Caire, Nicholas John, 1837 -1918 (photographer)
Dates
- Existence: 1837 - 1918
Biography
Nicholas John Caire was born in Guernsey on February 28th 1837. His family, who were of Scottish descent, emigrated to Adelaide circa 1858. Caire pursued his interest as a photographer while working as a hairdresser (Turner 1996, p.392). He studied photography under Townsend Duryea and became a travelling photographer. Caire made a photographic tour of Gippsland in 1865 (Cato 1955, p.76-79). In 1865-68 he had a studio at 97 Hindley Street, Adelaide. In 1870 he married Louisa Master and moved his business to Scandinavian Crescent, Talbot, Victoria (Pike 1969, p.328; Davies and Stanbury 1985, p.140). From 1872-75 he was based at View Place, Sandhurst (now Bendigo), Victoria. In 1876 Caire purchased the Melbourne studio of Thomas F. Chuck. In 1880 he was active at 11 Royal Arcade, Bourke Street, Melbourne (Davies and Stanbury 1985, p.140). In the same year he was one of three official photographers to the Melbourne International Exhibition and he was later made photographer by special appointment to the government of Victoria (Turner 1996, p. 393). In 1885 Caire moved to 2 Darling Street, South Yarra. He occupied various studios in South Yarra until circa 1900 (Davies and Stanbury 1985, p.140). In 1888 he made a photographic expedition to Mt. Buffalo, organised by the Alpine Society (Turner 1996, p.392). Caire died in Armadale, Victoria on February 13th 1918 (Pike 1969, p.328-9).
Likenesses: See between p.176 and p.177 of Cato's 'The story of the camera...' (1955).
Publications:
Caire, Nicholas John (1875), 'Views of Bendigo'.
Caire, Nicholas John (c. 1877), 'Views of Victoria'.
Caire, Nicholas John (1877-79), 'Views of Victoria', General series.
Caire, Nicholas John (c. 1877), 'Views of Sydney Harbour and New South Wales'.
Caire, Nicholas John (c. 1883), 'Victorian scenery'.
Caire, Nicholas John (c. 1885), 'Buildings of Melbourne'.
Caire, Nicholas John (c. 1886), 'Gippsland scenery'.
Caire, Nicholas John (c.1888-1890), 'Gembrook scenery'.
Caire, Nicholas John (c. 1888), 'Victorian Alpine scenery'.
Sources:
Cato, Jack (1955), 'The story of the camera in Australia'. Melbourne: Institute of Australian Photographers.
Davies, Alan and Stanbury, Peter (1985), 'The mechanical eye in Australia: photography 1841-1900'. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Pike, Douglas ed. (1969), 'Australian dictionary of biography'. Volume 3: 1851-1890 A-C. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.
Turner, Jane ed. (1996), 'The dictionary of art'. Volume 5. New York: Grove.
Found in 4 Collections and/or Records:
A Prospector’s Hut, Gippland [sic], 1886
209 x 160 mm. Another good view of outback life, showing a bearded prospector sitting outside his rough wooden cabin, with a cat on his lap. The photographer has been careful to include as many characteristic tools and implements as possible in the picture, including axes, spades, saws and gold pans. Photograph by Nicholas Caire, c1886, No 2 in the series ‘Gippsland Scenery’.
Hunting Camp River Murray, 1888 - 1889
200 x 149 mm. A photograph showing a group of Aboriginal Australians (in European dress) with two hunting dogs, holding spears and standing in front of wooden cabins, with the river in the background.
Quartz Gold Stamps-Ballarat, 1888 - 1889
188 x 144 mm. A view of the quartz crushing machines, with the watersluices in the foreground which separate the crushed rock from the gold. The photograph is in fact taken in Bendigo by N.J. Caire and also occurs in Y3087/C5.
Sandhurst and Bendigo, 1875
200 x 145 mm. A more exact title for this print, which is by N.J. Claire, is ‘Bendigo Flat as seen from Wattle Hill’ and was taken around 1875. See Y3087C/34 for a note on the picture and another print of the same photograph.
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