Sydney lawyer and identity Arthur Wigram Allen, a tirelessly enthusiastic photographer, was fascinated by the social and technological changes occurring during his lifetime. His talent for amateur photography produced extraordinary pictures that offer a fresh insight into the Edwardian years in Sydney.
Arthur Wigram Allen was born in 1862 into a large family of wealthy Sydney solicitors. One of 11 children and third in a line of six boys he attended Sydney Grammar School before moving to Melbourne in 1880 to study law at Trinity College at the University of Melbourne. In 1885 after the sudden death of his two elder brothers Arthur assumed control of the familíes Sydney firm and many business interests.
Allen married Ethel Lamb in 1891 and they went on to have four children: Ethel Joyce, born in 1893, Arthur Denis Wigram in 1894, Ellice Margaret in 1896 and Marcia Maria in 1905.
Fascinated by the new inventions of the era, he became interested in photography, purchasing the latest cameras. He soon proved to be a talented amateur photographer, capturing images of his family and friends, the city and its surrounds.
Arthur died in 1941, aged 79; his photographs, taken from the 1890s through to 1934, provide a detailed photographic record of a changing society and the emergence of the great city of Sydney.
A man of extraordinary vitality, Allen was fascinated by the times in which he lived, and tried to photograph everything he saw: family and friends; visiting ships and theatrical celebrities; bush picnics; the first mixed bathing on Sydney beaches; dramatic shipwrecks; processions, pageants and mass celebrations; coal miners; domestic life and fashion; house interiors; and sporting events. These photographs, contained in 51 albums, are now held by the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, and provide a view of the dramatic changes that took place in Edwardian Sydney.
Arthur Allen's photographs span 1890 to 1934, but the Edwardian Summer exhibition and book concentrate on those depicting the Edwardian years, a brief, often-overlooked but important period in Australia's history. The photographs, most of them never published before, form an unrivalled personal pictorial record of these rapidly changing times.
A most unique page. I think it is the only picture in my books in which I appear and I hope it will be the last ...
Arthur Wigram Allan
The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 and the succession of her son Edward to the throne marked the beginning of the Edwardian era and coincided with Australia’s becoming a federated nation.
On Federation Day, 1 January 1901, the official ceremony for the swearing-in of Australia’s first Commonwealth ministry and first Governor-General took place in Centennial Park. A white domed ceremonial pavilion had been built for the occasion in the middle of the park; there was seating for 7500 official guests, who were surrounded by thousands of spectators, including more than 10,000 troops. In similar events all over the new nation, the Australian people turned out in their hundreds of thousands to celebrate.
A rapidly increasing population had led to the spread of new subdivisions, from the south-east through Alexandria to Botany and Brighton, west to Ashfield and Burwood, and north to Chatswood and St Leonards. The new suburbs were supported by an ever-expanding network of public transport, with Circular Quay and Central Railway as its hubs. It would be a few more years before the motorcar took over the city and suburbs.
By Federation, Sydney was the largest city of the new Australian Commonwealth and the fifth-largest port in the British Empire. It had grown from a colonial outpost of narrow cobbled streets to a bustling mercantile town of thriving industries and booming trade, with all the prerequisites of a modern city entering an era of great expansion.
Arthur Allen spent many hours recording his home life and outings with family and friends. The Allens’ circle comprised a large extended family and a close-knit group of friends, who came and went as they liked and were always welcome at the various Allen households. They often stayed at the Allens’ properties on the coast and in country New South Wales, as did visiting celebrities, particularly those from the theatre.
While the social and legal status of Australian women improved toward the end of the 19th century, the Allen girls, their cousins and a small group of friends were still taught by governesses. This in turn helped to foster close ties between the members of their social class.
Sydney society among the wealthy classes was like a big, familiar club of relatives and friends, with a continual round of visiting, parties and picnics that also included, for example, visiting naval officers. There were also lively, large-scale social events organised to coincide with special occasions, such as the visit of the Duke of York in 1901, and charity fundraisers for causes in Australia and abroad, including annual Red Cross charity balls and local functions to support soldiers serving in the war.
Arthur Allen owned many cars but drove only one type – Detroit Electric broughams, one of which is now in the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney. Its batteries needed charging every 60 kilometres, but the recharging device was formidable. Margaret described it as:
'a terrifying machine, and I never lost my fear of it. One stood on a rubber mat, and twiddled two knobs on the switch board. At the back of this was a large glass valve or tube, bigger than a football and with an alarming hiss, this sprang to life and was filled with a dancing blue light. The car remained on charge all night, and was ready for the road in the morning'.
