NRS-20454 | Illuminated album presented by Municipal Association of New South Wales

Full description

The series is an illuminated album presented to Lord Carrington by the Municipal Association of New South Wales on 30 October 1890.

The album contains a metal shield on the cover which reads 'To Lord Carrington presented by the Municipal Association of New South Wales'. The dimensions of the album are 560mm x 450mm x 20mm featuring tooled full leather bindings, gilt-edged pages, and containing cloth-hinged leaves. The pages consist of an illuminated address and illustrations with the inscription of Charles Turner at the bottom of the page.

The Evening News on 31 October 1890 describes the presentation and description of the album:

'Yesterday the members of the committee of the New South Wales Municipal Association waited upon Lord Carrington at Government House and presented the illuminated address which it was resolved at the recent annual session should be presented to his Excellency. The members present were the Mayor of Sydney (president), Messrs. W. A. Hutchinson and J. Graham (vice presidents), W. H. Simpson (treasurer), E. Scholes, C. Hellmrich, T. J. Dickson, T. Colls, M.L.A., W. M. Burns, J. Wheeler, M.L.A., C. Jesson, and F. A. Morgan (secretary). The address, which is in album form, may truly be described as a work of art, and will be admitted by those who see it in England as a proof of what our colonial artists are capable of. There are four pages of the address the first two containing views of Sydney Town Hall and Government House, his Excellency's coat of arms, as well as that of the city of Sydney, and a profusion of native flora, conspicuous being the flannel daisy in compliment to Lady Carrington's well-known partiality for that beautiful flower. The other pages have views of the Glen Innes, Petersham, and Leichhardt Town Halls, the Vice-regal residence at Moss Yale, the splendid steamship Orizaba, by which his Excellency will voyage to his home, several glimpses of colonial woodland scenery, including the Bulli Pass, plentifully surrounded and interspersed with ferns, waratahs, and native flowers, the colours being most admirably blended, and the whole reflecting the greatest credit upon the artist, Mr. Charles Turner, who, considering that he had but very short notice of the committee's requirements, has turned out a work that will, we feel certain, be prized by Lord Carrington, and will do honor to the colony wherever exhibited. The deputation were received in the red drawing-room, and the Mayor having handed the Governor the address, and expressed the pleasure the deputation felt in presenting it to her Majesty's representative, Lord Carrington expressed himself delighted with the present, and the deputation withdrew.' (1)

Endnote
1. 1890 'The Municipal Association.', Evening News (Sydney, NSW), 31 October 1890, p. 5.