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professional photographer and picture-framer, was working in Geelong, Victoria about 1857-82. He had another studio in Collins Street, Melbourne in 1857-60. Together with Roberts and De Baulk Norton exhibited photographic views of Geelong and surrounding districts at the 1862 Geelong Exhibition of Art, Science and Industry. In 1866 he was commissioned to photograph views of the public buildings and scenery of Geelong and of the borough of South Barwon to be shown at the 1866 Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition and the following Paris Universal Exhibition. For the Geelong Corporation he took twelve photographs: the Bank of Victoria, the Customs House, the Chamber of Commerce, St Paul’s Church of England, the Hospital, the Volunteer Fire Brigade Station (with the whole of the brigade and their engines in front), the Supreme Court, the Mechanics Institute, the Presbyterian Church, a view of Malop Street looking east from the Town Hall, the Church of England Grammar School and a general view of Geelong from the Botanical Gardens.

Similarly commissioned photographs for the borough of South Barwon were described as having 'less bricks and mortar’ and 'more of the freshness of landscape scenery’, a judgement that was relative since they included views of the mayor’s residence and his Australian Tannery on the banks of the Barwon River as well as the wool-washing establishments of Messrs Douglas, Wright and Corrigan. Views stated to have 'formed very good pictures’ owing to their garden scenery were the Highton residences of G.F. Belcher, Thomas Adcock and G. Southey and the Germantown residence of Rev. Mr Hartiz. This emphasis on the scenic quality of the view included a photograph of Highett’s water mill near Fyansford, 'almost embedded in rich scenery’. As befitted his civic patronage, Norton also photographed the borough’s chief monuments: the Council Chambers at Belmont and the bridge over the Barwon. At the 1866 Intercolonial Exhibition he was awarded an honourable mention for these 'Photographic Views’.

Norton appeared in local directories from 1858 to 1867 as a photographic artist and picture-frame maker of Market Square, Geelong. The equipment he used to take his view photographs is noteworthy. In 1870 the Geelong Advertiser stated that he had imported a 14 × 12 inch (36 × 31 cm) plate camera, considered the largest in the colony. He first used it to take views of Geelong’s Market Square. In April 1871 he produced a double, 28 × 12 inch (71 × 31 cm), photograph of the extensions to the Victorian Woollen and Cloth Mill. In September he photographed the Cerebus at anchor in Corio Bay as part of a 3 foot (92 cm) panorama which extended from Denny & Co’s old store in the west as far as Limeburner’s Point to the east. He imported a new lens in 1872 which he used to take a panoramic view of Geelong from the top of the Western Brewery; one resulting print was said to have been between 30 and 40 inches (76 and 102 cm) long.

The international exhibitions of the 1870s proved profitable for Norton. In 1872 the Geelong Town Council, the Barrabool Hills Shire and the Bannockburn Shire all commissioned him to produce a large number of views for the 1873 London International Exhibition. By December, at the request of the Victorian Commissioners to the Vienna Universal Exhibition, Norton had prepared a general collection of photographs of the Western District. A month later Corio Shire Council commissioned him to photograph 'the prettiest and most important portions of the Shire’ for the same exhibition. With the announcement of the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, Norton received further commissions from local councils. Acting under instructions from Mr Davidson (most likely of the architectural firm of Davidson & Henderson), Norton made a tour through Geelong and the Western District in 1875 taking photographs of all 'the more important mansions and pretty views’. In August he produced twenty-one views at the request of the Colac Shire Council, including the Red Rock, the Irrewillipe Forest and Colac East and West. In 1878, again to satisfy the demand for views to send to an international exhibition – in this case the Paris Universal – Norton produced a large number of photographs for the Corio Shire Council.

Nor did Norton neglect that mainstay of any photographer, the photographic portrait. By 1874 he had established a Portrait Club, thus astutely appealing to a class described by the Advertiser as 'men of moderate means who cannot afford to pay five pounds cash for an oil painting of themselves or any other member of their family’. Subscribers paid 2s 6d a week and lots were drawn to decide who was to be photographed. Although awarded a silver medal for photography at the 1879 Geelong Industrial and Juvenile Exhibition, Norton seems to have stopped taking landscape photographs after this, the field having been appropriated by visiting photographers such as Charles Nettleton , who produced an album of views of Geelong in 1878, and by the arrival of Frederick P. Kruger , who captured both the local view market and the exhibition commissions from his arrival in 1878 until 1884. Some of Norton’s earlier views were photolithographed and issued at 'a moderate price’ by the local booksellers Purdie & Burn in 1882, another appeal to that modest market he had tapped in 1874, but no photographs are known after this. Most date from 1866 to 1876. The Mr Norton who had a Malop Street photographic studio in 1891 could indicate a comeback but may equally have been a son.

Writers:

Fox, Paul

Date written:

1992

Last updated:

2011