. Images in this document that belong to the collection of the State Library of New South Wales should not be used or copied without reference to the Library Council of New South Wales, via the Mitchell Library. The Coal River Working Party thanks Ann Hardy for allowing us to publish her research papers on the Coal River Website.