This listing of the photographers and studios operating in Brisbane from 1855 to 1901, is an abridged version of the print publication 'Capturing Brisbane'.
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Hald, Hans Sommerlund
Hans Hald was born in Denmark in 1858, and apparently worked there as a photographer. He emigrated to Brisbane in 1884, however it is not known whether he found work here in the photographic industry. He married in Brisbane in 1886 and a daughter was born in 1887. In May 1887 he advertised for employment in any branch of photographic work other than as a photographer as he had difficulty with the language. The advertisement appears not to have been successful, and Hald emigrated to America the following year, settling in Portland, Oregon.
Ham, Thomas & Co
The Brisbane firm Thomas Ham & Co, general engravers, lithographic artists, printers, and photographers was formed by lithographer Thomas Ham and his brother-in-law, photographer William Knight. The company opened a temporary premises in Queen Street Brisbane in August 1861 while waiting for their photographic rooms to be completed in George Street.
The new rooms in George Street opened in February 1862 promising photographs in every style, and specialities including portraits printed on enamelled cloth, patent leather or cardboard. Knight had charge of the photographic department of the business which also stocked cameras and chemicals for other professional or amateur photographers. The business continued until late 1866 when ownership of Thomas Ham & Co was assigned to Thomas Blackett Stephens and George Slater. This occurred around the same time Thomas Ham took up the position of Chief Engraver in the Government Printing Office. Thomas Ham & Co finally ceased to operate around November 1868.
Haydon, Henry
Henry Haydon was born in England around 1817. He was the son of a grocer, and when he arrived in Sydney, he took up that trade with the firm Betteridge and Haydon. The firm was initially very successful, and the partners lived on large estates on the Nepean River, until 1860 when it was unable to service its creditors. Insolvency followed, and Henry Haydon turned to photography, having apparently been an enthusiastic amateur for the previous eight years. His first studio was in Cavendish House, George Street, Sydney which he opened around August 1861.
In October 1861 he took a steamer to Brisbane and early the following month opened a photographic studio in George Street, two doors from the office of the Courier newspaper. He offered coloured portraits at moderate prices. His time as a photographer in Brisbane was limited however, and he closed his business on 4 January 1862, having acquired the retail trade of local merchant RS Warry. All Haydon’s photographic equipment, which was described as the best procurable in Sydney, were offered for sale. Henry Haydon died suddenly in Brisbane in August 1863.
Healey, Francis
Francis Healy was noted as manager of the Austral Photo Co. He was operating the business on Gregory Terrace, Brisbane in 1891. Nothing further has been found to positively identify him or to link him to any other photographic ventures.
Henderson, Lincoln E
Lincoln Henderson was a Californian photographer who had reputedly worked with Bradley and Rulossen, photographers of San Francisco. He arrived in Sydney to work for Thomas Boyd in the early 1880s. Henderson had taken a position in Harold Riise’s studio in Hobart by June 1884. Riise’s advertising proclaimed Henderson to be the best operator and re-toucher in the colonies. He was working for Tuttle & Co in Auckland, New Zealand in July 1885.
By March 1886 Henderson was in Brisbane with the Elite Photo Co in Queen Street. Great concern was expressed when one morning Lincoln Henderson walked out of the Elite Studio and disappeared. He left all his possessions behind. His employer Edward Hutchison could not give any reason why he left, though suicide was a consideration. After months of inquiry and speculation a brief notice appeared in the Queensland Police Gazette of August 1886, that Lincoln Henderson had been found. No information was made public, nor stories repeated in the newspapers.
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There is no indication whether Henderson returned to work with Elite Photo Co. Over the next three years his name appears only in connection with unclaimed mail from the Post Office in Bundaberg. He may have been the Henderson who joined photographer Muriel Cooper in her studio in Western Australia in 1900.
Hogg, John Jackson
John Hogg was born in Driffield, England and came to Queensland around 1865. By the end of 1882 he was visiting Yandina as a travelling photographer. He had settled in Kangaroo Point by mid-1884, though was still travelling as a photographer. He may have partnered with James Clark in February 1886 and was working in the Mellum Creek and Mooloolah areas, taking portraits and landscapes. In September he won a prize at the Nerang Show for the best collection of photographic views taken in the Logan electorate.
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As J Hogg & Co, sometimes just Hogg & Co, he ran the photographic business at Kangaroo Point from early 1887. His photographic transparencies of the Brisbane floods of 1887 were displayed at a flood relief event, with those of other local photographers. Hogg began to specialise in interior photographs, and his photograph of the Mayor’s Ball held in the Courier Building was considered remarkable at the time because it was taken by the aid of electrical light.
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The desire to travel never went away and Hogg & Co are recorded visiting Ipswich and Esk during 1888. Around April 1889 Hogg established a new photographic studio in Edward’s Buildings, George Street, Brisbane, where it operated under the name JJ Hogg & Co. Hogg took many photographs of the 1890 Brisbane flood, advertising he held the largest collection in Brisbane. In 1892 Hogg gained the patronage of the Queensland Governor, Sir Henry Wylie Norman, which had become a status symbol and point of advertising for those photographers who achieved it.
