This year marks 120 years since George Henry Dawkins captured a remarkable snapshot of our locality in 1904. Dawkins was born in Lambton around 1874. His interest in photography is first noted in 1900 when he demonstrated lantern slide making to the recently formed but short-lived Newcastle Amateur Camera Club. A few years later he was instrumental in the formation of a new camera club and served as a committee member for many years.

In 1904 Dawkins purchased a block of land on the heights above Lambton. From that property on the west side of First St (later renamed to Noble St) he photographed a four-frame panorama looking southwards. He then mounted the prints on foldout panels with an ornate burgundy coloured front cover with the title “A Peep at Old and New Lambton, NSW, from Lambton Heights.”

The panorama is striking in the detail it contains. We can observe prominent landmarks that remain to this day including the park rotunda, council building (now the library), Mechanics’ Institute building, and the stone church in Dickson St.

The photo also highlights how much has changed. Many of the houses in 1904 are basic wooden structures. While the Lambton mine pithead is hidden behind a hill, the colliery rail line and bridges can be seen running over Hobart Rd. In panels 3 and 4, we see large swathes of open land south of Howe St and wooded land on the hill, yet to be developed as it was mining company land.

While Dawkins’ paying job was as a printer, he also volunteered with many local organisations such as the Mechanics’ Institute, Bowling club, and the Wallsend hospital board. In 1907 he contributed photos to a Newcastle Tourist Guide, and during World War 1 he offered to take photos free of charge, of any men in Lambton enlisting as soldiers. George Dawkins died in Lambton in 1922 aged just 48, leaving us the legacy of a wonderfully fascinating panoramic peep into our past.

The article above was first published in the February 2024 edition of The Local.

---

Additional Information

The 1907 Tourist Guide

Dawkins contributed some photographs to a 1907 “Tourist’s Guide to Newcastle”. The National Library of Australia has a copy of this publication on microfiche (Bib ID 3542657), which I viewed during a visit to the Library in April 2024. Unfortunately the quality of the scanning/reproduction is poor and the photographs appear as little more than high contrast splodges of black and white. For what it’s worth, here are the photographs that Dawkins contributed. One minor note of interest is that the photograph of Nelly’s Glen on page 81 enabled me to identifier the creator of the image in the Newcastle University Living Histories site, which previously unattributed.

	Page
PREFACE	5
NEWCASTLE	9
The Beaches	29
The Reserves	42
The Climate	48
Health of Newcastle and District	49
Newcastle from Without	49
Industries	53
Coal Mining	53
The Dyke	58
Other Industries	59
Churches	59
Literary, Scientific and Educational Institutions	63
Technical College	67
Schools	67
Municipal	70
Commercial	74
Military	74
Theatres etc	78
Musical and Kindred Societies	79
Debating Societies	79
Sports and Amusements	82
The Turf	90
Agricultural, H & I Association	92
Charitable Institutions	96
Public Buildings	100
Newspaper	105
Pleasant Bush Drives and Picnic Places	105
Accommodation for Visitors	112
Discovery of Newcastle	112
LAKE MACQUARIE	117
Toronto	117
Belmont	120
Swansea	120
Spiers’ [sic] Point	120
Warner’s Bay	120
Cockle Creek	121
PORT STEPHENS	121
Nelson’s Bay	121
Salt Ash	121
Anna Bay	121
Tea Gardens	121
Sawyer’s Point	121
Bulladelah [sic]	125
THE MAITLANDS	128
West Maitland	128
East Maitland	133
Maitland Coalfields	133
MORPETH	133
RAYMOND TERRACE	140
PATERSON	140
DUNGOG	144
STEAMER, COACH AND FERRY INFORMATION	151
TRAMWAY AND RAILWAY INFORMATION	165
RAILWAY TIMETABLES	168-178
OFFICERS OF NEWCASTLE & N.D. TOURIST ASSOCIATION	182

