This wonderful panorama photo was published as a Rose Series postcard. There are about 20 photos of Shepparton and the district in the series.
This snapshot captures the intersection of Maude, Fraser and Stewart streets, with a view eastward towards the Dookie Hills, which is in the background.
The following features are depicted:
1. The iconic Fire Station tower stands tall on Maude St. The station itself sits adjacent, just south of the tower.
2. W. Dear Bootmakers Shop, a beloved local establishment on Maude St.
3. The Manse and its gardens, belonging to the Church of England, graced the northern side. Constructed in 1882, this historic site witnessed significant change when, in 1925, A.W. Fairley acquired the old church, making way for a new era of commerce with the development of shops.
4. The Shepparton Urban Water Works Tower in Fryers St. The tower was constructed in 1903.
5. The Star Theatre function centre and dance hall are on Fryers St.
“History buffs know about the Rose Series of postcards produced by Victorian photographer George Rose’s business, the Rose Stereograph Company. He died in 1942. Many scenes of Shepparton and other places around Victoria and Australia were captured by Rose himself before his death in 1942, by which time he was considered one of Australia’s best photographers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Rose was born in Clunes in 1861 and later worked in his father’s boot-making business in Prahran while studying photography. In 1880, he founded the Rose Stereograph Company and became famous for producing stereographs, or stereo-views, which gave the illusion of being in 3D when seen through a hand-held viewer, a big craze of the era. Rose produced stereo-views of the Western Front during the First World War. In all, he took about 9000 images in about 38 countries. As stereographs lost popularity in the 1920s, Rose switched to the production of postcards and decorative cards, and he and the photographers who followed took thousands of scenes around Victoria as well as interstate that became iconic images of Australian life.”
(Google info by MP News Group).
Geoff Allemand is an amateur photographer and Lost Shepparton Facebook page admin. Please share your Pics from the Past at pastpics@mmg.com.au