‘Sensible time capsule’ of historic road pictures returns to Bendigo

A treasure trove of pictures taken by a tailor within the central Victorian metropolis of Bendigo’s post-war interval has been returned to the town. 

The Allan Doney Photographic Collection comprising greater than 14,000 negatives and three,000 prints from the Nineteen Fifties to ’70s, has been gifted from the National Trust of Australia to the Bendigo Historical Society. 

Society president Euan McGillivray mentioned the gathering provided greater than a “brilliant time capsule”.

“There’s so much to learn about how people lived, what they thought of themselves and how local and state governments thought about the developing city.”

The metropolis was in a interval of transition from 100 years of steady gold mining, with the closure of the final mine in 1954.

Within the negatives are misplaced buildings and faces certain to be acquainted to some in Bendigo.

Perhaps a relative was crossing Pall Mall or searching the Bennetts Arcade when inspiration struck and Doney pressed the shutter button on his Rolleicord.

A tailor and photographer

Allan Doney was taking photographs lengthy earlier than he arrived in Bendigo together with his spouse Constance in 1949. 

The Doneys arrange a tailoring enterprise within the Beehive Building on Pall Mall, the town’s primary drag that routinely featured in his pictures.

His novice profession was sparked when he was gifted a Kodak Box Brownie as a young person.

RMIT pictures historian Daniel Palmer mentioned Doney clearly had a “very good eye”. 

“They’re considered compositions that give them an additional aesthetic value, not so different from pictures collected by art museums.”

Professor Palmer mentioned Doney was set aside from different amateurs or hobbyists by the topic of his photographs, which on the time usually would have been members of the family or landscapes. 

“It was less common for someone to be wandering the streets and taking photographs of strangers, and that’s of course what becomes more interesting over time,” Professor Palmer mentioned.

Doney’s photographs did obtain some recognition regionally, touchdown on the entrance web page of The Bendigo Advertiser together with his protection of Queen Elizabeth II’s go to in 1954. 

“I also hope they’re accessible more broadly.”

That work is underway now, with a six-month process forward of the Bendigo Historical Society volunteers to catalogue, digitise and put together for a probable exhibition in 2026.

Until final 12 months the negatives had been nonetheless within the paper baggage and sleeves they had been first saved in some 70 years in the past.

It has taken the society’s volunteers effectively over 100 hours to painstakingly switch the negatives from the brittle, scratchy baggage into archival-grade storage supplies.

National Trust of Australia (Victoria) collections supervisor Michelle Derrick mentioned she was assured the gathering would “enrich Bendigo’s cultural heritage” into the longer term.

“I look forward to seeing the collection shared more widely and celebrated throughout the local community,” she mentioned.