Uncovering the Incredible Story of Australia's Oldest Photo and The Man In It | Time Travels Clip

These are the grounds of Sydney's oldest surviving school, Sydney Grammar, and it sure has some history

In one and a half centuries, it's turned out two Prime Ministers, seven High Court judges, four test cricketers and three members of the chaser team

Even the great bard Banjo Patterson was once a student here. Volumes have been written about him and indeed most of the other famous people who walked

these hallowed halls. However, it was the man who started it all, who may well be the most interesting of the

lot, yet for 150 years his story was almost forgotten. His name was Bland, yet his life was anything but

Our story starts in 1813 with a duel

The loser died and the winner? Well, he was convicted of murder and transported to Australia

His name was William Bland and he was a fair dinkum hothead

And even after he arrived in Sydney he got in trouble again. This time he was sent to jail for writing cheeky poems about

Governor Macquarie But in an incredible life he overcame his convict origins to become a groundbreaking surgeon politician philanthropist and of course founder of the school that became Sydney Grammar

And at the State Library of New South Wales, I discover he even turned his hand to inventing

This may look like a Jules Vernean creation, but it's actually the work of William Bland

and what you're looking at is Australia's first aeronautical design. the Atmotic ship. And fundamentally, it's a gas-filled balloon, steered and operated in the

same way you would manipulate a sailing ship. So if you have a look at it, it has all these sort of

nautical connections here, blocks and tackle and a rudder and there are sails and probably an anchor

But the great thing about this was that Bland believed that the Atmotic ship could travel from

London to Australia in a week. Well, I wouldn't bank on it. And it doesn't matter whether it works

or not. What this drawing proves is what a visionary Bland was. You'd think we'd all

be learning about such a colourful character at school, but hardly anyone's ever heard

of him. In fact, the only reason I'm talking about him today is because of this. It's a

tiny little box. When I open it up, it reveals Australia's earliest known photograph

Ladies and gentlemen I give you William Bland And this portrait was found completely by chance

The field librarian had asked me to come down to look at a trunk full of photographs

There was nothing of great interest amongst it until we reached the bottom

There was this little box. The instant I saw it, I knew that this was what's called a daguerreotype

an early form of photograph, and it was made probably before 1845

The next thing was I knew amongst my research there was a reference to this picture

And I went home, rummaged through the newspapers and found on the 14th of January, 1845

this very daguerreotype was mentioned. Now, that date is three months earlier than any other photograph we'd had

so we knew this was the earliest. So it was Australia's oldest known photograph

Wow. So what is an ex-convict doing in the frame of Australia's first photograph

Ah, Mr. Land! Well, in 1845, George Goodman, Australia's first photographer, was looking for a subject to demonstrate a new fangled contraption

called the daguerreotype portrait system. Perfect sir perfect He needed a colourful local identity to grab the public attention So who better than the legendary William Bland

Three. Very good, sir. And there we have it. He posed for the photo and the rest was hidden history until now

William Bland should have been a name to be celebrated

and the sort of face you might see on a $100 bill. But instead, he died a pauper

and faded from the pages of Australian history. He was a very angry person

He didn't suffer fools gladly. So, consequently, he didn't have many friends

And I guess if you're going to be famous, you need someone to champion you

to write about you and say how wonderful you were. He actually has a name that isn't very sort of inspiring as well

No, you don't feel like you want to go and visit Blandville, do you? I'm looking forward to going home to Blandville

No. Ellen's discovery of Australia's earliest photograph has also unearthed the remarkable story

of one of our most controversial and colourful unsung heroes. Hello, time travellers

Thank you so much for watching this video. If you enjoyed it, leave a comment below and don't forget to subscribe to the channel

Until next time, remember, history doesn't repeat, but certainly echoes