photographer, was evidently the Miss Mahony who assisted May Moore in the May & Mina Moore Sydney studios in the early 1920s. According to the Australian Woman’s Mirror (6 January 1925), her main function seems to have been coaxing a smile from the young subjects while May operated the camera. By 1926 Elizabeth Mahony had set up on her own as a portrait photographer at Richmond House, 154 Castlereagh Street, Sydney, and was advertising:
For a photograph of yourself – that is yourself – you must choose your photographer with extreme caution. Miss Elizabeth Mahony aims for and achieves perfect naturalness in all her work.
Several of her photographs were published in Home and Society in the mid-1920s: 'Young Australians’ (four child portraits) appeared in the July 1926 issue of Society , two photos of young women appeared in September and a full page of her photographs in October. Her gelatin silver photograph of Tom Roberts is in the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Elizabeth Mahony married the painter John Banks (1883-1945) at St Stephen’s Presbyterian Church, Phillip Street, Sydney, on 28 February 1928 and appears to have ceased working professionally after this.
- Writers:
- Callaway, Anita
- Date written:
- 1995
- Last updated:
- 2011
