The
New Year saw Bayliss back in Melbourne. His principal
task was to secure a panorama of the city
in 18" x 22" format. For a vantage point he
selected the tower of Government House. His negatives
have survived - they are good technically but not very
interesting in subject matter, as the principal objects
of interest are too far away. He also photographed
Scots Church and The Bank of Victoria; the date of the
latter exposure can be accurately dated by a graffito,
for some New Year celebrant has chalked '1876' on the
stonework.
As
for Holtermann himself, the first half of 1876 must
have represented an exceedingly busy period,
as he planned
for his forthcoming trip abroad and arranged for the
control of his numerous enterprises during his absence.
And, of course, he must have supervised the packing
of the great cases that were to carry the results of
his
photographic enterprise to the huge Centennial Exhibition
and that were to arrive in Philadelphia in good time
for the opening day of May 10th. In addition to the
photographic exhibit, which went on ahead, he also
arranged for a
quantity of duplicate material to be prepared in order
that he might take it with him and display it as he
went along.
He
sailed with his wife and daughter early in June, arriving
in San Francisco some time in July.
An item
of interest
wa's later to be seen in the Evening News (Sydney)
for Sept. Ist:
"The
Photographic Society of the Pacific Coast held a regular
monthly meeting last evening in the galleries
of Messrs. Bradley & Ralston, Montgomery Street,
San Francisco. Mr. Ralston proposed the name of
Mr. B. 0. Holtermann, of Australia, for membership.
Mr. Ralston
offered the following resolution:
"That
as photographers we are indebted to the liberality
of B. 0. Holtermann for demonstrating the possibility
and perfecting the production of the largest
negative,
and we tender him our thanks of this Society
for kindly placing the negatives on view for inspection.
"Mr.
B. 0. Holtermann, responding to the resolution on his
behalf, begged the Society to accept his
sincere thanks for the reception he had received in San Francisco
by the fellow members of his profession."
From
San Francisco the family (and presumably
the big negatives as well) hastened by
rail eastwards
across
the continent. But a pause was necessary
when the family reached Burlington, on the right
bank of
the Mississippi
River, about two hundred miles from Chicago.
The important reason for the pause was fully
explained,
in journalistic
writing very characteristic of the time and
place, in the columns of The Burlington
Hawk Eye of
July 25th, 1876 - to say nothing of the obvious
rivalry
between
the
Iowa cities of Burlington, Devonport and
Dubuque:
"There
was a native Australian born in Burlington yesterday,
and whether he is an American of German
descent or an Australian of American extraction, or
a citizen of Germany
with Australian ancestors will be a question
of some joint High Commissioner to settle the first time he is
drafted.... This man came very near being
born at 25 m.p.h., and if the C.B. & Q. Line wasn't so reliable,
or had even missed being on time, he could
never have sworn to his birthplace in the world. As it is, however,
thanks to the never-failing promptitude
of the C.B. & Q.,
this young German-American-Australian can
lay his hand upon his heart and with a look of honest pride say, 'I
am a native of Burlington',
"B.
0. Holtermann, a resident of Sydney, Australia, and
member of an extensive firm, Holtermann & Co.,
of that place, is on his way with his
wife and daughter
and a servant to Hamburg, Germany. Careful
of the comfort of his lamily, he chose
the shortest and safest route
across the continent, which is well
known to the C.B. & Q.,
and Holtermann, after changing his through
checks for his baggage for Depot checks,
sought and obtained commodious
and comfortable quarters at the Barret
House where, in Room No. 39, within two
hours, a son was born unto him
whom' he would do well to christen Burlington.(17)
"It
is, indeed, a high mark of appreciation of our fine
institutions when the denizens of other
quarters of the globe bring their children here to
be born.
"Talk
about your cities. Did anybody ever go to Devonport
from Australia to be born? Did anybody
ever stop at Dubuque on his way to Germany to be born? Not much; and we trust
that this simple little illustration
of the superior
attractions of the Orchard City will
not be lost upon our less fortunate ne'ighbours, but that they will gracefully,
and with that modesty that so well
becomes them, sink into the obscurity that
must henceforth
gather
around them
from the shadow of this crowning
triumph.
" .
. . . He refused to be interviewed, but is said to
be very handsome and the living image of his father
and
mother. He will remain at Burlington
for a short time and will in all probability proceed
with the family into
which he has introduced himself when they leave the
city.
"We
shall watch his career with interest and shall expect
to find in his history further
evidences of the superior advantages which the metropolis of Iowa affords to
those
who seek its friendly influences
.
Of
his stay in Philadelphia, no record has come our way
other
than the record
of the
Exhibition which
shows that
his photographic exhibit gained
a bronze medal (no silver medals
were
awarded
at Philadelphia Centennial,
says
the Encyc. Britt., ninth edition).
Nearly ten
million people saw the huge
159-day Exhibition; the maximum
attendance for any one day
was 274,919 (about fifteen thousand
more
than of Sydney's Easter "Royal").
Presumably, most of them saw
the big panorama and the hundreds
of
other supporting photographs,
and so came away knowing considerably
more about Australia than they
had previously.
