Mining, Mud and Mirth heads West

26/10/2009

TMAG's Vicki Farmery travelled to Queenstown this month to open the museum's travelling exhibition Mining, Mud & Mirth, Photographs of Waratah 1913 -1945 by John (Jackie) Robinson.

Mining, Mud and Mirth is being exhibited at Ray Arnold's LARQ Gallery in Hunter Street, Queenstown, 3 October to 31 October 2009.

The exhibition is supported by Project Queenstown and the DEDTA.

The exhibition will also be shown at the West Coast Pioneers Memorial Museum at Zeehan in November and December and Waratah January to March 2010.

The exhibition came about as the result of funds raised by the Friends of TMAG that were made available to the Photographic Collection for the purpose of providing access to previously unavailable material.

The money was used to employ TMAG staff member Anthony Curtis to scan a collection of photographic negative material selected by the curator for scanning.

The collection chosen was presented to the TMAG in 1994 by Eric Thomas of Queenstown and contained over 1,000 mainly plate glass negatives and some film negatives.

The photographic glass plates and negatives were taken by John (Jackie) Robinson (1883-1953), a photographer living in Waratah from 1913 to early 1940s where he began a career with the Mt Bischoff Mine.

The mine at that time was the largest tin mine in the world.

His jobs for the company included storeman, accountant, paymaster and at one time looking after the dams, which allowed him access to all areas of the mine.

As a photographer he documented the workings of the mine, outlying mining activities, the people and the very active social life of Waratah.

Robinson was the principal documenter in the 20th century, of mining in the Savage River, Mt Stewart osmiridium fields and Mt Bischoff tin mine.

As part of the exhibition program a selection of the scans were printed, framed and exhibited at the TMAG in July 2008 to March 2009.