Stunning photos from New Light: Photography Now + Then, at the Brisbane Museum

A series of remarkable black white photos of Brisbane and surrounds reveal the area as it was in the 1890s to now as part of a new exhibition at the Brisbane museum. SEE THE PICTURES

The extraordinary images were found beneath a home in Brisbane’s Red Hill

The contents of a few old cigar boxes in a Red Hill home continue to open up a window into Brisbane’s past, providing vistas from a century ago and a reminder of who we once were.

An exhibition, “New Light: Photography Now + Then,’’ opens today at the Museum of Brisbane featuring photography from 1890 to 2024.

The exhibition includes photos from the Alfred Elliott Collection alongside commissions from seven contemporary Brisbane photographers.

The Elliott Collection is a body of work by talented amateur Brisbane photographer Alfred Henrie Elliott, who lived from 1870 to 1954.

The New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane. Picture Katie Bennett

His black and white images capture a bygone era of Brisbane yet lay dormant for decades until they were found preserved in cedar cigar boxes under a Red Hill residence in 1983.

The photos were donated to the City of Brisbane Collection and now rate as perhaps the most significant collection of historical images of Brisbane.

The collection was at first believed to comprise 285 glass plate negatives until a further 400 film negatives were uncovered at the museum’s storage facility a decade ago.

The new compositions by Marian Drew, Jo-Anne Driessens, Joachim Froese, Tammy Law, Carl Warner, Nina White and Keemon Williams add scope, texture and depth to the historic photography, exploring notions of time, place, fragility and memory.

Exhibition Curator Elena Dias-Jayasinha says the exhibition offered an exciting opportunity to re-examine one of the Museum of Brisbane’s most significant historic photography archives through the lens of local visionaries.

Alfred Elliott, Picnic at Mount Constitution, Taylor Range undated, print from glass plate negative. City of Brisbane Collection, Museum of Brisbane - New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane Picture Supplied

New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane - Alfred Elliott, Point Danger from Duranbah Beach, Tweed Heads 1923, print from film negative Picture Supplied

Alfred Elliott, The Observatory on Wickham Terrace, Spring Hill 1895, print from glass plate negative. City of Brisbane Collection, Museum of Brisbane - New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane Picture Supplied

Alfred Elliott, Dorothy Elliott’s birthday party 1911, print from glass plate negative. City of Brisbane Collection, Museum of Brisbane - New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane Picture Supplied

New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane - Alfred Elliott, Victoria Bridge decorated for Duke of York visit 1901, print from glass plate negative Picture Supplied

Alfred Elliott, Government House on George Street 1908, print from glass plate negative. City of Brisbane Collection, Museum of Brisbane - New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane - GOVERNMENT HOUSE Picture Supplied

Alfred Elliott, Dorothy Elliott’s birthday party 1911, print from glass plate negative. City of Brisbane Collection, Museum of Brisbane - New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane Picture Supplied

New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane Picture Brendon Patrick

New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane Picture Sarah O'Neill

New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane Picture Rosemary Featherstone

New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane Picture Ronald Maynard

New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane Picture Mark Coleman

New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane Picture Zachary Yeo

New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane Picture Kate Bryan

New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane - Brisbane Town Hall Picture George Webster

New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane Picture Hongyuan

New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane Picture Gail Neumann

New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane Picture Kehl Jones

New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane Picture Kim Marston

New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane Picture Katie Bennett

New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane Picture Katie Bennett

New Light: Photography Now + Then exhibition at Museum of Brisbane Picture Katie Bennett