Margaret Gifford, I can hear the horses, Methuen-Haynes, Sydney, 1983
Group entertained at Grantham in Potts Point, August 27, 1911. A magnificent international opera season was held at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney, in late 1911. The star, Dame Nellie Melba, was supported by New York-born Countess Eleonora de Cisneros, Polish soprano Madam Janina Korolewicz- Wayda, Signor Zeni and Mademoiselle Ranzenburg. The group was entertained at Grantham in Potts Point. Allen was a major shareholder of the J C Williamson company, which had partnered with Melba in 1911, and the Allen family enjoyed many theatre outings and social events with the performers. The theatre women’s loose, low-waisted outfits are distinctly avant garde compared with those of the Sydney women.
Arthur Allen and his brother Boyce picnic in Sutton Forest, March 24 1900. Arthur Allen. Arthur Allen rarely appears in the albums. In fact, it is clear he did not wish to appear. He annotated a photograph of himself with his brother Boyce in Sutton Forest, ‘A most unique page. I think it is the only picture in my books in which I appear and I hope it will be the last. AWA’.
Arthur Allen's image of children dressed for a play, June 30 1905. The Allen girls and their friends Wyn Laidley, Molly Owen and Eme Rothe were taught at home by governess Miss Ross-Johnson in a ‘schoolroom’ at Harll. Here the children are dressed up for a play at Mrs Rothe’s house Akaroa.
Arthur Allen's photograph of his Detroit Electric broughams motorcar. Mrs Frank Osborne and Miss Catterall wait in the back of one of Arthur Allen’s Detroit Electric broughams at Moombara for Margaret Allen to drive them to the city.
Marcia on the front steps of Harll, 10.05.1911. “It was really Marcia’s 6th birthday on Monday, but for some special reasons it was kept up to-day [Wednesday] and her presents given to her this morning. [This photograph was] taken on the front steps of ‘Harll’ just after breakfast. Marcia had a party at the Pantomime in the afternoon.”
Wedding Group at 'Merioola’, Saturday 23rd December 1911. Wedding Group consisting of Lieutenant Knowles (best man), Joyce Pat and Kitty, Alex Leeper’s two daughters Valentine and Molly [Kitty’s half-sisters]
The four Allen children had a happy home life. Their somewhat reserved Victorian mother was balanced by their gregarious father, and as in many affluent families of the era they had numerous domestic helpers, including a nurse, Florence, who remained with the family until the children were almost grown.
The family enjoyed many excursions to local Sydney attractions as well as seaside visits, picnics and journeys further afield, including to their beach property at Port Hacking. The children celebrated birthdays with elaborate parties and were dressed in the latest fashions, which were still very much influenced by Britain. Little girls had to contend with layers of petticoats, profuse frills and, during the 1890s and 1900s, increasingly wide-brimmed hats; and neither boys nor girls could be seen in public without hats, gloves, coats and shoes.
Public education in New South Wales, established in the 1860s, also grew steadily towards the century’s end. The three Allen girls, however, like many children from wealthier families, were tutored at home by a governess. The only boy, Denis, attended a private boarding school and was then sent to England to complete his schooling.
"[This photograph was] taken at half past 7 this morning. I tried to get as many of Marcia’s presents as possible on to the little balcony outside her bedroom. She was very lucky in getting so many things besides her stocking, and she had a very happy day "
Roller skating on the verandah at Moombara, September 24, 1904. "Ethel and I and the children came down this afternoon for the Michaelmas holidays bringing Janet & Bob Rabete also. Immediately on arrival Joyce, Denis & Bob began to skate on the verandah and they used Janet & Margaret as horses to pull them along. Margaret also had some splendid rides on her tricycle"
Perhaps the greatest joy for the Allen children was the family’s waterfront holiday house, Moombara, where they played, swam, rode horses and roller skated around the verandah. Roller skating was a popular pastime of the era, with numerous rinks being built from the inner city to the beaches in the late 1880s. The Sydney Skating Club was formed in 1906 and skating displays were a common form of entertainment.
The doll’s house, which had been altered for Joyce’s birthday, April 17 1898. "This morning I had the doll’s house, which had been altered for Joyce’s birthday, carried on to the verandah and I photographed it."
Joyce on her 7th birthday, April 13, 1900. Joyce, the eldest child of Arthur and Ethel Allen, is pictured here quietly reading. Until the 1890s very few children’s books gave Australian children an image of their own country. This changed with the emergence of important writers such as Ethel Turner (Seven little Australians, 1894) and Mary Grant Bruce (A little bush maid, 1910), both of whom wrote stories set against an Australian backdrop. The Australian bush became a playground for magical creatures in Atha Westbury’s Australian fairy tales (1897) and Ethel Pedley’s Dot and the kangaroo (1899). The delightful watercolours by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite and Annie rentoul for Mollie’s bunyip (1904) and Australian songs for young and old (1907) featured distinctively Australian bush animals and settings.
