Two photos, taken from same spot – but 120 years between them

What a difference 120 years makes. Two panoramic photos of Sydney taken from almost the same location. Now, gone are the tall ships on the harbour and the view of water is largely obscured by skyscrapers.

The image is said to be the first photo taken from an elevated position to help with the marketing of Sydney as an international destination. It was taken at 600 feet (182 metres) from the basket of a tethered gas balloon on March 27, 1904, by visiting US photographer Melvin Vaniman.

The contemporary image was taken on Friday, June 14, 2024, from a drone at 295 feet (90 metres is the ceiling for a drone) by Herald chief photographer Nick Moir. Some features of the historic image looking south towards North Sydney and beyond have survived while others have long gone (see captioned photo below with key).

Unusual panoramas taken by Vaniman, according to a past exhibition at the State Library of NSW, caught the eye of the Oceanic Steamship Company, which commissioned him to photograph places visited by their vessels in New Zealand and Australia, as an incentive for tourists.

The exhibition stated: “His Sydney panorama is considered to be the first such city vista in the world. Photographs from balloons had been taken in the mid-nineteenth century, but they were mostly poor snaps from terrified photographers keen to return to terra firma.”

A gas balloon similar to Vaniman’s on display three years earlier at the Royal Agricultural Showground, 1901. The flags and inclination of the balloon indicate it was a blustery day.Credit: State Library NSW

Vaniman had a passion for taking photographs from unusual vantage points such as ship’s masts and balloons. His antics atop a pole in Katoomba Park in 1903 earned him the nickname “the acrobatic photographer”. When his trusty pole didn’t give him the height necessary to photograph the entire city of Sydney in a single sweep, he imported a balloon from America and spent months tethered 180 metres above North Sydney, experimenting with the new perspective.

Australia’s clear light was a bonus to photographers. Vaniman commented on it in an interview just before he left Sydney: “You have a splendid light ... and beautiful clouds: no question about that. Especially up country the atmosphere is beautifully clear, and in Bathurst I got one of the most beautiful skies I have ever met.”

North Sydney Council historian Ian Hoskins said it was a superb panorama with nothing else from the period to compare with it. The image is on display at the Don Bank Museum in Napier Street, North Sydney.

“North Sydney was used as a platform by artists and then photographers as a platform to depict the harbour and the city opposite,” he said.

Melvin Vaniman and Kiddo, the first cat to (reluctantly) attempt an Atlantic crossing by airship.Credit: Smithsonian

“What is so special about this is that it captures a part of Sydney in the absolute moment of its boom with about 20,000 people and on its way in a decade or two to become 40,000 people. That was all because of the ferry service. The thing that is so noticeable is that there is no bridge. Milsons Point (9) on the photo is where the Sydney Harbour Bridge now goes across to Dawes Point (10).”

After a failed attempt to be first to cross the Atlantic in an airship (which Vaniman and his cat survived), he built a second dirigible in 1911 at the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio. “The Akron” was filled with 300 cubic metres of hydrogen, had two decks, with cabins above, and dining room, saloon, kitchen and promenade below.

Vaniman’s gas balloon was tethered to the now demolished Crows Nest House, which was owned by Sir John Hay.Credit: North Sydney Council

The airship left its hangar at Atlantic City on July 2, 1912 and held its course for Brigantine Beach, rising steadily. After just 15 minutes, at a height of 750 metres, the Akron exploded. When the car plunged into a swamp, Vaniman and his crew of four were killed.

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