That Holtermann would naturally
have spent some time in Philadelphia,
explaining his exhibit and
lecturing on Australia and
its great future,
is fairly certain.
In
due course, the Holtermanns moved on to
Germany where he
again demonstrated
his collection,
met
his relatives
and looked around for agencies
suitable for the Australian
market. The party
returned
to Sydney
some time in
1877, but the famous pictures
remained behind
in order to
be shown at Paris' famed
Exposition Universelle Internationale de 1878, where
they were successful in gaining
a silver
medal
(now to be seen
in The Mitchell Library).
The Exposition was by
far the,
largest of
its
day, attracting thirteen
million visitors. No record
is given
of the maximum single-day
attendance.
At
Paris, incidentally, there was another interesting
association
with photography.
To quote from
the Encyc. Britt. (tenth
edition) : "Every
person who had the right
of entrance
was compelled to forward
two copies
of his or her photograph,
one of which was attached
to the card of entry."
It
is impossible for us,
almost a century later,
to recapture
the
glamour and
the public appeal
of these
great Exhibitions,
for almost from infancy
we are familiar with
the world's
great
inventions
and national characteristics
- and that
mainly through the instructional
value of
photography.
As
for his personal portable exhibit, this took the
form of "a sheet
of canvas 80ft. long
and 5ft. wide, full
of panoramic views
of New
South Wales" (but
no doubt a range of
Victorian scenes was
included as
well). As Holtermann
displayed his roll
throughout Germany,
France and Switzerland,
his natural pride would
have
been pardonable; further
than that, it is certain
that he represented
Australia's
first overseas Office
of
Information, official
or unofficial.
Back
in Sydney, Holtermann
established himself
as a merchant and
commission agent at 24-42
Pitt Street
(afterwards
at 674 George Street
and 248 Liverpool
Street). His
interests
were varied,
ranging from sewing
machines
to lager beer
(another gold-mine,
said
the newspapers!),
and from
telegraphic
equipment
to gas-producer plants
for
home
gas lighting.
He also carried on
with his mining associations,
mainly
at Molonglo,
though he held many
other leases, some
even as far away
as Darwin.
The
following year was the completion
of the
buildings for Sydney's
famed Garden Palace
Intercolontal Exhibition(18)-an
activity
which
appears to have
tempted Charles
Bayliss to move. permanently
to
Sydney.
The Exhibition
was held
in the two years
1879 and 1880,
the
Holtermann
pictures
being given due
honour. It is pleasant to
note that
an entire bay was
devoted to his
photography and that the
full credit was
given to the photographers
responsible.
His
grand international project carried
through to completion,(19) Holtermann
began to lose
interest in photography,
but not before
he had completed
(in 1881, from
internal evidence)
a
panorama on 10" x
12." plates
actually made
with his own
hands.
He also purchased
a stereoscopic
camera (an 1879
model by Attewill & Co.,
London, with
a pair of Ross
lenses),
with which he
made an intensive
series of exposures,
mainly of family,
friends and scenes
around his farm
in West Street.
It
is clear that by this time
he
had lost interest
in his tower
and was thinking
more of a new
home - St.
Leonards Lodge,
in the
area just to
the west of
the present
St. Leonards
Park(20) and
of local
public activities.
By 1883 he
had been elected
M.L.A. for
St.
Leonards
and was energetically
renewing his
work towards
the progress
of "North
Shore".
He is said
to have
been instrumental
in the building
of the North
Sydney Post
Office and
Court
House (which
were completed
in 1886)
and in the
laying of the
tramway
from Milson's
Point.
He advocated
the
bringing down
of the railway
from Hornsby
to St. Leonards
and even
offered £5,000
towards the
cost of building
a
bridge
across the
harbour.
To
the end he retained
his
belief in the
importance
of photography
as a
means of
- stimulating
the world's
interest in Australia,
particularly
from the aspect
of "exciting
the attention
of the most
desirable
class of immigrants
and others
to
the advantages
offered for
the introduction
of skilled
labour
into this country" as
he moved in
the Assembly
on April
10th of "46,
Victoria";
on this occasion
he endeavoured,
unsuccessfully,
to obtain for
the purpose
a grant "not
exceeding £2,000."
Bernhard
Otto Holtermann
died on 29th
April,
1885, being
then but
forty-seven
years
of age. Neither
in the newspapers
of the day
nor anywhere
else
until
this year
was full
and proper
tribute ever
paid to
him, either
for his
national
work or for his
countless
acts
of friendship
and personal
generosity. Though he
did not
live out
the normal span
of life,
it can be
said that
he died
a happy man,
for had he
not
achieved
the three great
ambitions
of his
life.
He had gone
out alone
into the unknown
and
found some
of Australia's "legendary",
gold in that
place with
the magic-sounding
name. He
had in
some small
measure repaid
his adopted
land for
the many
favours
it had conferred
upon him.
And lastly,
he
had
attained
the greatest
wish
of his life,
to sit as
a member
of a
British parliamentary
body.
Gold
and silver
...
the gold
of Holtermann,
the
silver
of Merlin
and Bayliss
... a 'natural
electrum'
that was
to prove
infinitely
more precious
than anything
that
the ancients
could ever
have imagined.