The Freeman Brothers Studio lays claim to being the longest running studio in Australia. It was established as the ‘Freeman Brothers and Wheeler’ by William Freeman and his brother James in George Street in 1854; it was still running nearly 150 years later.
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| Portraits of Australian people taken by the Freeman Brother Studio circa the 1870s |
James was the more experienced of the two having worked in Richard Beard’s gallery in Bath, England, before coming to Australia and was certainly instrumental in the success with which they plied their trade in Sydney.
One of the keys to their success was their continual upgrading of equipment and premises to deliver the latest techniques. As a result they attracted the cultural elite of Sydney to their studios where they were photographed using the techniques of the day. Thus surviving examples can be found as daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, collodion glass plates, flexible sheet negatives all of which were then used to make albumen, gelatin and platinum prints on card, glass, and paper.
These amazing photos were acquired from Freeman Brothers Studio by Powerhouse Museum in 1969. They show portraits of Australian people circa the 1870s.
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| Rev. W. B. Clarke, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1865-1875 |
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| Miss Munro, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Miss Munro, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Mr Munro, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Mr Solomon, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Mr York, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Mr. Bell, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Mr. Foster, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Mr. Hume, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Mr. Peters, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Mr. William Moore, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Mrs Jenkins, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Mrs Moore, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Mrs Solomon, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Mrs York, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Mrs. Davis, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Portrait of an unidentified man, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Portrait of an unidentified woman, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Portrait of an unidentified woman, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Portrait of unidentified woman, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Portrait of unknown woman, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Reverend Pollard, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1871-1880 |
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| Sir Hercules Robinson, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1872-1879 |
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| Master Munro, Freeman Brothers Studio, circa 1975 |
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| Eduardo Majeroni in “The OLd Corporal”, 1876 |
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| Charles James Roberts, Mayor of Sydney, Freeman Brothers Studio, 1878-1879 |