Marcia on the little balcony outside her bedroom with her Christmas presents, December 25, 1908. "[This photograph was] taken at half past 7 this morning. I tried to get as many of Marcia’s presents as possible on to the little balcony outside her bedroom. She was very lucky in getting so many things besides her stocking, and she had a very happy day ". As early as 1842 dolls’ houses were offered for sale at Christmas in an advertisement in the Sydney Gazette. From the early 1800s toys of all kinds were imported to Australia, and in Melbourne in 1879 an Inter-colonial Juvenile Industrial Exhibition included three-roomed dolls’ houses with furniture. As well as the many imported dolls’ houses, local handcrafted versions were commonly created with whatever materials came to hand – often a kerosene tin or butter box decorated with remnant wall and floor coverings. They usually had a symmetrical façade that opened or a box back for access, and were commonly one room deep and one or two storeys high. They mirrored, in microcosm, the domestic life of their era. With three storeys, Joyce’s dolls’ house (opposite) was a grand example.
About 60 children enjoyed a party at Miss Eadith Walker’s property Yaralla, at Concord, on 27 September 1905. They and their mothers or nurses travelled from Sydney up the Parramatta River to Yaralla on a special launch that was decorated with flags and had a band on board. The children were entertained by various games as well as a merry-goround and a Punch and Judy puppet show. They were also kept busy in the garden ‘digging beneath the trees (with spades provided by the hostess) for “hidden treasures,” being allowed to keep what they found’.1 At the end of the day, at a specially erected post office on the verandah, each child collected a parcel from a postman dressed in a scarlet uniform. (1: The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 September 1905)
December 27, 1903. Rather formally attired for paddling, Denis Allen and his cousin and close childhood friend Dundas Allen launch their impressive fleet of steamers in the water at Moombara, the family holiday house on the shores of Port Hacking.
The pleasures of sea-bathing had been discouraged in colonial Sydney on the grounds of both risk and indecency, and early laws prohibited bathing during daylight hours. People gradually defied the daylight bathing laws and by 1900 there were reports in the press of whole families bathing. In 1902, a male swimmer at Manly Beach entered the water at midday. Although arrested, he was not charged, and by 1903 new laws were introduced that permitted surf bathing but required neck-to-knee outfits and prohibited the sexes to mingle. Mixed bathing soon followed, but swimming attire continued to be stringently regulated for some years to come.
Sydneysiders increasingly flocked to the coast to enjoy the cooling summer breezes and the glorious ocean views. The ‘pleasure palaces’ near many beaches provided popular entertainment for all ages. For picnics, families sought out Clark Island, quiet beaches around Middle Harbour or the popular Manly Beach.
Bondi and Coogee beaches in Sydney’s east were connected to the city by public transport and provided the ideal day-trip for large crowds of visitors. With growing numbers of people taking to the surf, the dangers of beach bathing became apparent, and in 1906 the first surf lifesaving club in the world was founded at Bondi Beach.
Ethel and I and Kitty & Katha took Joyce and Margaret for a drive this morning. Poor Denis was ill and unable to come with us. My big umbrella used as a sunshade
Coogee’s popularity as a weekend destination is evident in this crowded beach scene. Modelled on English seaside resorts, beaches such as Coogee sought to attract visitors by promoting the curative benefits of sea water and sea air and by building large amusement complexes. The Coogee Palace Aquarium opened in December 1887; The Sydney Morning Herald called it a ‘most exquisite addition to Sydney places of entertainment’. It had a magnificent octagonal dome and its interior was lavishly embellished with gold and silver stars and a rising sun and moon on a radiating blue background. Large refreshment rooms, a concert room, pleasure grounds, seal tanks and alligator ponds, roller-skating displays, circus acts and other performances provided attractions year round.
January 10 1904. From their holiday house Moombara, at Port Hacking, the Allens occasionally made trips to Cronulla Beach. In the early 1900s the beach was rapidly being transformed from a remote outpost to a flourishing, albeit semi-rural, seaside tourist destination, popular for its long, sandy beach and its seemingly inexhaustible supply of seashells.
Sea bathing: Coogee, January 27 1900. The immense and immediate popularity of sea bathing: Coogee Beach on a summer’s day. The boy in the tie and straw boater contrasts with the enthusiastic swimming groups clad in simple black singlets and shorts or cut-down dresses. In truth, most are just paddling, as few had learnt to swim properly.
Brief stop on a drive to South Head, Bondi and Coogee, February 22, 1911. As Sydneysiders embraced the outdoors, they began picnicking at every opportunity, flocking to local beauty spots or favourite retreats such as Coogee Beach. Although the beach was thronged with bathers and spectators, Coogee’s headland provided a quieter spot for picnicking and, for Arthur Allen, taking photographs. Seen here is his camera equipment, including the box of his Guardia and Newman camera that took 5 x 4 inch (13 x 10 cm) photographic plates. The women are wearing elaborate motoring hats with scarves, which were also useful for securing their hats on a windy cliff to prevent their hair from blowing out of style.
