995
appearance of the Capital City and its hinterland—the
Wairarapa. His views of this region, which were made
with the aid of a horse driven van that served as a por-
table darkroom, encouraged investors to develop this
region. His work on this project earned him medals at
the Sydney and Melbourne International Exhibitions of
1879 and 1880–1881.
As admirable as the professional activities of
Crombie, Mundy and Bragge might be, the colossus
of New Zealand 19th century landscape photography
was undoubtedly Alfred Henry Burton 1834–1914 who
was born in Leicester. As one of four sons who helped
their father John Burton operate a photographic busi-
ness which had branches in Birmingham, Nottingham
and Derby, he was no newcomer to photography when
he joined his younger brother Walter in 1868, who
had immigrated to Dunedin, New Zealand, two years
previous to this amalgamation. This was not the fi rst
time Alfred had been in New Zealand, in 1856 he’d
journeyed to there to spend three years in Auckland
as a printer, following this up with a similar stay in
Sydney, Australia.
The fi rm the brothers founded became known as
Burton Brothers. It prospered with Walter responsible
for the portrait trade, allowing Alfred to travel beyond
Dunedin to build up a collection of scenic views in a
specially constructed van which acted as a portable
darkroom. The fi rst series of negatives he made was
devoted to settlements in the province which had yielded
rich deposits of alluvial gold. Then by the Government
steamer Luna in 1874, he accompanied an exploratory
expedition to a territory on the South West corner of the
South Island known as Fiordland.
After Walter’s death by suicide in 1880, Alfred admit-
ted Thomas Mintaro Muir to the partnership, an arrange-
ment which allowed Alfred to continue documenting
nearly every town and settlement in both North and
South Islands. In 1884 he took his camera on a winter
cruise of the South Pacifi c and added another valuable
series of views which were known as “A Camera in the
Coral Islands.” The following year, he chanced upon an
expedition that was being formed to explore the upper
reaches of the Whanganui River. The expedition was
mounted to investigate a possible route for the North
Island Main Trunk Railway between Wellington and
Auckland. This trek passed through an area called the
King Country which was populated by Maori tribes.
Over a period of 37 days in April-May 1885, Alfred
managed to make 230 whole dry-plate views featuring
the various villages through which he and the expedi-
tion passed. Today these photographs are considered the
most important authentic visual records of the Maori in
their natural habitat. Their sale under the title “Maori at
Home,” won him many awards including a Fellowship
of the Royal Geographic Society of Great Britain.
In 1898, Alfred sold his interests in the business to
George Moodie 1865–1945 who was born in Dune-
din and had taken over the role of the fi rms scenic
photography. Moodie went on to expand the business
under the title of Muir and Moodie. A major part of his
energies were directed towards the tourist trade with
albums of scenic views and postcards. He was the fi rst
photographer, born and raised in New Zealand, to make
a distinguished career for himself.
Nineteenth century photography in New Zealand
was dominated by the documentation of the land. The
impact that this focus had on our forefathers at the time
is refl ected upon by one art authority, Edward Lucie-
Smith. Drawn to comment on a particular New Zealand
photograph by James Bragge of bush covered hills he
said. “To the eye of someone nurtured on European
landscape painting, this still seems an impossible almost
outrageous kind of image—a land altogether alien, hos-
tile, and suffi cient unto itself.” As the land was cleared
and farmed, the emphasis changed from studies of virgin
bush and natural features to what had been won by clear-
ing the land with a destructive policy called “Slash and
Burn.” After these pioneering years which established a
sound economic footing through farming, photographers
became preoccupied with providing attractive views of
the natural environment for the burgeoning tourist trade.
Hence when George Dobson Valentine 1852–1890 from
the Scottish fi rm of Valentine and Sons died in Auckland
after a six year residency in New Zealand, the parent
fi rm dispatched another operator from the other side
of the world to carry on his unfi nished work. Valentine
had come to New Zealand in an attempt to recover from
tuberculosis with no thoughts of contributing anything
to the fi rms catalogue of world views.
After a short while it appeared that he could not resist
the temptation to make a number of images featuring the
principal tourist attractions in the North Island. While
the fascination he held for his new environment was
probably no different from those who had experienced
a similar commitment 30 years earlier, there was now a
larger and more visually literate clientele who were as
rapacious as those who looked with wonderment upon
their daguerreotype likeness.19th Century Photography in the South Pacifi c
Nineteenth century photography in the South Pacifi c
falls into several phases. First, there were photographers
who were based in Australia and New Zealand who vis-
ited the Islands to secure a representative selection of the
natives and their environment. New Zealand fi rms like
Burton Bros. of Dunedin and Josiah Martin of Auckland,
were matched by their Australian counterparts, namely
Kerry and Co. of Sydney, John William Lindt of Mel-
bourne and John Beattie of Hobart. Gradually some of