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John Hogg and another George Street photographer C Lord travelled to Melbourne together in in February 1894. A few months later Hogg sold off his photographic accessories and backgrounds, and in August a new partnership was formed, Lord & Hogg operating from Lord’s studio in Poole’s Buildings in George Street, next to Lennon’s Hotel. The business functioned until December 1894 when Lord appears to have left Brisbane, and John J Hogg remained in possession of the studio. The relocation and improving economy appear to have worked for the business and by the end of 1895 Hogg claimed to be employing ten artists to meet the needs of his studio. Landscapes continued to be an important part of the studio’s offering and the firm’s photographers were found in various parts of the colony.
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Between 1896 and 1899 several Hogg and Co photographs were published in the Queenslander. However, it was the photographs in late 1899 of the 250 soldiers of the 1st Queensland Contingent prior to their despatch to the war in South Africa that had a significant impact. These photographs were offered for sale to the public, as were views of the training camps and various groups. When the first Queenslanders were killed at Sunnyside it was Hogg’s photographs that were printed in the local newspapers. The value of such newsworthy images ensured a similar process was adopted by other photographers, newspapers and journals as the war continued and more troops were despatched.
JJ Hogg & Co remained in business in George Street until the middle of 1902. The firm’s last advertisement was at the end of May, and the studio closed.
Hutchison, Edward Thomas Border
Edward (Eddie) Hutchison was born in Queanbeyan, New South Wales. He gained his experience in photography through travelling photographer Robert Baxter who worked the Southern Tablelands region of New South Wales. In December 1878 Hutchison briefly partnered with a travelling photographer named Nicholas in Queanbeyan. Over the next five years he worked in towns such as Bungendore, Monaro, and Gundaroo. There is some probability he was the operator named Hutchison who was injured by a bullock while working for Thomas Mathewson in Brisbane in September 1880. He was later in Orange, Carcoar, Dubbo, and likely Sydney in 1883.
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Hutchison arrived in Brisbane in early 1884 and opened the Elite Studio at 8 Queen Street, Brisbane in May. His company became more generally known as Elite Photo Co, and expanded and contracted over its five years of operation, with dramatic highs and lows. It was a photographic force during its existence, mirroring Hutchison’s enthusiasm and drive. By mid-1889 his business was in difficulties and Hutchison arranged in September the auction of the Elite Photo Company as a going concern, as well as a Dore art collection he had acquired.
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In that same month Eddie Hutchison involved Samuel Duncalfe on a curious venture to exhibit the singing Walker brothers, twin boys who also suffered dwarfism and other medical conditions. The strangest twist was that the twins were Hutchison’s half-brothers. A lukewarm reception in Brisbane resulted in the group moving to Maryborough to be billed as the Dore Art Gallery, Polytechnic and Industrial Exhibition. Hutchison parted company with his brothers around January 1890 to move to Rockhampton where he established the Dore Studio. In May 1890 he sold the business to his other half-brother Phillip Walker.
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Hutchison was in Sydney by September and in Bourke by March 1891 exhibiting the Dore artworks and operating an Elite Photo Co studio in partnership with Charles Wilson until June. He returned to Brisbane early in October 1892 residing at Milton, and producing framed enlargements coloured in crayon. Unsuccessful in seeking a new business partner he moved south again. He arrived in Adelaide by August 1893, setting up the Fritz Photographing Company. Oscar Fristrom again joined him to work in the studio.
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Hutchison and Fristrom returned to Brisbane around September 1894. In November Hutchison opened a new photographic studio, opposite the General Post Office in Queen Street. He engaged photographer William Deazeley to assist him for a time in 1895 during the peak Christmas months.
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Hutchison moved to Toowoomba for May and a little of June 1896, leasing Roggenkamp’s Studio in Ruthven Street, before returning to Brisbane. The lease on Brisbane studio appears to have run out at the end of August 1896 and he chose not to renew it. Hutchison resumed work from his residence at Milton, framing enlargements again.
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He opened a new studio next to Edwards & Lamb, at 37 Queen St, Brisbane on 19 October 1897. He returned to portraits, offering cabinets and Paris panels, for almost 12 months. In September 1898 the lease, goodwill, and gallery plant including cameras, lenses, fittings and furniture of his studio were put up for auction. By the year’s end Eddie Hutchison was working through photographic dealers Baker & Rouse in Queen Street, advertising to take photographs of picnic groups.
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Between June and November 1899 Hutchison opened a studio in the Exchange Buildings in Warwick. After the outbreak of the war in South African he travelled to that country at his own cost and in 1900 served in the South African Light Horse and the Provisional Transvaal Constabulary.
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Eddie Hutchison returned to Australia in 1906 and with John E Macclean opened an Elite studio in Dubbo from June to August. He was back in South Brisbane by April 1907 and there opened his final Elite Studio on the corner of Stanley and Water Streets. Eddie Hutchison was still working from that studio when he passed away in August 1911.
Hyllested, Peter Wimmelman
Born in Denmark , Peter Hyllested arrived in Brisbane in April 1886. He was presumably able to learn the photographic trade locally, possibly with Poul Poulsen, though that has not been confirmed. Around March 1890 Hyllested opened the Vandyke Studio in Stanley Street, South Brisbane. Benjamin Taylor worked with him for a time. Hyllested’s business continued in South Brisbane until about July 1893.
Peter Hyllested moved to Bundaberg in March 1894 and opened a photographic studio there around November, naming it the Vandyck or Vandyke Studio. The business ran until 1915, when he moved to Beaudesert to open a new studio. He retired from the photographic business around 1930 and moved back to Brisbane.