[SYDNEY] View of the New South Wales Parliament, Macquarie Street, c.1870.

Albumen print photograph, carte de visite format, 64 x 100 mm (mount); verso blank (i.e. without photographer’s imprint); both the print and the mount are in very good condition.

New South Wales Parliament House is the oldest public building in continual use in Australia, having formerly been the northern wing of Governor Macquarie’s Rum Hospital, completed in 1816. At the far right of this view can be seen the Legislative Council Chamber, a prefabricated cast-iron building that was manufactured in Scotland, exported to Melbourne, subsequently purchased by the New South Wales Government for £1,835, and erected in 1856. Along with the nearby St. Stephen’s “Iron Church” (1855), it was one of the two most significant pre-fabricated buildings in Sydney.

We have tentatively attributed this photograph to John Degotardi senior (1823-1882). Of the photographic artists active in Sydney in the late 1860s and early 1870s, Degotardi was unquestionably the most prolific documenter of Sydney’s architectural landmarks – its civic edifices and its private residences – as well as its majestic harbour. Degotardi published his views in various formats, but notably as cartes de visite without a printed back mark, as in this case.