professional photographer, was manager from about 1880 of the Melbourne branch of Tuttle & Co., a large American photographic firm from San Francisco. Tuttles opened Sydney and Adelaide branches in 1882 after selling the Melbourne studio to Miss Robinson, a native of Tasmania. (In 1889 she sued her former partner, William Tuttle, to restrain him from using the Tuttle name in Melbourne, apparently unsuccessfully.) According to Victoria and Its Metropolis , Miss Robinson not only managed the 'very extensive business’ in Elizabeth Street, which employed 'twenty-five hands’, but she was also 'sole proprietor’ of the studio. Lily continued to be known as Miss Robinson professionally, despite being married to the Italian opera singer Tomaso Moliner de Alba (c.1865-1932).
Tuttle & Co. of Melbourne were awarded a first-class certificate and bronze medal for their portrait photographs at the 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition and won an Honorable Mention at the 1888-89 Melbourne Centennial. The firm’s photographs were said to be especially valued in Great Britain; the Prince of Wales ordered photographs of his sons, Princes Arthur and George, who toured Australia in 1881. In 1893, however, she was suing Freehold Investment Co for £20,000 for 'terrible injuries’ sustained in an accident in the company’s lift from which she had never recovered.
- Writers:
- Kerr, Joan
- Date written:
- 1995
- Last updated:
- 1992
