The Mandurama Collection contains 3,444 photographs taken by Estonian-born photographer Evan Lumme, who lived from 1865 to 1935. Lumme arrived in Australia in 1881 and set up business in
Ashfield Ashfield may refer to:
People
* Ashfield (surname)
Places
Australia
* Ashfield, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
** Municipality of Ashfield, a former local government area in Sydney
** Electoral district of Ashfield, a former electoral dist ...
,
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, as a photographer. In 1900, he moved to Orange and spent the rest of his life in that area.
The photographs were taken in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, most being of the residents and village of
Mandurama
Mandurama is a village in the Blayney Shire, New South Wales, Australia. At the , Mandurama and the surrounding area had a population of 355 people.
Geography
Mandurama is situated west of Sydney, southwest of Bathurst, and northeast of Co ...
as well as
Lyndhurst and
Carcoar but there are images from as far west as
Boorowa and many from unknown areas. In addition, the images include the residents and areas of
Cowra, Boorowa, Burnt Yards, Garland, Gallymont,
Neville, Shaw,
Blayney and
Orange.
The photographs are considered an invaluable resource for seeing Australia as it was in the Victorian and the post-Federation eras. Few collections of this size survive to this day. The reason for the survival of the Mandurama Collection is that it was forgotten after the death of Lumme. In the 1970s, the negatives were 'rediscovered' in an abandoned house in the Mandurama area.
After their rediscovery, the collection was given to the
National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
, and since then has made a short return to its home of Mandurama, during the town's 125th anniversary celebrations. The photos were commemorated in a book, ''Faces of Mandurama'', written by John Thompson in 1997.
[http://www.nla.gov.au/sites/default/files/faces_of_mandurama.pdf ]
References
External links
Mandurama photograph collection online
Australian photographs
History of New South Wales
Mandurama, New South Wales
{{NewSouthWales-stub