View of the Hopkins Falls near Warrnambool, Victoria, circa 1870.

Albumen print photograph, carte de visite format, 101 x 61 mm (mount), verso of mount with ornate gilt imprint of ‘J. Hider, Photographer. Opposite the Post Office. Warrnambool’; the print is a little pale but is in fine condition.

A possibly unrecorded early photographic view of the Hopkins Falls. Situated northeast of Warrnambool on the Hopkins River, the curtain-like falls are considered to be the widest waterfall in Australia. 

‘Arriving in Warrnambool in 1848, James Hider (c.1817-1884) showed an active interest in civic affairs and public institutions. He became a Warrnambool Councillor in 1862, served two further terms 1864-69 and 1874-81, occupying the Mayoral Chair 1868-69 and 1880. James Hider was appointed the first rate collector of the township of Warrnambool in 1856 and was also the first paid secretary of the hospital in 1858. He was a photographer, bookseller and stationer. Hider Street was named by Council on 2nd Aug 1872.’ (City of Warrnambool)

Hider’s carte de visite photographs, comprising both studio portraits and outdoor views, are seldom encountered. The Art Gallery of New South Wales holds a small number of Hider’s landscape views of Tower Hill Lake and the picturesque Hopkins River, probably taken around the same time as this view of the Hopkins Falls.

All six of the AGNSW’s Hider cartes were chosen for inclusion in the landmark exhibiton The photograph and Australia, which was staged at the AGNSW and QAGOMA in 2015.