Photographers of Maitland

Jacob Audet - 1860 - 1874

A Polish immigrant arriving in Australia in 1855 [1], Audet’s photography business is initially conducted in an itinerant fashion.

Audet marries Elizabeth Moss in August 1859 (sister of photographer Morris Moss) advertisements in the Maitland Mercury indicate that by February 1860 Audet has settled in Maitland with his photography business, in rooms opposite the Angel Inn, High Street.

Advertising  advises potential clients as to the effects of particular colours when photographed and suggestions for the most appropriate clothing are made – early days in the public’s experience of photography.

With the establishment of his" Skylight Gallery" in 1860 Audet comes second only to Hart in establishing a permanent photography business Maitland. The “Skylight Gallery” is advertised repeatedly from March to June 1860 (often directly above or below advertisements by Elijah Hart) where photographs could be fitted in "Cases or Frames (Union or Morocco) in Brooches, Lockets or Studs. N.B.-A correct likeness or no charge. Babies taken daily."  [2]

In June, Audet’s business attention turns to jewellery and watchmaking, taking over the business of A. Goldman. [3]  The photography business continues simultaneously with the jewellery enterprise.

A severe storm strikes Maitland in February 1861 destroying the gallery’s skylight and causing significant damage, but by March Audet is back in the photography business with ‘considerable improvements’. 

The proprietor  is prepared to take PORTRAITS IN ANY STYLE OF THE ART,   including alabaster, portraits, stereoscopic, negatives, and positives. Portraits taken on cloth (without any framing) for transmission through the post. Mr. AUDET'S Portraits are too well known in Maitland to require that puffing which others put forth in their advertisements.

 J. AUDET, Skylight Gallery, High-street, West Maitland. March 1, 1861.  [4]

With financial problems, Jacob Audet is declared insolvent in February 1862. [5]  Ironically, Audet had composed and read an essay at the Maitland School of Arts in October 1861, on the question “Does insolvency clear a man’s conscience?” His conclusion being that the court did not clear a man's conscience. [6]

A few months after the insolvency declaration, Audet ‘erects a first class gallery at considerable expense’, where correct and truthful likenesses can be taken in any weather. “J. A. has taken upwards of 500 Photographs since opening the New Gallery, and confidently asserts that his likenesses cannot be Excelled in the Colony or Equalled in the Northern District. [7]

In August of 1862, Audet advises of his partnership with Morris Moss [8] and two years later, Moss purchases Audet’s business in its entirety.

Audet has taken premises in Newcastle in April of 1863 , to be opened as the Great Northern Photographic Company, while the Maitland business was to also continue. [9]

The importation of improved photographic apparatus features in a July advertisement, as does the information that Audet has taken upwards of 2,000 negatives in twelve months, giving an indication of the volume of photographs being taken. [10]

The introduction of sennotype  is the next significant step in Audet’s business, promoted as a new era in art. [11]
Later (in February of 1865) Audet claims that he is the sole practitioner of the sennotype. [access full article]

The purchase of Audet's business by Morris Moss in September 1864 marks a major change for both Moss and Audet, with the services of Audet to be retained until January of 1865, then in February Audet publishes a lengthy advertisement regarding construction of a new gallery in Maitland. [12]

A few brief advertisements appear in March 1865 and then the business is offered for sale in December, in the Sydney newspaper, the Empire. [13] Without the business being sold, advertising resumes in November 1866.

Towards the end of 1866, Audet advertises under the title “Photographic Company” opposite the Bank of New South Wales. [14]

By May of 1867 Audet is again trading under the name of Great Northern Photographic and Fine Art Company (as distinct from the former Great Northern Photographic Company) with premises opposite the Bank of N.S.W. in High Street, Maitland and in Hunter Street, Newcastle. [15]  
A month later, the Great Northern Photographic and Fine Art Company is referred to as 'late J. Audet'. [16] 

After erecting a new building in Hunter Street, Newcastle, in June 1867, newspaper articles indicate Newcastle as Audet's  location through to the early 1870s. [17] 

Sale of the leasehold of the Newcastle property as well as “all the household furniture, goods, chattels and effects” alludes to financial difficulties for Audet in November 1872. [18]   Reappearing in Maitland a year later, Audet builds a new gallery, situated opposite the Maitland Mercury office.

NEW BUILDING-Mr Jacob Audet, photographer, who some years ago carried on business in West Maitland, is at present engaged in erecting a wooden building in High-street, between Mr G Moore's and Mrs McLaughlin's, which he purposes occupying as a portrait gallery. It says something for Mr Audet's pluck and enterprise in entering the lists in competition with the establishments of a similar kind already in Maitland. There are at present four photographers in businesses in the town. [19]
The other photographers operating at this time would be Curtis, Hart, Kline and Moss.

The flood of January of 1874 provides some business for Audet, with '24 interesting views taken during the height of the flood' available as souvenirs. [20] Audet later states that his are “genuine views of the late flood (not 1870)” implying that other photographers in town had misled the public with ‘old’ views. [21]

Audet’s final advertisement in the Maitland Mercury is on 28 May 1874 and by December of that year his Newcastle studio in Hunter Street appears in the Newcastle Chronicle. [22] Reports of the insolvency court in October 1874 indicate financial difficulties. [23] By August 1876 Audet is residing in Sydney.

Audet continues business in Sydney until his death in 1901.