Family photo reunion
‘Unidentified’ no longer
Imagine visiting an exhibition and discovering a photograph of yourself and your family that you had never seen before.
When Virginia Bower, nee Murray, visited the Street Photography exhibition with her daughter in April she was surprised and delighted to discover on display a photograph of herself with her sister and mother that had been taken 69 years ago, when she was just 17. Remarkably, this photograph, part of a collection of 5000 unidentified photos taken by the Sydney photography firm Ikon Studio, was among only a small selection reproduced for the exhibition. Once Virginia contacted us, we went back to the collection and found a second photo of the trio.
Taken in 1950 outside the Prudential Building at 39–49 Martin Place, the photograph brought back memories for Virginia:
It was school holidays and we were on our way to the Commonwealth Bank, on the corner of Pitt Street and Martin Place, which mum visited every Tuesday to draw her housekeeping money as Dad was often away at sea. Dolores was about 13, and was wearing a candy-striped dress. Mum would have been wearing a navy floral dress and accessories; she always wore kid gloves. I was 17, sitting for the Leaving Certificate, wearing a grey and blue knitted jumper and skirt. The badges we had on were our school badges, SCC (St Clare’s College, Waverley); we may have been to a school luncheon.
The unknown Ikon Studio street photographer took a second, head-and-shoulders portrait of the Murray family:
Published on
Anna Cossu
Curator
Inspired by wonderful history teachers and after her own foray as a high school teacher, Anna found herself drawn to the world of museums and heritage interpretation. In a 20-year career she has worked across a diverse field including visitor interpretation, education, and curatorial. Her great passion is people and their stories and how museums can best craft an experience that reveals something intrinsic and true of those lives and communities.
Street photography
Browse all
Ikon Studio: photo galleries
Browse a selection of images from the Ikon Studio collection shot between May and December 1950 in Martin Place, Sydney
City of a million faces
The passing of years has given many street photographs greater significance than may have been anticipated when they were taken
Ikon Studio
During the public call out for our Street Photography exhibition an extraordinarily rare collection of street photography negatives came to light. The Ikon Studio negatives provide a fascinating visual narrative of the street photographer at work
Vali Myers: teenage Ikon in street photograph
Two young women stride confidently, hand in hand, up Sydney’s Martin Place on a sunny winter’s day in 1950
The street snapshot craze
Picture this: you and a friend are walking down a city footpath amid the lunchtime crowd. Suddenly a smiling man in a suit and tie with camera in hand steps forward and offers you a card. It reads: Your photograph has just been taken
Matching snapshots
The names and stories behind street photographs are often lost with the passing of time, and we were unable to identify many of the people whose images are featured in the Street Photography exhibition. However, we’ve since learnt the moving story behind one image, of two curly-haired children
Snapped! The Ikon Studio street photographer at work
A remarkable acquisition of 5000 street snaps provides a lively and revealing record of one Sydney street in 1950 and offers a rare glimpse through the street photographer’s lens
A popular nuisance – controlling the street photographers
By the mid-1930s the street photography ‘craze’ saw increasing numbers of photographers on Sydney’s streets – all competing for the best locations and the most promising marks
Signs of the times
In the background of many street photos are glimpses of Sydney’s architecture, from still-recognisable locations to popular landmarks of the day
Photo collections
Electricity Commission
These photos record the power generation and transmission assets of the organisation and document the working conditions and social events of its employees
Fire Commissioners travels
This photo series offers a visual record of the Commissioners' travels across NSW, as well as parts of Victoria, Queensland, and South Australia. The two albums span the years 1928 to 1935
Government Printing Office Glass Negatives
From the late 19th century into the 20th century, photography played a significant role at the Government Printing Office, leading to a rich and varied collection of images depicting life in New South Wales
Lantern slides shown at the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition
Part of this collection of lantern slides was shown at the Franco-British Exhibition in London, 1908. Many of the slides are of typical country scenes such as saw mills, dairy farms, mining, and timber felling and hauling