Outdoor gallery has windows to the past

THE Bendigo Historical Society (BHS) has created an outdoor gallery on the Hargreaves Mall-facing windows of the old Officeworks building in partnership with the City of Greater Bendigo.

Curated by members of the BHS, about 20 images from the Allan Doney Photographic Collection are part of the large-scale display.

The collection, which comprises thousands of film negatives and prints produced between the early 1950s and the mid-1970s, was donated to the Historical Society by the National Trust of Australia (Vic) last year.

Doney, a local tailor and amateur photographer, began taking photographs at the age of 15 after receiving a Kodak Box Brownie camera.

Over the ensuing years he captured life across Bendigo and surrounding towns, photographing streetscapes, old mine sites, farms and candid moments of everyday people.

His work is now widely recognised as an important visual record of a city in transition following the end of the goldmining boom.

BHS president Euan McGillivray said the outdoor gallery presented an opportunity to share the collection more widely and celebrate it in the community.

“Allan’s photos are a gift to the people of Greater Bendigo,” McGillivray said.

“With his camera, he roamed the streets and used beautiful light and composition to capture street life, with people coming and going, as well as significant buildings, some long gone.

“This was a period of significant change for the region following the end of gold mining, and Allan was there to capture it in a way few others did at the time.”

The Bendigo Historical Society’s free exhibition featuring some of Doney’s collection, Bendigo with Love, also continues until 8 August at History House in MacKenzie Street.