Wonderland city, a large amusement park, the Royal Aquarium and Pleasure Grounds at Tamarama near Bondi, December 26, 1906. By 1901, Bondi Beach was already a fashionable tourist destination. A tramline had been built to the beach in 1894, and a large amusement park, the Royal Aquarium and Pleasure Grounds, had opened at nearby Tamarama in 1887. Wonderland City – promoted as ‘Sydney’s Great Playground’ – opened in December 1906, also at Tamarama. Described as the Coney Island of Australia, its 50 major attractions were ‘designed by artists in architecture and landscape gardening’, with ‘no expense spared in achieving the highest standard of excellence’.1 The wooded slopes featured pleasure palaces, brightly coloured sideshows, a switchback (roller-coaster), scenic railway, slippery dips and underground rivers.
Dressed for winter in stockings, shoes, hats and coats, the Allen children build sandcastles with their mother, Ethel, while the coachman, Jacob, waits in the horse-drawn cart. Jacob later traded his horses for a Fiat when Arthur Allen became one of the first Sydneysiders to embrace the motorcar. In the distance is the chimney from the North Bondi sewage outfall that had begun operating in 1889. From 1882, the State Government began to resume Bondi beach from private ownership, after which roads, hotels, houses and schools were built. The Bondi sand dunes extended all the way to Rose Bay, with large areas of dunes still exposed into the 1930s.
In the later 19th century, city dwellers’ attitudes to the Australian bush changed. Formerly a foreign wilderness, it now became a place of Arcadian bliss, offering something peculiarly Australian and very different from the more familiar urban landscapes.
Nationalism increased in the 1890s, and with it the Australian bush legend was born. Artists such as Tom Roberts and Frederick McCubbin created nostalgic bush scenes, depicting rural life as a simplistic and uniquely Australian ideal. Writers such as Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson fashioned similar impressions in poetry and prose, strengthening the link between the bush and the Australian national identity.
By the early 1900s, the attributes of bush life were seen as an intrinsic part of the nation’s greatness. Bush characters were imbued with the same pioneering qualities as the diggers on the goldfields. By World War I these characteristics would be identified as uniquely Australian traits in our soldiers.
Expanded road and railway networks in the second half of the 19th century opened the bush to city visitors. Roads were cut to link sights of interest, and clear tracks were carved into the bush to allow access to vantage points. Swathes of descriptive tourist guides promoted the state’s many health, holiday and tourist resorts.
"Rex Walter and I went to day to Bulli… to show Walter (Who had never been to Illawarra) the scenery. We lunched at the fig tree not far from the Pass Road at the Bulli "B" pit."
Arthur Allen. "We lunched at the fig tree not far from the Pass Road at the Bulli "B" pit." November 19, 1898.
"Rex Walter and I went to day to Bulli mainly to see some land which had been offered to us to purchase but also to show Walter (Who had never been to Illawarra) the scenery. We lunched at the fig tree not far from the Pass Road at the Bulli "B" pit."
Renowned for its beauty, the Illawarra district was home to towering forests of turpentine and fig trees and tangled, dense stands of ferns and cabbage palms, tinted by the conspicuous red flowers of the Illawarra flame tree. Arthur Allen, his brother Walter and brother-in-law Rex travelled in a horsedrawn wagonette to Bulli, a small coal-mining town in the northern Illawarra, via the steep Bulli Pass road, which was built in 1867. The journey down the Bulli Pass afforded many spectacular views of the south coast.
"Lunch at the head of the river" Royal National Park. Frida, Herbert, Ethel, William Wate, Jack, Hilda.
In 1879, an area 32 kilometres south of Sydney was dedicated as Australia’s first national park. It could be reached by road or rail, and swiftly became ‘a national pleasure ground’[1] and a popular destination for Sydneysiders on a day-trip. Picnic sites were fashioned throughout the park, rustic bridges and furniture decorated the landscape and imported flora and fauna enhanced the native scenery. By 1886 a boatshed and jetties had been established, enabling visitors to hire boats and explore the park via its waterways. Parties of ladies and gentlemen favoured the freshwater river above the dam, rowing to suitable locations for a relatively informal picnic on the rocky banks by the water.
Arthur Allen. Hastings at "The Look out" at Belmore Falls. February 13, 1899.
Hastings McCarthy was an Allen family friend. The heroic nature of the composition of this image, with the figure in the foreground and the expansive landscape behind, is similar to that of some American photos of the period.
