Curio

State Library of New South Wales
Circular Quay from Dawes Point fortifications with the ships Haddon Hall (closest to camera), La Hogue (in front of Customs House) and Aviemore (second from left), in port

Circular Quay from Dawes Point fortifications with the ships Haddon Hall (closest to camera), La Hogue (in front of Customs House) and Aviemore (second from left), in port

1873
Glass photonegative

This view from Dawes Battery, past Campbell’s Wharf to Circular Quay, can be dated to early-mid September 1873, as the Haddon Hall from London is loading for San Francisco at Campbell's wharf. Behind it is Aviemore and the ship in the background, in front of Customs House, is La Hogue. Both Aviemore and La Hogue left for London on 13 September 1873. Sadly, this must be one of the last photographs taken by Merlin. He contracted pneumonia and died a fortnight later, aged 43, on 27 September 1873.

Circular Quay, mid September, 1873 - by Margaret Bradstock

Arrived on the Haddon Hall from London

we're loading up for San Francisco,

a flow of goods and immigrants,

as Customs officers work the waterfront

checking for contraband and smugglers.

The harbour's a highway

connecting ship and shore,

masts bristling like compass needles

steam ferries crowding the nearby jetties,

the cove's crescent-shaped convict sea-wall

now lined with gabled wharves.

The fort at Dawes Battery, looking across from us

boasts eight bronze cannons, for fear of invasion

from Britain's distant wars. A self-important colony

if you will. Meantime, the sea 

and its working harbours call me

to ply my trade.

-  after Circular Quay from Dawes Battery, 1873  − a2825014

(one of Merlin's last photographs, two weeks before his death).