Convict ship SUCCESS, Circular Quay west

Photographer William James Hall (Australian, 1877 - 1951)

Date1891

Object number00002509

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Bruce Stannard

Terms

DescriptionBuilt in Burma in 1840 SUCCESS was a merchant and immigrant ship before being abandoned in Melbourne in 1852 when the crew deserted for the gold fields. The Victorian Government used it as a prison hulk from 1852 to 1854 and then a stores ship. In 1891 a group of entrepreneurs bought it and set it up as a floating 'museum' of convict memorabilia.HistoryWilliam Frederick Hall, a fingerprint expert at Long Bay Gaol, set up a photographic studio in Sydney in 1890. Hall, formerly a butcher from England, became a well-known photographer whose photographic career in Sydney spanned a number of decades. William James Hall (1877 – 1951), also a photographer was his son and joined the business, taking over its operations in 1902. He established Hall & Co in 1904. Although neither the father nor the son were sailors, both developed a keen interest in sailing and sailing craft. During the late 1880 and early 1890s William Frederick Hall documented the weekend sailors and yachts of Sydney Harbour. William James Hall took over the tradition until the early 1930s capturing photographs from his motor boat. Hall also ventured into other areas of photography, and is generally considered to have pioneered the art of livestock photography in Australia at the start of the 20th Century. Hall’s company, Hall & Co were also known for their aerial, landscape, portraiture, city and rural photography. Survived by his second wife, Edith Hannah Gilkes, Hall died on 26 August 1951. HMS SUCCESS became a prison hulk in 1852 and was one of five vessels moored in Hobson’s Bay at Williamstown in Victoria. The gold rush had caused a huge influx on the population and the colony had to look for alternatives to house the growing number of prisoners. The SUCCESS was known for its extreme harshness and was surpassed in its brutality only by hulk PRESIDENT. The purpose of this tiered system meant prisoners could either toe the line and be moved to more humane hulks and eventually gain their freedom or be moved onto the PRESIDENT if they continued to cause trouble. In 1857, a group of prisoners on the SUCCESS murdered the Inspector General of Penal Establishments in Victoria, John Price. Although the men were hung for their crime, Price's negative reputation and death resulted in a government inquiry into the prison hulk system and lead to its discontinuation. SignificanceThe Hall collection provides an important pictorial record of recreational boating in Sydney Harbour, from the 1890s to the 1930s – from large racing and cruising yachts, to the many and varied skiffs jostling on the harbour, to the new phenomenon of motor boating in the early twentieth century.