Arthur Allen. Crossing a creek, Belmore Falls, south of Robertson, on the edge of the Illawarra escarpment, February 13, 1899
The Belmore Falls, south of Robertson, are on the edge of the Illawarra escarpment at the headwaters of Barrengarry Creek. They cascade into the Barrengarry Creek Valley, with the main fall dropping a spectacular 78 metres. A road from Robertson was cut through the scrub in 1887, making the falls accessible to tourists, who had been arriving in increasing numbers since the Southern Highlands railway to Mittagong was opened in 1867. The picturesque scenery and cooler climate of the Southern Highlands had made the region a popular summer holiday retreat for well-to-do Sydneysiders. Guesthouses and country homes were built from the 1870s, encouraging the expansion of road networks to connect various sights of interest.
Picnic at Bobbin Head, Cowan Creek Hawkesbury River, October 4, 1908. Arthur Allen.
“Ethel and I had a large pic-nic at Bobbin Head, Cowan Creek Hawkesbury River today … It was a very hot day, but we had lunch in a cool place under a large rock so we did not mind the heat. We stayed at Bobbin Head until half past 4 o’c, and then motored home, reaching there between 6 & 7 o’c”.
Bobbin Head was a favourite picnicking spot within the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, Australia’s second national park, established in 1894. A road from North Turramurra to Bobbin Head was built in 1901. The park also contained a pleasure ground known as Orchard Park, which was popular for picnics, boating and bushwalking. Its well-developed walking tracks were provisioned with tanks of drinking water and fireplaces to boil the billy.
The Allen children visit Audley in the Royal National Park, April 30, 1905. Arthur Allen.
"In the afternoon we all came up the river to Audley, Haves & I and Denis & Jim Dickson catching the Sydney train at National Park."
From their holiday house Moombara, the Allen family and their friends could reach the national park by boat via the Port Hacking River. This scenic route wound through native bush bursting with waratahs, gymea lilies and wattle blossoms, past the deer park to the dam at Audley. With a public accommodation pavilion, post office, boatshed, a settlement of workmen’s tenements, and blacksmiths’ and carpenters’ shops, Audley was the nucleus of the national park.
During the Edwardian era, touring became immensely popular. With the introduction of better working conditions and shorter working hours many people had more leisure time, and took every opportunity to enjoy it. Even before the arrival of the motorcar, a growing love of the outdoors led the people of Sydney to flock to beauty spots in the Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands. Rural and waterside retreats around Sydney were as popular then as they are now, and the Allen family and their friends spent many weekends and vacations at their holiday houses at Port Hacking and Burradoo in the Southern Highlands.
To escape the hectic and at times unhealthy city, Sydneysiders sought the more relaxed lifestyle offered in rural locations. People began to enjoy the physical pleasures of life outdoors and the benefits of sun and clean air, and this was reflected in the way they behaved and dressed away from the confines of the city.
People who lacked their own transport could still enjoy tourism via the ever-expanding railway network. For those with private carriages and later motorcars, the ability to travel was only limited by the condition of the roads. The coming of the motorcar changed both the physical development of Sydney and the way people spent their leisure time, as they toured ever further.
"I had a beautiful drive to-day from Sydney to Wollongong & Mt Kembla. I left Harll in the car at 7:30 (a new boy driving as Langan was ill). Went through Sutherland, National Park & Waterfall, arrived at top of Bald Hill at 9:30...Arrived at Wollongong 60 miles from Sydney at 10:45 five minutes train in which were Dr Robertson & Mr J Vickery. We lunched at Finisters Hotel, then went up in the car to the Mt Kembla mine, 8 miles from Wollongong."
Arthur Allen. Florence and the children on the lawn at Moombara. July 1903.
One of the most important people in the lives of the Allen children was their nurse, Florence, who remained with the family until the children were almost grown. She is shown here relaxing with her charges on the lawn at Moombara, the family holiday home that Arthur Allen purchased in 1903. Located between the unspoilt landscape of the Royal National Park and the beaches of Cronulla, it was built on a steep slope with a magnificent view over the river and pristine bushland. Soon after Allen bought the property, a second storey was added to accommodate the family and their many visitors. It was a popular place for family and friends to spend their honeymoon, and came to be nicknamed ‘Honeymoombara’.
Arthur Allen. The Allen children with their cousin and friend enjoy the water at Moombara, September 25, 1904.
The large swimming enclosure at Moombara was built by dredging the estuary immediately in front of the house to create a tidal pool. Connected to the house by a long, straight path lined with coral trees, the bathing place and adjacent boathouses were a favourite place to spend time. Seen in the photograph above are the Allen children with their cousin Janet and friend Bob Rabete. Visits to Moombara gave the children and their friends a chance to enjoy the water and barefooted freedom
away from the more formal constrictions of the city.
‘Moombaha’ . 5.45 pm on the wharf, Jacob having just caught a large conger eel, Little Turriell Bay at Port Hacking, December 7, 1904.
