Sunday, November 23 will see another cricket re-enactment of the first photograph of a social cricket match in Australia and probably the world.
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The last re-enactment held two years ago was so much fun we thought we would do it again.
There will also be a book launch and the gold coin entry donations will be given to the Scott Memorial Hospital.
So put the date in your diary.
The location is ‘Thornthwaite’, a property first settled by Joseph Docker in the 1830s.
Joseph was a skilled graphic artist and his pen and ink drawings and watercolours display a fine eye for detail.
He was also a surgeon and qualified as an apothecary (chemist) who was familiar with scientific method and the chemicals of the day.
Experimentation with photography during the 1840s by Louis Daguerre and Fox Talbot captured the imagination of Joseph Docker.
Images of people and places produced by chemical processes that previously would have taken many hours of drawing opened up a new dimension. Joseph photographed many images of his property – peaceful creek scenes, the vineyard, seasonal activities with sheep and family members.
The Docker family were keen cricketers and one day Joseph decided to capture an image of his sons playing a match.
The backdrop for the photo is the Thornthwaite homestead, one of the finest sandstone residences in the Hunter Valley.
Many of Joseph’s prints taken between 1850 and 1870 remain in very good condition.
The Mitchell Library of New South Wales has dated the cricket photograph circa 1855 due to the method of using a paper negative coated with silver salts.
Joseph was assisted by his son Earnest who also had a keen interest in photography.
The following quote by Peter Docker, great grandson of Joseph and also a photographer is as follows:
“What was remarkable about the photographic achievements of Joseph and Earnest and their consequent recognition among pioneers of photography was:
o The excellence of their work as a father and son photographers from 1850.
o The extraordinary difficulties under which they worked in a remote part of the colony of NSW from 1850 to 1870.
o Their ingenuity and perseverance with photographic experimentation, building their own equipment and making and processing all their photographic materials without the ease of communication with other workers in the field.
o The enduring quality of their photographs, many which survive today.
o The time they were able to devote to their hobby in spite of Joseph’s commitments to his property, his local community and to politics.”
Everyone is invited to the re-enactment of the first photograph of a cricket match to be held at ‘Thornthwaite’ on November 23 at 11am.
There will be signs with directions to the property from Scone on the day.
