Harvie & Sutcliffe, Albert Sutcliffe, Princes Bridge, Southbank, Yarra River, c1900
Summary
Robert William Harvie and Albert Sutcliffe were Melbourne-based commercial photographers at the turn of the 20th century. Their studio, named Harvie & Sutcliffe, was housed in the Cromwell Buildings, at 366a Bourke Street, on corner of Elizabeth Street, and operated between 1898 and 1908.
This panoramic photograph of the Yarra and city viewed from the river’s south bank shows a barely recognisable Melbourne. It was taken around 1900, and while trains are visible on the tracks at the intersection with Princes Bridge, Melbourne’s most recognisable railway station is but an absence, with the foundations for the main building not laid until 1902 and the building itself completed eight years later. But it is perhaps the south bank that is most unfamiliar. In place of today’s densely built and paved promenade is open parkland and plantings, an avenue of shrubs following the riverbank. This photographic panorama is an intriguing ‘alter ego’ to Arthur Ted Powell’s hand-drawn panorama of the site today, which you can find through the search function above.