Moombara was located on Little Turriell Bay at Port Hacking. In 1901–02 nearly a third of a million tonnes of sand had been removed from the Simpsons Bay area of the estuary to create access to a fish hatchery in Cabbage Tree Basin. This helped to make the area more navigable for boating and better for fishing, both pastimes that the Allens and their friends enjoyed. With increasing numbers of residential subdivisions, the area’s waterways became popular for recreational use.
Reginald Allen surveying the district from Austinmer down to Wollongong, October 23, 1912.
Rex is AWA’s brother Reginald. Arthur Allen’s interests in real estate and the mining industry often took him south, travelling by car through the National Park and Waterfall and stopping to take in the view at Bald Hill, over Stanwell Park, and at other scenic spots along the route to Wollongong. The development of the Illawarra region and its towns began with the early industries of cedar-cutting, farming and dairying, followed by the coal industry. The spread of settlement was already established by the time of this photograph. Originally the area north of Wollongong was known as Bulli and North Bulli. The original Aboriginal name for the area was Bulla or Bulla Bulla, meaning ‘two mountains’ (Mt Kembla and Mt Keira).
Arthur Allen. One of the new boilers just installed at the mine. November 22, 1907.
Mt Kembla was one of a series of towns established in the Illawarra region in the mid 19th century after coal mining began at nearby Mt Keira in 1848. The first coal export from the Illawarra left Wollongong harbour in 1849 destined for Sydney. Coal was mined at Mt Kembla from 1865, and in 1880 the Mount Kembla Coal and Oil Company was formed, building a loading wharf at Port Kembla in 1883 and installing a rail link from Mount Kembla to Port Kembla in 1886. By 1900, the Illawarra mines employed 2300 men. In 1902 a disastrous gas explosion, caused by the naked flames of the miners’ torches, killed 94 men.
An early plane, the boxkite is demonstrated at Ascot Racecourse, now part of the site of Sydney Airport. Arthur Allen. 4 October 1913.
The Wright brothers’ first successful flight took place in December 1903, but it was not until 18 March 1910 that the first controlled powered flight was officially recorded in Australia, at Digger’s Rest in Victoria. The airman was one Erich Weiss, better known as Harry Houdini. Demonstrations of the new ‘flying machines’ became popular attractions. J J Hammond and his assistant Leslie McDonald arrived in Australia from Britain with two Bristol Boxkite aeroplanes in December 1910 and thrilled Sydney crowds with their demonstrations between April and May 1911, held at Ascot Racecourse, now part of the site of Sydney Airport.
Edwardian Sydney offered entertainment for every taste. Apart from the large-scale parades, military displays and massed bands that accompanied public celebrations, annual events such as the Royal Easter Show and the Public Schools’ Amateur Athletics Association carnival drew crowds from all walks of life. Expanding tram and rail networks carried passengers to venues such as the Zoo (then at Moore Park), Sydney Stadium at Rushcutters Bay and the Glaciarium Skating Rink, which operated at Ultimo from 1907.
Among the more popular leisure activities was horse racing, with racecourses as far afield as Randwick, Canterbury, Moorefield and Warwick Farm. The annual amateur picnic race held at Bong Bong, near Moss Vale, was as popular with Sydneysiders as with locals.
The growth in international sporting competition also provided spectacles for large crowds. Due to Australia’s success in rowing, the world championship sculling contest was regularly held on the Parramatta River, while in 1909 the Davis Cup tennis tournament came to Rose Bay. Cricket, cycling, athletics and football were also popular, with the Sydney Cricket Ground a versatile venue.
The children’s first swim this summer. A lovely warm morning. Fairly high tide. They certainly did enjoy it. They get great pleasure out of the water-wings
Arthur Allen. Elephant rides Zoological Gardens, Moore Park, May 5 1900.
In the early 1900s the Zoological Gardens, then situated at Moore Park, were a popular attraction. At holiday times, local newspapers reported large crowds enjoying ‘all kinds of animals too numerous to mention’[1] including an orang-utan, two polar bears, lions, tigers, pumas, hyenas, jackals and dingos. The two Indian elephants, Jumbo and Jessie, were a major drawcard, offering adults and children rides around the zoo. By 1909, when the Moore Park site proved inadequate, alternative grounds were sought. The new zoo at Taronga Park opened in 1916 and Jessie, one of the oldest and largest inhabitants, was walked down Anzac Parade to Circular Quay then transported across to Mosman on the vehicular ferry.
