The history is on the walls

And now copies of the renowned Holtermann Collection, of photographs taken in Orange in the early 1870s, are displayed on the walls of the Orange Regional Museum.

Orange Regional Museum Manager Alison Russell said the eight images featured, show Orange nearly 145 years ago with its early buildings and infrastructure.

“It’s interesting to note the bustle about the town and the growth post the gold rush and then comparing those photos with how Orange looks today,” Ms Russell said.

In 1872 wealthy German, philanthropist Bernhardt Otto Holtermann arrived near Orange to seek his fortune on the goldfields, and fortune and fame soon followed.

On 19 October 1872 at Hill End, NSW, Mr. Holtermann found the world’s largest specimen of reef gold. Weighing 630 pounds (153 kg) the find turned Holtermann in to a celebrity overnight.

He met photographers Beaufoy Merlin and Charless Bayliss and after asking them to photograph him with his find, the three teamed up to travel the country.

The trio travelled NSW and Victoria for years to create “Holtermann’s ‘Great International Travelling Exposition”

The collection contains 3,500 glass plate negatives and is held in the State Library of NSW.

Arguably the most famous picture in the collection is a 10 metre panorama of the Sydney harbour, which won a bronze award at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876 and a silver medal at the Paris Exposition Universelle Internationale in 1878.

The majority of Merlin, Bayliss and Holtermann's accomplishments remained hidden for over 80 years and were stored in a garden shed, owned by one of Holtermann’s relatives.

A year later the cache of 3500 glass plate negatives in cedar boxes and lacquered tins were donated to the Mitchell Library at the State Library of NSW, this collection became known as the Holtermann Collection.

Ms Russell said the images displayed from the Holtermann Collection were taken in Orange by Merlin and Bayliss from 1872 to 1875.

“The images show glimpses of a prosperous town growing in size due the gold rush and the increasing

value of agricultural land in the region,” she said.

“Photographs show the site for Robertson Park, still a swamp before it was planted with deciduous trees

and Summer Street, as it was during the 1870s, featuring the Dalton Bros store and its competitor Nelson Bros just across the road.

“The stores’ namesakes James Dalton and Benjamin Nelson were both significant figures in the

development of the town. The original Post Office and hospital have long since been replaced by modern buildings but their appearance in this collection is a testament to the thriving Victorian community in Orange during the late 1800s.”

Using the Holtermann Trail brochure, available at the Visitors information Centre and museum, visitors can go to the locations in Orange where the photographs were taken 145 years ago.