	Page
Newcastle from Railway Station	7
Holiday Time on Newcastle Beach	11
Tennis Court and Bowling Green	15
The Two “Redheads”	19
Nobby’s from Fort Scratchley	23
Surf Bathing	27
Newcastle Beach	31
Newcastle Beach from Tram Terminus	33
Shelter Sheds	37
James’ Retreat	41
The Rotunda	45
Entrance Gates, Upper Reserve	47
Lower Reserve	51
A Typical Newcastle Colliery	53
Shephard’s [sic] Hill	53
The Lagoon	57
Loading Coal at the Dyke	61
Ships Discharging Ballast	65
Technical College	67
Shipping at the Dyke	69
King’s Wharf	71
A Forest of Masts	73
A Bend in the Creek, Wallsend Creek	75
Newcastle Harbour	77
Nelly’s Glen, Lambton	81
The Tunnel, Merewether Beach	83
E. & A. Coy.’s Smelting Works	85
Newcastle from Upper Reserve	89
Soldiers’ Baths and Nobby’s	91
View of Newcastle showing Entrance to Harbour	93
Post Office	95
Newcastle Hospital	96
Newcastle from the Beach	99
Post Office	100
The Bogey Hole	103
Upper Reaches, Cockle Creek	107
Spier’s [sic] Point	111
Toronto	115
Newcastle Harbour	116
Belmont	119
Port Stephens from Inner Light	123
Salt Ash	127
Port Stephens, looking towards Middle Island	129
High Street, West Maitland	131
Pitnacree Bridge, East Maitland	135
Morpeth	139
Paterson	143
Movable Cranes, Inner Basin, Newcastle	147
Glimpses around Dungog	149
Toronto	155
Warner’s Bay	159
Newcastle School of Arts	163
Tram Terminus, Wallsend	167
Lake Macquarie	171
Along the Newcastle Beach	177
Along the Newcastle Beach	181

Newspaper articles

Article Date Event Date	Notes
15 Aug 1900	"A meeting of amateur photographers was held at Kettley's rooms, Hunter-street West, last night, when it was decided to form the Newcastle Amateur Camera Club."
12 Oct 1900	"At the last monthly meeting of the Newcastle Amateur Camera Club, lantern slide making by reduction was fully illustrated by Mr. Geo. Dawkins."
10 Dec 1900 5 Dec 1900	"Newcastle Amateur Camera Club held their monthly meeting and had for their subject Flashlight Photography. The members met at Lambton at 7.45 p.m., and proceeded to Lambton Colliery, where they were met by Mr. Noble, the underground manager, and his staff, who zealously looked after the comfort of the visitors, and explained every thing of interest."
15 Apr 1902 14 Apr 1902	At the celebration in Lambton of the return of Lieutenant Albert McEwan from the Boer war … "Mr. Geo. Dawkins took a flashlight photograph of the gathering."
31 Aug 1905 29 Aug 1905	Formation of camera club in Newcastle - George Dawkins elected to the committee.
16 Oct 1907	"... the guide to Newcastle and its neighbourhood has been issued by the Newcastle and District Tourist Association. The work, which comprises 180 pages, 8½, inches by 5½ inches, is copiously illustrated ... The photo-engravings are principally from negatives taken by Mr. Charleston, of Hunter-street, Mr. G. H. Dawkins, of Lambton, ..."
15 Feb 1908	Letter to the editor from George Dawkins, disputing claims about the time required to print Wallsend Hospital reports.
28 Oct 1908	The half-yearly competition and exhibition of pictures in connection with the Newcastle and District Photographic Society - George Dawkins awarded second place in "Best enlargement" section.
2 Mar 1912	George Dawkins to supply photographs for the "presentation" being prepared to honour J. W. Oldham.
11 Mar 1912 9 Mar 1912	"A concert, in aid of the Lambton Public School fund was held in the Coronation Hall … The coloured lights for stage purposes was under the direction of Mr. G. H. Dawkins …"
19 Aug 1916	"A meeting for the purpose of forming a branch of the Y.M.C.A. Snapshot From Home League was held at Mr. A. J. Plumridge's rooms on Thursday evening. Mr. G. Dawkins presided. The object of the league is to provide snapshot photographs of the homes and families of soldiers who have gone away into service, and give copies of these to the relatives for forwarding to soldiers at the front. It was decided to form a branch. Mr. G. Dawkins was appointed president."
30 Jan 1917	"A meeting was held in Lambton council chambers to devise ways and means to erect a suitable memorial to those who had given their services in fighting for their country ... Mr. George Dawkins, a member of the Camera Club, had agreed to take photos, free of charge of any soldier enlisting …"
26 Sep 1922 23 Sep 1922	"Mr. George Dawkins died at his residence, First-street, on Saturday, after a lengthy illness. He was in his 49th year, and was born in Lambton, where he resided the whole of his life. He was a printer by occupation."
25 Sep 1922 25 Sep 1922	Funeral of George Dawkins
4 Nov 1955	First Street in Lambton is renamed to Noble Street.