Scope and Contents

94mm diameter.

Scope and Contents

94mm diameter.

Scope and Contents

272x213mm. View looking south-west across the harbour towards the Fort area from Mutwal, with a coconut plantation in the foreground and shipping at anchor in the bay. Prominent on the further side of the harbour are the Customs House (the pedimented building to the right of centre), Queen's House (behind and to the left of the Customs House), and the lighthouse and clock tower in Chatham Street.

Scope and Contents

Showing sailing vessels moored in Colombo Harbour.

Scope and Contents

Coloured postcards of Colombo and Kandy, published by The Traveller's Mart, 14 York and Baillie Streets, Colombo.

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78 x 55 mm.

Scope and Contents

270 x 214 mm. View looking along the breakwater during the South-West Monsoon, with waves breaking along its length and shipping anchored in the protected waters of the harbour beyond. For a more detailed account of the breakwater, see Y303C.

Scope and Contents This file includes a report by Smedley, ‘Maldives: annual review and valedictory’ detailing the removal of Prime Minister Zaki by President Nasir, as well as reflections on the Maldives’ economy and the British decision to withdraw forces from the staging post at Gan; a report, ‘Good-bye to Sri Lanka’ by Smedley with his opinions on the state of politics, economics, and religious and ethnic divisions; correspondence between Smedley and his successor David P. Aiers (Deputy HC Australia,...

Scope and Contents

Dug out canoe and boys diving for coins.

Scope and Contents

Dug out canoe and boys diving for coins.

Scope and Contents

67 x 49 mm.

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66 x 51 mm.

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79 x 54 mm.

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274 x 208 mm. View from the water’s edge looking across the harbour, with small boats and lighters moored in the foreground and larger craft beyond. The view appears to have been taken from beside the passenger jetty just north of the Grand Oriental Hotel.

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Landscape format.

Scope and Contents

Landscape format.

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Monochrome postcards showing views in Colombo, Kandy and the ruined cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, published by Platé Ltd.

Scope and Contents

265 x 285 mm. Close up view of Ceylonese labourers and a number of European overseers grouped around the debris on the line. Photograph taken on the same occasion as Y303B/55. As can be seen more clearly in this view, the whole of the embankment has subsided down the hill side. Photographer unknown, probably W.L.H. Skeen & Co.

Scope and Contents

215 x 273 mm. View looking along the line towards the ‘Lion’s Mouth’ at Moragalla on the Kadugannawa Incline. A group of labourers stands beneath the rock face beneath whose overhang the track runs. The line to the top of the incline was reached in December 1867. This photograph was presumably taken at around this period and at the same time as Y303B/30, 45 and 48. See also Y303A for notes on the history of the Colombo-Kandy Railway.

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211 x 277 mm. View looking up the line towards the ‘Lion’s Mouth’ from roughly the same position as Y303B/36, but taken after the blasting operations seen in Y303B/48. Much of the overhang has been destroyed by the explosion and the line beneath is covered in boulders and rubble to a depth of several feet. See also Y303B/39, 45.

Scope and Contents

260 x 108 mm. View from the hillside above the railway looking down onto the track, with station buildings in the foreground and the ‘Lion’s Mouth’ beyond. A locomotive stands near the rock, with labourers clustered beneath the overhang. The station buildings and sidings seen here were probably temporary, since the completed line had no steps between Ballany and Kadugannawa.

Scope and Contents 275 x 214 mm. View looking down the line from the station seen in Y303B/45, towards the ‘Lion’s Mouth’, which is in the process of being blasted. A large part of the overhang is falling on to the line beneath, while a great cloud of smoke from the explosion ascends skywards. The dating is problematical: if this work was done during the actual construction of the line, it would date from 1866-67; it is possible, however, that this piece of engineering was undertaken at a slightly later date,...

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The printed caption on the reverse reads: 'M.B. Uduman's Copyright No. 67. Printed in Saxony. Published by 'The Travellers Mart', 14 York and Ballie Street, Colombo'.

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Monochrome postcards, mainly of Colombo scenes, published by W.H.L. Skeen and Co.

Scope and Contents

214 x 160 mm. View looking back along the line towards the station platform, with a locomotive and carriages in the foreground: ‘A very striking view too is that in which an engine and train are photographed in the foreground, with contrasted masses of cocoanut and other foliage rising over and above these triumphs of man's art’ (p5). (Perera, ‘The Ceylon railway’, p. 68, dated in the 'sixties').