George Goodman
Entrepreneurial Jewish settler, George Baron Goodman, was Australia's first professional photographer. Having taken lessons in Paris from Louis Daguerre, the inventor of the Dagerreotype process, on his return to London Goodman purchased a licence from Richard Beard (holder of the English patent for the process) to take photographs within specific British colonies.
Arriving in Sydney in November 1842, Goodman quickly set up his 'Daguerreotype Gallery' at the Royal Hotel in George Street, and immediately began capturing 'faithful miniature likenesses' of the town's leading citizens.
Goodman's daguerreotype portrait of Doctor William Bland is the earliest known surviving photograph taken in Australia. It is probably that mentioned in the Sydney Morning Herald 14/1/1845. It would appear to be a product of Goodman's new studio at 49 Hunter Street, Sydney (SMH, 5/8/1844), before the introduction of hand colouring (SMH, 9/1/1845) and before the introduction of decorative backgrounds (SMH, 25/4/1846). It was probably produced between November 1844 and early January 1845 and, stylistically, matches the Lawson family daguerreotypes, two of which are dated 3/5/1845 in a contemporary hand.
In April and May of 1845, Goodman had travelled to Bathurst at the request of 100 subscribers and spent three weeks there taking daguerreotypes at the Victoria Hotel. On the way back to Sydney, in May 1845, Goodman took a series of photographs of the William Lawson family, probably at their property 'Veteran Hall' in Prospect. He producing a set of six or more exquisite daguerreotype portraits. Dressing up for the occasion, the Lawson girls all wore similar dresses highlighting the remarkable family resemblance between them.
