The Holtermann Legacy

The Holtermann collection is one of the most important collection of photographs in Australia. Discovered in a garden shed in suburban Sydney in 1951, the cache of 3500 negatives proved to be an astonishing record of life on the goldfields in the 1870s. Bernard Otto Holtermann, who made his name with the discovery of the world's largest specimen of reef gold in Hill End, used his wealth to employ Henry Beaufoy Merlin and Charles Bayliss to photograph the gold towns of NSW and Victoria for exhibition overseas. Holtermann hoped that the photographs would encourage immigration to the colonies. Now in collection of the State Library of NSW, the photographs have been digitally scanned revealing details hidden for 140 years.