HARRY PHILLIPS – RENOWNED BLUE MOUNTAINS PHOTOGRAPHER
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| The Phillips Family |
Of all the photographers who set up business in the Blue
Mountains of NSW, none has left a legacy to compare with that of Harry
Phillips.
He was born in Ballarat, Victoria, in 1873 and settled in
Katoomba with his family in 1908. He had previously been a printer machinist
with an interest in photography. He must have sensed that there was a great
demand for postcards and view folders, because he quickly entered the field both
as a photographer and printer.
Over the years he produced vast numbers of postcards and
view books but making money was not the driving force behind him. He was an enthusiastic
promoter of the Blue Mountains and a
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| Postcard - around 1910 |
search through the newspapers of the day will
reveal his unrelenting pressure on the local council to attract more visitors
and to look after them better.
Watch the slide show I have put
together to illustrate his work. (here) These photographs show that
Phillips wanted the most dramatic and stimulating views he could get . Some of
these pictures reappeared in postcards and view books over and over again. I’m
certain he would have replaced them with better ones if
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| Newspaper advertisement from 1923 |
he had been able to
take them.
His 80+ known view books include
places well beyond the Mountains, but the majority are of “home”.
When he died in 1944, apart from a
simple newspaper notice in the Sydney Morning Herald classifieds (repeated in
the local Katoomba paper) there were no verbose obituaries to honour him. We’ll
excuse the residents of the Blue Mountains for this lapse on the grounds that
there was a war on at the time.
To view or download copies of the
three works available through Trove,
firstly go to the website (here) and select the category “Books”. The
three titles to use in the search box (one at a time, of course) are: Historic Blue Mountains, Blue Mountains Gems, and Jenolan Caves Phillips. When the work appears, you will find instructions on
how to download a copy for your private reference.
There is also the book by Phillip Kay titled “The Far-Famed Blue Mountains of Harry
Phillips” (1985). You can try Megalong
Books of Leura (here) or Lamdha
Books of Wentworth Falls (here) for a copy.
https://johnsbluemountainsblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/links-to-all-blog-entries-and-relevant.html All Blue Mountains blogs and videos
All New England and other Geology blogs and videos
Limestone Caves of NSW
Song Studies. Bible studies based on hymns and songs
Shoalhaven District Geology
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