Purchased yesterday from rural South Australia , a stereo view from a British Commonwealth neighbour, New Zealand.
Having quickly Googled with the information to hand, one of the subjects may well be Sophia Hinerangi https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2h37/hinerangi-sophia
It's a stereo-photograph, but I would love to know more about the photographer, whose signature I am reading as possibly Josiah Martin, from Auckland.
I have sent a reference request to the National Library of New Zealand today. IMG_2671.jpgIMG_2672.jpg
Comments
Thanks to Brett Payne and others for their helpful, informative responses to my query..
Here is another photograph of Sophia's whare taken by Josiah Martin
http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collections-research/collections/reco...
That is an example of Josiah Martin's more usual print style.
Josiah Martin is known to have produced stereoviews of the Rotorua district. Your stereoview shows Sophia's whare at Whakarewarewa. A "whare" is a type of building used for people or a house. Sophia Hinerangi was a well known - possibly the most well known - guide in the Hot Lakes district around Rotorua, and Whakarewarewa is on the southern edge of present day Rotorua which then, as now, formed a focus for tourism to the area.
I note the number "60" in the top right corner of the stereoview, suggesting this was one of an extensive series of views. I think it highly unlikely that there was more than one J Martin photographing extensively in the Rotorua area around the 1880s, when this was probably taken. I also note that the card mount has been inscribed and signed in ink by hand, rather than in Martin's more usual blind stamp or inscription and initials in ink on the negative - resulting in white script within the body of the photograph. This may imply that it was among his earlier works, although I don't have a good understanding of how his work progressed. He was certainly active from at least the early 1880s.
Excerpts from New Zealand Photography from the 1840s to the Present, by Main & Turner:
".. one of the most important New Zealand's photographers ... he was active in a period which saw the old guard of photography gradually give way the new ... For health reasons ... [he] turned to photography in partnership with William Partington who, it is thought, was responsible for a number of Maori portraits in the 1880s. A few years later, after they had idssolved their partnership, Martin quickly established his claim for scenic work, which centred on tourist attractions within easy travelling distance from Auckland. In particular he spent a lot of time and energy on the Hot Laskes Distroct and Thermal region in the middle of the North Island."
There's a biography of Josiah Martin at
https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2m36/martin-josiah
and see also
http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/photographers/basic_search...
He was editor of Sharland's New Zealand Photographer, a full run of which was held at the National Media Museum in Bradford but which I believe has now been transferred to the Science Museum in London
Update, I have just discovered it’s almost certainly by Josiah Martin, 1843-1916.
see https://natlib.govt.nz/items?i%5Bcategory%5D=Images&i%5Bcreator....