Arthur Allen. Side shows … taken with panoramic camera at the Agricultural Show, 6 April 1901
On Saturday 6 April 1901 about 25,000 people attended the Agricultural Society’s annual show, numbers that ‘far exceeded the expectations of the members of the council and the officers of the society’.[2] The grandstands and lawns were ‘thronged with people, whilst many thousands wandered around the show examining the machinery and implements, cattle and horses, dogs, and poultry, and inspecting the marvellous collection of produce and manufacturing works in progress in the main exhibition pavilion’.[3] The Cumberland Society – established in 1857 for the promotion of agriculture and the exhibition of livestock, agricultural machinery and farm produce – became the Agricultural Society of New South Wales in 1859. Its first show was held in Sydney in 1869 at Cleveland paddocks, later known as Prince Alfred Park. From 1880 land at Moore Park was leased from the City Council for £10 per year. Several years of financial trouble for the society – including disputes over its right to charge admission to the showground, as it was on common land – finally ended with the 1901 show, which made a substantial profit. In 1998 the show moved to its present site at Sydney Olympic Park.
Ladies double championship rowing race held on the Parramatta River between Abbotsford and Mortlake, Saturday 4 August 1906. Arthur Allen.
On Saturday 4 August 1906, eager onlookers crowded the banks of the Parramatta River and hundreds of launches, boats and steamers plied the water in anticipation of the veteran scullers’ handicap and the ladies’ double sculling championship, contested by a field of ten crews. One week earlier, Stanbury and Towns had competed for stakes of £500 each plus a lucrative share of the steamer takings, but on this day the ladies rowed for a more modest £20. On the 1.5-mile (2.4-km) course between Abbotsford and Mortlake, the Newcastle team of Mrs Hyde and Mrs Woodbridge narrowly beat Misses G and K Lewis of North Sydney for first place.
Arthur Allen, Children hold baby Emus at Ostrich Farm at South Head, 15 November 1903.
Joseph Barracluff’s Ostrich Farm at South Head was established in 1889, when ostrich feathers were a popular women’s fashion accessory for boas, hats and fans. Arriving in Australia from Lincolnshire in 1884, Barracluff originally established a small business selling feathers from a shop on Elizabeth Street, before setting up the farm with birds reportedly imported from South Africa and Morocco. A trip to Barracluff’s farm soon became a popular excursion, and patrons could select feathers to be cut directly from a flock of 100 birds. In 1901, as a memento of her visit, the women of Sydney presented the Duchess of Cornwall and York with a gold mirror and fan embellished with tortoiseshell and Barracluff’s feathers, grown and curled on site.
Australia v America in the International Lawn Tennis Challenge, which soon became known as the Davis Cup. Arthur Allen. 27 November 1909.
International tennis competition began in 1900 with the International Lawn Tennis Challenge, which soon became known by the name of its trophy, the Davis Cup. Australasia – a combined Australian and New Zealand team – first bid for the cup in 1905, with a team comprising Victorians Norman Brookes and Alfred Dunlop, and New Zealander Anthony Wilding. They were unsuccessful, but in 1907 Brookes and Wilding won the title in Wimbledon, then defended it in Melbourne the following year. In 1909, the duo brought the challenge to Sydney’s Double Bay grounds in Manning Street, where they won five games to nil against an American pair.
Centennial Park … Memorial Service held on the day of King Edward’s funeral, 20 May 1910.
On 6 May 1910 King Edward VII died. He had reigned for only nine years but was regarded as an effective ruler, his diplomatic efforts in securing treaties with France and Russia earning him the informal title of ‘peacemaker’. He was buried in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 20 May 1910. In Sydney the chief service took place at Centennial Park, where newspapers reported 120,000 people in attendance. With flags at half-mast and drums muffled, some 4000 troops formed around the main dais and massed bands began the program with a funeral march. Sydney papers described Edward as a ‘gracious ruler and kindly gentleman’ who was ‘most universally loved’. [The Sydney Morning Herald, 9 May 1910]
Sydney’s waterways were the focus of both industry and pleasure in the Edwardian era. From its colonial foundations Sydney Cove had developed as the hub of a trading port and working harbour with a strong shipbuilding industry and other maritime trades.
During the Edwardian years, full-rigged ships gradually disappeared from Sydney Harbour, and after the bubonic plague arrived in 1900, large areas of residential and commercial buildings around Darling Harbour, Millers Point and The Rocks were resumed by the government and rebuilt.
By the early 1900s Circular Quay was dominated by ferry wharves and served as an interchange for all the traffic – pedestrian and vehicular – between Sydney and the north shore. This was the heyday of the harbour ferry, with commuter craft dominating the waters during peak hour. On weekends, the ‘great picnic trade’ ferried Sydney’s multitudes to the harbour’s pleasure destinations, many of which were owned and operated by the ferry companies.
Other Sydneysiders preferred to spend a day on the water, enjoying a leisurely steamer excursion, messing about in a small boat or sailing a yacht. Sporting events provided a further form of entertainment, with annual yachting and rowing regattas held on the harbour.
“H.M.S. Powerful left Sydney today to re-commission at Colombo. Captain Michell called a few of us on board the Pyramus to tea & view the flagship depart”
Arthur Allen. In the Domain to see the steamers, December 1900.
