Title

Engraving, Photography [Thomas Ham & Co, Brisbane].

Author

The Courier.

Details

The Courier (Brisbane), 14 February 1862, page 2

Publication date

14 February 1862

Type

Essay/article

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Abstract

Description of the Brisbane printery of Thomas Ham & Co.

Full text

ENGRAVING, PHOTOGRAPHY. &c. – Seven
months ago, it was announced by a contemporary
that the services of a lithographic
artist from Melbourne had been secured to
produce the first lithograph executed in
Queensland, namely plate of the well-
known racing mare, Zoe. Little did we
imagine that. within a few months from that
time, we should have in Brisbane a large
establishment, with a first-class staff of
artists and workmen employed in the various
branches of the engraving and lithographic
arts, and superior to any existing private
establishment in Australia. Such, however,
is the fact, and any of our readers who
may pay the establishment of Messrs. Ham
and Co., of this city, a visit, will there find
a manifest proof of the rapid advancement
of the colony. The pile of buildings recently
erected in George-street, opposite our offices,
by Alderman Stephens, have been erected
principally for that special purposes to which
they are for the most part applied.
Feeling an interest, as we have always
done, in every proof of colonial advance-
ment, we paid a visit to the establishment a
few days ago, and were extremely gratified.
In the front office, we saw piles of plans and
maps executed for the Tramway Company,
who have, for economical reasons secured
Messrs. Ham and Co.'s services. These
plans comprise drawings of the bridge
over the Bremer, the station at
Ipswich, and the longitudinal and other
sections of that portion of the line which
will be first undertaken. Here also was the
beautifully engraved seal of another of our
local companies, the Queensland Steam
Navigation Company, and impressions from
the seals engraved by the firm for the mu
nicipalities of Ipswich and Toowoomba, be-
sides a variety of specimens of commercial
work in hand for our mercantile houses.
The printing-room is replete with every
convenience, and is well lighted and ventilated.
Here were being printed the maps
of Queensland for the second edition
of Pugh's Almanac, the green lines on which
map are printed by the process of chromo-
lithography. In addition to this work, the
copper-plate printing presses were also busy,
and other lithographic presses were engaged
with the Tramway plans, the printing of
which has been proceeded with, both day and
night, Sundays of course excepted, so that
the Company will be enabled to call for contracts
with a promptitude hitherto unat-
tained in Australia. Ascending to the
next storey, we come to the engraving
room, where the scrip plate of the Tramway
Company was in course of preparation,
together with a variety of other work, among
which we saw a most elaborate and intricate
design for the prevention of forgery, prepared
for a debenture plate for one of our
public companies. On the same floor with
the engraving room is the lithographic
drawing-room, where the Tramway Company's
plans again figured-to a most puzzling
and bewildering extent for the uninitiated.
We next came to the photographic branch,
which is ably superintended by Mr. Knight
(a partner in the firm of Ham and Co.), whose
reputation as an operator and practical
chemist stands high in photographic circles
in Victoria. In the waiting-room on the
first storey are disposed a number of specimens,
to which it is the intention of the
firm to add most of our Brisbane notables.
Ascending another flight of stairs, we come
to the operating room, which is arranged in
such a complete and efficient manner in
every respect, as to render it one of the best
photographic rooms in the colonies. Every-
thing that experience could suggest has
been provided, in order to secure uniform and
satisfactory results, and a Mr. Knight has
certainly been most successful - not only in
the production or correct likenesses, but
also in the artistic arrangement and finish
of his pictures. That the enterprising firm
will meet with the success they so unques-
tionably merit, we do not for a moment
doubt. Already each of the various
branches of their multiform business is in
full work, and, as it is a credit to the colony
to have such an establishment existing here,
we trust that this may always prove to be
the case.

[The Courier (Brisbane), 14 February 1862, page 2]