Sepia-tone gelatin silver print photograph, 205 x 155 mm, laid down on its original mount of thickish board; verso of the mount with the wet stamp (in violet) of 'Stawell Photographic Co., close Railway Station, C. Hewitt, Manager', and the wet stamp (in red) of 'Cahill's Reward Gold Mining Co.'; a superb print - incredibly sharp, and in excellent condition; the mount has a chipped bottom corner (not affecting the print). Gold was discovered at Cahill's Reward, near Stawell in the Wimmera region of Victoria, in 1895. The following initial report was published in The Age, on 13 September 1895: 'MINING AT STAWELL.STAWELL, Thursday.A sensationally good prospect has been obtainedby boring on a lease area known as " Cahill'sReward,"situated on Chambers Flat, more than2 miles west of the John Woods claim, andabout the same distance south from the Welshman's. Thebore was bottomed at 130 feet,and the prospect obtained by the auger was 14 gr.of gold. This discovery indicates that the leadcontinues down the fiat for a considerable distance,the gold and wash exactly resembling those metwith in the John Woods.' The lease seems to have been divided between theCahill's Reward Gold Mining Company (managed by William Cahill), whose mine is pictured in this apparently unrecorded photograph, probably taken in late 1895 or 1896, during the mine's early stages, and Kempson's Company. In 1907 the entire lease was taken over by the Pleasant Creek Alluvial Gold Mining Company. The photograph, which was taken by the renowned former Melbourne photographer Charles Hewitt, shows an assembly of well-to-do looking men and women gathered around the poppet head. Among them is no doubt William Cahill himself (he is possibly the tall, bearded man in bow-tie, three-piece suit and long overcoat towards the left of the group). The wooden building in the background is still under construction, suggesting a relatively early date of late 1895 or early 1896. Trove locates no other examples of this historically significant photograph in Australian public collections. Seller Inventory # 39465

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Title: Mine owners and their families at Cahill's ...

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Douglas Stewart Fine Books is an antiquarian bookseller based in Melbourne, Australia. Our showroom is in High Street, Armadale, a precinct famous for its antique dealers, art galleries and bookshops. We buy and sell books both locally and around the world, working closely with clients to understand their collecting priorities and to source appropriate material. Our clients include libraries, galleries, museums, private collectors and fellow members of the trade. Douglas Stewart is a member of the major international trade associations, and his business is conducted according to their high ethical standards. For many years he has been a Board member of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers (ANZAAB) and is currently its President; he is also a Mentor for the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers. Douglas Stewart Fine Books sells rare books across all fields, but our strengths are in travel and exploration ? particularly of Australia and the Pacific ? and Australian art. In addition, we deal in all types of heritage material, including photographs, manuscripts, ephemera, maps and globes, and fine art. Each month we issue a new online catalogue of recent acquisitions; we recommend that you join our email list so you can be among the first to see what?s available. Please do not hesitate to contact us regarding any works you see online ? we are always happy to assist with your enquiries. We are also keen to buy rare and interesting books, photographs and ephemera, from important single items to entire libraries or collections. You are welcome to contact us if you have something to sell which you think may be of interest to us. We love meeting new people and welcoming visitors to our shop (open Monday to Saturday), but if you can't make it to Melbourne you can find probably find us at one of the major fairs in London, New York, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Toronto, San Francisco, Boston, Hong Kong or Sydney - all places we have exhibited in since 2009. Douglas Stewart Fine Books

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Douglas Stewart Fine Books Pty. Ltd.
720 High Street, Armadale, VIC, 3143, Australia

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