Holtermann Stereograms

The State Library of New South Wales has several stereographic views in the Holtermann Collection. They can be viewed in the library's Hierarchy Browser in files 32-37. This is reputedly his camera, manufactured by the London firm of T. Ottewill & Co, at the PowerHouse Museum:-



It measures 210mm wide, 155mm high, and 255mm deep. Given those dimensions, estimated lens separation s is 82.5mm, focal length f is 180mm, and half-width w of the focal plane is 90mm.
The distance d from the camera of the stereo window is given by d = s × f / (w - s) = 198cm. So this camera would be more suitable for portraits than the rather distant townscapes favoured by Holtermann. It seems unlikely that a camera of this quality would produce the rather haphazard placement of images on the plate seen in many of the following stereograms.

This is a typical plate:-



Although described in the catalogue as a glass negative, it has presumably been digitally converted to a positive for viewing. It must have been imaged from the back of the plate (shiny side) not the emulsion side, as this is necessary to avoid mirror-reversal of the subject. The number 38 was presumably scratched on the emulsion side, resulting in its reversal. Rotation of the plate by 180° to bring the subject the right way up has resulted in the left and right eye views being interchanged. The stereosite has quite a good explanation of why this interchange occurs.

The left and right eye views can be swapped into their correct positions using StereoPhoto Maker. SPM can also auto-align the two views and crop out unwanted areas:-

Black Swan and Kennedy's Niagara Hotels, Mundy Street, Bendigo ON 4/Box 32/no. 38

Here is a selection of the more interesting subjects, as edited in SPM:-

Bull Street, Bendigo ON 4/Box 32/no. 10


Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne ON 4/Box 32/no. (B)


High Street & Pall Mall, Bendigo ON 4/Box 32/no. 40


Merlin's photographic assistant? and logs on a pier, Port Melbourne ON 4/Box 32/no. 4


Merlin's photographic assistant? and Mitchell's London Hotel, Beach St, Sandridge, Port Melbourne ON 4/Box 32/no. 2


Merlin's photographic cart? and Mitchell's London Hotel, Railway Place, Sandridge Port Melbourne ON 4/Box 32/no. 1


Sailing ships, railway lines at Sandridge Pier, Melbourne ON 4/Box 32/no. 3


Unidentified gold? mine, Bendigo-Castlemaine area? ON 4/Box 32/no. 30


French exhibit, Metropolitan Intercolonial Exhibition, Prince Alfred Park ON 4/Box 33/no. 4


French exhibit, Metropolitan Intercolonial Exhibition, Prince Alfred Park ON 4/Box 33/no. 13


Interior, Exhibition Hall, Metropolitan Intercolonial Exhibition, Prince Alfred Park ON 4/Box 33/no. 12


Merlin's photographic assistant? overlooking Obelisk Beach with Middle Head in distance ON 4/Box 33/no. 15


Part of a panorama of Sydney Harbour showing Mcmahons Point, Goat Island and Darling Harbour, from Holtermann's House ON 4/Box 33/no. 11


Part of a panorama of Sydney Harbour with Lavender Bay (centre), taken from Holtermann's house ON 4/Box 33/no. 10


Main street of Beechworth, Victoria, with D.Fiddes furniture warehouse (foreground) and the Town Hall and Post Office (centre background) ON 4/Box 34/no. 5


School and Catholic Church, Beechworth ON 4/Box 34/no. 3


Girl next to a substantial building with parrots and kennel, flower pots and stone stacked in the corners ON 4/Box 35/no. 7


Holtermann family picnic ON 4/Box 35/no. 2


Holtermann family picnic (including Merlin's photographic assistant Charles Bayliss and registrar William James Slack) ON 4/Box 35/no. 1


Road bridge built in 1871, Yass ON 4/Box 35/no. 10


Yass ON 4/Box 35/no. 11


Government house stables and a house (taken from Government House tower), Melbourne ON 4/Box 36/no. 12


Old Melbourne Observatory, Melbourne, taken from Government House tower ON 4/Box 36/no. 9


Aboriginal groom of Holtermann Fred Grunway and horse ON 4/Box 37/no. 23


Aboriginal groom with one of Holtermann's horses (while Holtermann looks on) ON 4/Box 37/no. 10


Beechworth, Victoria ON 4/Box 37/no. 24


Emu, brolga and poultry in a yard ON 4/Box 37/no. 4


Holtermann children in a carriage, (and one on a tricycle), while an Aboriginal groom Fred Grunway holds the horse ON 4/Box 37/no. 12


Holtermann family group on lawn and veranda of St. Leonards Lodge ON 4/Box 37/no. 20


Holtermann holding a horse and gig with a woman, three girls and a boy on the front drive of St. Leonards Lodge ON 4/Box 37/no. 14


Holtermann sitting on a tricycle with child, while the other children are in the gig or on a Saint Bernard dog and an Aboriginal groom Fred Grunway holds the horse ON 4/Box 37/no. 13


There are also many non-stereoscopic photographs in this collection. They can be converted from 2D to 3D using the Depthify3 app as in this example:-

Shipyards at Millers Point looking across to Balmain ON 4/Box 60/no. 362


Image Credits: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, PowerHouse Museum

Christopher B. Jones 2024-11-09