The ‘Governor’s Domain’, on the shores of Farm Cove, was set aside by Governor Phillip in 1788 and had become the site of the Botanic Gardens by 1816. It provided a spectacular vantage point to watch the comings and goings on Sydney Harbour and was a popular destination for a leisurely stroll or a picnic while admiring the view to Government House and Fort Macquarie. A special ceremonial landing stage (just visible in the bottom right of this image) had been built there for the arrival of Lord Hopetoun, Australia’s first Governor-General.
Arthur Allen. The children’s first experience of yachting,14 April 1901.
Yachting built up a strong following among the wealthy during the Edwardian years, with boats from the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron regularly competing in organised races on the harbour. Joining Arthur Allen and his two elder children, Joyce and Denis, in this photo are members of the Kelly family: Thomas, William and their sister. Thomas Kelly was managing director of the family firm, the Sydney Smelting Company, and chairman of the Australian Alum Company; his brother William was a politician. Both brothers were considered dashing young men about town. The Kellys were keen yachtsmen and closely involved with Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, founded in 1863.
Arthur Allen photographs the flagship depart on board the Pyramus, 5 September 1907.
The presence of naval vessels in Farm Cove attracted much interest, particularly from those lucky enough to follow the departing ships through Sydney Harbour. The departure of the Royal Navy officers on board HMS Powerful provided a great distraction from the usual program of Sydney social events and caused a stir among the eligible young women, to the amusement of Arthur Allen.
Allen farewells his son headed for England on the Moldavia, at the P&O Wharf the western side of Bennelong Point. Arthur Allen. 17 February 1906.
Mother [Arthur Allen’s mother, Lady Allen] is easily seen on the top deck next her maid Laurie P&O’s Sydney wharf was the site of many farewell scenes. Here, Arthur Allen captures the departure of his 12-yearold son Denis for England to complete his schooling at Summerfield Boys’ Preparatory School in Oxfordshire, then Radley College in Berkshire. The RMS Moldavia, on which he was travelling, was a Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company passenger cargo vessel built in 1903 in Scotland. It could carry 348 first-class and 166 saloonclass passengers and was 128 metres long. Converted to an armed merchant cruiser in 1915, it was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel in 1918 with the loss of 56 lives.
The ‘Euryalus’ in dock, 17 August 1905.
HMS Euryalus was the flagship of the Australian station of the Royal Navy between 1904 and 1905. The 144-metre armoured cruiser was built in England in 1901, and Arthur Allen photographed it in August 1905, while it was being overhauled in the Sutherland Dock at Cockatoo Island.[1] Soon afterwards the Euryalus was replaced by HMS Powerful, and in 1920 it was broken up in Germany. On its completion in 1890, the Sutherland Dock was the world’s largest dry dock. The island’s smaller Fitzroy Dock had been built by convicts between 1839 and 1847. Cockatoo Island became the Commonwealth Naval Dockyard in 1913 and shipbuilding continued there until the dockyard closed in 1991.
The ‘Australia’, part of the first Royal Australian Navy fleet to come to Sydney Harbour. Seen from at Watsons Bay, 4 October 1913. Arthur Allen.
When the first Royal Australian Navy fleet entered Sydney Harbour, the seven ships were described as representing ‘Australia’s pride of nationhood, and the realisation of her growing responsibility in the maintenance of Imperial naval supremacy’. [4] Sydney’s early naval defence had been provided by Britain’s Royal Navy, but in 1909 discussions between the British Admiralty and the Australian Government determined to establish an Australian Navy, which went on to play an effective role in World War I, securing Australia’s ports, shipping and trade routes.
By the time of Edward VII’s death in 1910, a truly Australian attitude and perspective had begun to emerge. The Commonwealth expressed its new unity, wealth and ambitions in a series of grand projects, including an Australian Navy (1910) and the Transcontinental Railway (1912–17).
In the early years of the 20th century, petrol-driven vehicles became more common on Sydney’s streets, and the city had an extensive network of electric trams. In 1911 aeroplanes took to the skies. Silent movies became a popular entertainment. Both men and women adopted simpler, more practical clothes, reflecting a better appreciation of the Australian climate and lifestyle.
Abroad, tensions were building, as established nations around the world entered an arms race. The Great War (1914–18) completely changed the mood and tenor of Australian society, and realigned allegiances between nations. Huge numbers of young men enlisted for ‘King, Country and Australia’, and went overseas to an unknown destiny.
Australia after the Great War was a changed place. To pay the war debt income tax was introduced, and the 1920s were a time of disappointing economic growth and limited government initiatives. The Great Depression and World War II coloured the lives of the subsequent generation, for whom the Edwardian era must have seemed distant and glorious.
Australian troops marched through the streets this afternoon, and I took the following … from our office windows at Australasia Chambers.
