professional photographers, opened a studio at 5 Collins Street, Melbourne, in 1855. In 1858 they were listed at 3 Bourke Street as well as 9 Collins Street. They then sold their business to William Davies in order to become gold prospectors, according to Cato. This Victorian studio seems to have been a branch of the well-known New York photographic firm run by Charles Richard (1826-58) and Henry William Mathew Meade (1823-65) and there is no evidence that any photographer of this name visited Melbourne. Indeed, Thomas Skelton Glaister , who stated that he had been employed at Meade Brothers’ New York firm from 1850, came to Melbourne in 1854, evidently to set up the branch, although he opened his own Sydney studio in April 1855. John Nichol Crombie , who came from the goldfields, worked for Meades until they sold out to Davies, probably taking over from Glaister as manager and chief operator.
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- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
