CURRENT: GULGONG THEN & NOW
In celebration of the 150th year of the arrival of Henry Beaufoy Merlin and Charles Bayliss to Gulgong and their photographic contribution to Gulgong’s rich gold rush history.
Photographer Henry Beaufoy Merlin and his assistant Charles Bayliss arrived in Gulgong in the winter of 1872 and now 150 years on we celebrate their work with an exhibition in the Museum theatrette, ‘Gulgong Then & Now’. This exhibition features a selection of wet plates by Adrian Cook and colourised transition photographs by Christopher Dingle.
There are also be two new exhibits unveiled, the Gondolf family Bible, a family featured in the Holtermann Collection and a selection of recently acquired letters relating to the original wet plates located by Keast Burke in 1951 which include the research undertaken for his book Gold and Silver.
Entry included in museum admission fee.
UPCOMING EXHIBITION
Peter Solness – Holtermann Projections, Hill End
Henry Beaufoy Merlin impersonator (Peter Solness) and assistant, Charles Bayliss (Jane Collins) will be participating in the Henry Lawson Heritage Festival this year.
It was Henry Beaufoy Merlin who took most of the earlier landscape views in the Holtermann Collection and who, over an incredible ten years between 1863 and 1873, transformed himself from a theatrical showman into a landscape photographer, acknowledged by his contemporaries as one of the most important in Australia.
Peter is a multi-award winning photographer, artist, educator and writer who specialises in the photographic method of Light Painting.
Our museum will host an exhibition of photographs by award-winning photographer Peter Solness. The exhibition features a series of works Peter created in Hill End featuring photographs from the Holtermann Collection.
To create these works Peter set out night after night with a projector powered by a car battery, camera, tripod and torch, projecting images from the collection onto a range of sites in the town. Some of the projections relate directly to the locations themselves whilst others are chosen for their artistic value.
The Hill End Projection work will be exhibited in the theatrette of our museum, sharing a contemporary use of Hill End images from the Holtermann Collection.
At night a moving projection walking tour featuring Holtermann photos taken in Gulgong during 1872. This one-off night event is not to be missed and will feature photographs taken during the Goldrush era of Gulgong.
The exhibition of Holtermann Projection series at Hill End will launch on Saturday 10 June at 4pm until 6pm.
Open daily from 10am until 3pm.