Rare collection captures Bacchus Marsh in 1883

A RARE collection of photographs captured at Bacchus Marsh in 1883 provides a valuable snapshot to a time past, and this weekend that time is being brought back to life.

The rare niche collection of photographs will be the focus of a BacchChat talk hosted by Bacchus Marsh and District Historical Society this Saturday 6 September at the Lederberg Library.

The Society is inviting everyone along to the session titled Bacchus Marsh in 1883 – Through the lens of Stevenson and McNicoll.

The free presentation will focus on the collection of photographs taken by 19th century photographers Stevenson and McNicoll who travelled Victoria and New South Wales documenting people and places.

Historical Society vice president Tim Hogan said an article in the local media of September 1883 had documented the photographers’ arrival in Bacchus Marsh at the time.

He said the two had established a temporary studio in town, photographing many local people and buildings at a time when not many folk at all possessed a camera.

Mr Hogan said that a collection of about 45 of their photographs had been donated to the historical society back in 1973 by the granddaughter of a former Bacchus Marsh couple.

Now that rare and valuable collection is being revisited, after members of the historical society spent many months researching the photos to identify the buildings and the people they capture, and cataloguing them for the Victorian Collections.

“We were gifted this marvelous document of the community of Bacchus Marsh and nearby areas. It’s like snapshot of the community in time,” Mr Hogan said.

“It’s a bit unusual to have something like this.”

He and the Society’s Margaret Simpson both dedicated a lot of time to the research, and will both be speaking at this Saturday’s event, sharing insights they uncovered about the images and also seeking to fill in a few information gaps that remain.

They’re hoping some of those who attend this Saturday’s session may be able to shed some light.

“We felt it was one of the most important and notable things we had in our collection,” said Mr Hogan who previously worked at the State Library for many years and specialised in Victorian and Australian historical collections.

“They’re mostly good quality photos and nearly all have got people in them.

“It’s rare for a little archive of photos from that long ago to exist. This is just a window into the past so that’s what our talk is about.

“Over the last 12 months we’ve researched each of the photos. We’ve tried to identify and catalogue each photo as much as we could.”

This Saturday’s BacchChat will include light refreshments and will run from 10am to 12pm with free bookings at tinyurl.com/3munsfpp and more details from the library.

“The main thing is that people just learn about the history of our town and they have bit of fun doing it,” Mr Hogan said.