{"id":2115,"date":"2025-12-31T17:40:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T06:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/photo-web.com.au\/gn\/?p=2115"},"modified":"2026-01-01T14:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T03:06:07","slug":"collins-street-melbourne-1839","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/photo-web.com.au\/gn\/collins-street-melbourne-1839\/","title":{"rendered":"Collins Street Melbourne 1839"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>Research triggered by an album photograph<\/h4>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2120\" src=\"https:\/\/photo-web.com.au\/gn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/JH-Kerr-Collins-street-1-232x300.jpg\" alt width=\"232\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/photo-web.com.au\/gn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/JH-Kerr-Collins-street-1-232x300.jpg 232w, https:\/\/photo-web.com.au\/gn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/JH-Kerr-Collins-street-1.jpg 596w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 232px) 100vw, 232px\"><\/p>\n<p>I have uploaded a&nbsp;research essay triggered by seeing a&nbsp;photograph in an album I&nbsp;was assessing for auction. That was nine years ago. My interest in the image stayed with me and recently have I&nbsp;brought pieces of information together to identify the background to the photo in question.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->This image has become important in the context of how the new settlement was seeing itself and how it went on to portray life in the new town of Melbourne to those back in England who were considering the adventure to the other side of the&nbsp;world.<\/p>\n<p>These first images are precious. They are loaded with layers of meaning both to the audience of its time and to today\u2019s viewers looking back to&nbsp; the first years of this colonial town before it became an international city.<\/p>\n<p>Along the way my research looked at&nbsp; the works of Edward Noyce, William Thomas Knight, John Hunter Kerr and Robert Russell \u2014 and a&nbsp;few more.<\/p>\n<p>When I&nbsp;started this research I&nbsp;was a&nbsp;visitor to the&nbsp;city.<br>\nNow it is my home city \u2014 My Melbourne.<br>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.photo-web.com.au\/gael\/knight\/index.html\">Click here for my essay<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research triggered by an album photograph I&nbsp;have uploaded a&nbsp;research essay triggered by seeing a&nbsp;photograph in an album I&nbsp;was assessing for auction. That was nine years ago. My interest in the image stayed with me and recently have I&nbsp;brought pieces of information together to identify the background to the photo in question.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,1,536,3],"tags":[567,568,570,571,569],"class_list":["post-2115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collections","category-essays","category-melbourne","category-photography","tag-collins-street-1839","tag-edward-noyce","tag-john-hunter-kerr","tag-robert-russell","tag-william-thomas-knight"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Collins Street 1839, Edward Noyce, William Thomas Knight, John Hunter Kerr, Robert Russell<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Collins Street 1839, Edward Noyce, William Thomas Knight, John Hunter Kerr, Robert Russell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/photo-web.com.au\/gn\/collins-street-melbourne-1839\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Collins Street 1839, Edward Noyce, William Thomas Knight, John Hunter Kerr, Robert Russell\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Collins Street 1839, Edward Noyce, William Thomas Knight, John Hunter Kerr, Robert Russell\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/photo-web.com.au\/gn\/collins-street-melbourne-1839\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gael Newton Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-31T06:40:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta 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