Photographic albums of the plague in The Rocks, Sydney, 1900 / under the supervision of Mr George McCredie ; photographed by John Degotardi Jr.

fonds

1900

Graphic Materials, Photographs

413649

6 albums (379 photoprints)

When bubonic plague struck Sydney in 1900, George McCredie was appointed by the Government to take charge of all quarantine activities in the Sydney area, beginning work on March 23, 1900. At the time of his appointment, McCredie was an architect and consulting engineer with offices in the Mutual Life of New York Building in Martin Place. McCredie's appointment was much criticised in Parliament, though it was agreed later that his work was successful.
Reference: Plague Sydney 1900 / Max Kelly. Marrickville, NSW: Doak Press, 1981
The infected areas, and buildings selected for demolition because of the health risks they supposedly raised, were recorded by photography. Most of the buildings demolished were considered slum buildings.
Photographed by John Degotardi Jr., photographer for the Department of Public Works.
Reference: `Photography in Australia / by Alan Davies' in Celebrating 100 years of the Mitchell Library. Sydney : State Library of NSW, 2000. p.86

This collection comprises 6 record series. You may navigate to a more detailed description of each series from this collection record and browse the digital images

This collection is also known as The Plague Albums.
The 6 volumes were previously located at the manuscripts location ML *D 90 - *D 95. They were copied onto preservation microfilm in Feb. 1990, while at that location.