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Uncovering the Incredible Story of Australia's Oldest Photo and The Man In It | Time Travels Clip
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Apr 4, 2025
William Bland came to Australia a convict but later became a world renowned surgeon, politician, philanthropist and founder of Sydney Grammar School. A photo was uncovered and upon discovering it, it is Australia's earliest known photograph!
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0:00
These are the grounds of Sydney's oldest surviving school, Sydney Grammar, and it sure has some history
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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
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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
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However, it was the man who started it all, who may well be the most interesting of the lot
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yet for 150 years his story was almost forgotten. His name was Bland, yet his life was anything but
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our story starts in 1813 with a duel
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the loser died and the winner well he was convicted of murder and transported to australia
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his name was william bland and he was a fair dinkum hothead
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And even after he arrived in Sydney, he got in trouble again
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This time he was sent to jail for writing cheeky poems about Governor Macquarie
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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
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And at the State Library of New South Wales, I discover he even turned his hand to inventing
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This may look like a Jules Vernean creation, but it's actually the work of William Bland
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and what you're looking at is Australia's first aeronautical design, the Atmotic ship
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And fundamentally, it's a gas-filled balloon, steered and operated in the same way you would manipulate a sailing ship
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So if you have a look at it, it has all these sort of nautical connections here
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blocks and tackle and a rudder and there are sails and probably an anchor
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But the great thing about this was that Bland believed that the Atmotic ship
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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
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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
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but hardly anyone's ever heard of him. In fact, the only reason I'm talking about him today is because of this
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It's a tiny little box. When I open it up, it reveals Australia's earliest known photograph
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Ladies and gentlemen I give you William Bland And this portrait was found completely by chance
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The field librarian had asked me to come down to look at a trunk full of photographs
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There was nothing of great interest amongst it until we reached the bottom
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There was this little box. The instant I saw it, I knew that this was what's called a daguerreotype
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an early form of photograph, and it was made probably before 1845
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The next thing was I knew amongst my research there was a reference to this picture
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And I went home, rummaged through the newspapers and found on the 14th of January, 1845
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this very daguerreotype was mentioned. Now, that date is three months earlier than any other photograph we'd had
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so we knew this was the earliest. So it was Australia's oldest known photograph
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Wow. So what is an ex-convict doing in the frame of Australia's first photograph
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Ah, Mr. Glenn! Well, in 1845, George Goodman, Australia's first photographer, was looking for a subject to demonstrate a new fangled contraption
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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
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Three. Very good, sir. And there we have it. He posed for the photo and the rest was hidden history until now
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William Bland should have been a name to be celebrated
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and the sort of face you might see on a $100 bill. But instead, he died a pauper
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and faded from the pages of Australian history. He was a very angry person
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He didn't suffer fools gladly. So, consequently, he didn't have many friends
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And I guess if you're going to be famous, you need someone to champion you
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to write about you and say how wonderful you were. He actually has a name that isn't very sort of inspiring as well
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No, you don't feel like you want to go and visit Blandville, do you? I'm looking forward to going home to Blandville
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Blandville. No. Alan's discovery of Australia's earliest photograph has also unearthed the remarkable story
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of one of our most controversial and colourful unsung heroes. Hello, time travellers
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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
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Until next time, remember, history doesn't repeat, but certainly echoes
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