Charles Bayliss, Sydney

BiographyCharles Bayliss produced some of the most famous panoramic and landscape photographs of the 19th century. His photographs document an extensive range of Australian scenery, including major civic buildings and gardens in Sydney, to the life and landscape of the Darling River and Riverina districts. He was frequently drawn to the water of Sydney, photographing Sydney and Darling Harbour, and the waterside suburbs of Balmain and Pyrmont. Bayliss embraced the latest technological developments in photography and became renowned for his pioneering work in panoramic photography.

Charles Bayliss migrated from England with his family as a young child, and at the age of 20 in 1870 he became apprentice to Beaufoy Merlin who trained Bayliss in documentary photography. In 1876, Bayliss opened his first studio in Sydney, and throughout his career received a number of prestigious government commissions, most notably for the Lyne Royal Commission on Water Conservation. Bayliss was involved with the American and Australasian Photographic Company and also produced the world's largest wet glass-plate panorama while collaborating with another well-known photographer, Bernard Holtermann. Bayliss died in 1897 at the age of 47.

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