State Library of South Australia

The Old Colonists Banquet Group [mosaic] [B 47769] • Photograph

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Summary

Photographic mosaic (composite) bearing the inscription 'The Old Colonists Banquet Group: Duplicate of one Presented to E. Solomon Esq by H. Jones, Photographer for his liberality in giving the Banquet, Decr 1871'. This is one of at least three mosaics of photographic portraits created by Adelaide photographer Henry Jones to commemorate an Old Colonists' Banquet. The banquet was organised by merchant Emanuel Solomon at the Adelaide Town Hall on 28 December 1871 to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the founding of the colony of South Australia. The subtitle on this version states that it is a 'duplicate' of a mosaic presented to Solomon. In January 1872 Solomon placed advertisements in the Adelaide press inviting those men who had attended the banquet to have their portrait taken gratuitously at Jones' studio. A glass plate negative of a different version is held by the State Library of South Australia at PRG 631/3. It may represent the one presented to Solomon before his death in October 1873. This mosaic (B 47769) was owned by pastoralist Thomas Bowman who donated it, together with a companion mosaic of women colonists (B 19985), to the Public Library of South Australia in 1909. The mosaic contains 515 portraits. They are ostensibly arranged by the colonists' year of arrival in South Australia, from 1835 to 1840. It is evident that 71 portraits were added to the mosaic at leasat 15 years after its production and probably before it was donated to the Library: other photographers' work are included, portrait styles and photographic paper stocks differ significantly and some portraits show subjects many years older than they were in 1872. The placements of these later additions bear no relationship to the colonist's year of arrival. Also, about 56 of those depicted by Jones and among the additional portraits arrived in the colony after 1840 and 13 were born in South Australia. One of the additional portraits is the photographer Henry Jones, erroneously placed in the section for 1836 arrivals.

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Physical description

Photograph (mosaic); 127 cm x 94 cm (work), 131.5 cm x 98.5 cm x 4 cm (framed work)

Dates / Publication details

1873

Photographer

Jones, Henry

Collections

Part of South Australia’s Old Colonists and Settlers Photographic Mosaics Collection
Part of Portrait Collection
Part of Photographic Mosaic Collection

Subject

Pioneers -- South Australia

Catalogue record

Return to catalogue

General notes

B 47769/2 "Photo copy Ernest Gall 1910", 37 cm x 27 cm, with mock wood grain mount with dimensions 53 cm x 40 cm.

Also known as Source 47, and both B 47769 and B 7677 have been used interchangeably in the past. An index to this mosaic was compiled by WH Ifould, Librarian, Public Library of South Australia published as 'Index to H. Jones Collection of Photographs of South Australian Old Colonists (Most of Whom Attended the Banquet given by Mr. Emanuel Solomon, December 28th, 1871)', Public Library of South Australia, Adelaide : R.E.E. Rogers, Government Printer, [1909]. The index contains the disclaimer 'It is suspected that many of the names are incorrectly spelt. The Librarian would be glad to receive information of errors, full Christian names, and, where not already mentioned, date of arrival and name of ship in which any of the colonists arrived'. This index was rendered obsolete with the creation of individual catalogue records in 2016.

Historical information

Henry Jones was born in Bristol, England in 1826. He arrived in Victoria in the late 1850s and in 1859 was listed as a daguerrean and photographic artist in Melbourne. Jones came to South Australia in 1866 and worked as an operator at Townsend Duryea's Adelaide photographic studio. By September 1868 he had his own studio in King William Street, opposite the Adelaide Town Hall. The business was known as the Children's Photographic Company from 1876. The studio moved premises within the city on several occasions until 1885, the last year that Jones is listed as a photographer in Sands & McDougall's South Australian Directory. Jones died in 1911 and was buried in the West Terrace cemetery.

Digitisation information

Date

10/02/2015

Format

image/tiff

Resolution

5,231 x 6,963 pixels (36.4 MP)

Size

218.57 MB

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