Engraving, from a daguerreotype Archive Farms The Patrick Montgomery Collection, Object No. 2013.268
Publication: Illustrated London News, January 26, 1850
Notes: In 1847, the English-born photographer Douglas Kilburn (brother of London based daguerreotypist William Edward Kilburn) opened Melbourne's first commercial photographic studio. As a way of attracting attention to his business he took at least eight daguerreotypes of Aboriginal people from the area around Melbourne. These daguerreotypes were sent to England to be used as the basis of illustrations, of which this is one. Five of the daguerreotypes have survived and the National Gallery of Victoria owns three. They are the earliest surviving photographs of Australia's Indigenous people.
