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Dug out canoe and boys diving for coins.

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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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66 x 51 mm.

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79 x 54 mm.

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Landscape format.

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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.

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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.

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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').

Scope and Contents 212 x 159 mm. View of the exterior of the building from the north west, ‘As a picture, however, the palm must be given to the view from the hill above, in which the Lake, the little islet opposite the Government Factory, the Pettah and the Fort of Colombo form the really beautiful background; a massive group of palms to the left of the foreground fulfilling the exigency of all truly oriental scenes. By way of violent contrast we suppose and to commemorate the primitive modes of conveyance...

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140 x 57 mm colour print.

Scope and Contents From the Fonds: A collection of glass lantern slides, 82 x 82 mm, mostly of Samoa, taken by John Snowden Smithson. Smithson visited Samoa on holiday and presumably the remaining slides (5 of them unidentified, 13 of Yosemite National Park and 10 of Ceylon), together with a map, date from the same period. None of the slides are captioned, but the first 91 slides have numbers on their left hand corners, running from 20/10 to 30/9, with a few gaps, and presumably represent the sequence in which the...

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Half-plate. New offices for Public Works Department in course of erection. Hoods of bullock carts are of dead palm leaves. Building is of red brick, but mostly hidden by screens of plaited cocoanut [i.e. coconut] leaves to keep rain off new brick work. (Fisher). [Wooden scaffolding all round building].

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Showing tower with lantern top. (Clock tower white. Water buffalos a dirty gray colour). (Fisher).

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Showing tower with lantern top. (Clock tower white. Water buffalos a dirty gray colour). (Fisher).

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206 x 155 mm. View looking east from Galle Face towards the narrow northern portion of the Island, with the main part of the lake beyond. The commandants’ quarters (exact location unidentified, but presumably near the old Parade Ground) are a set of two large bungalows connected by a narrow wing in which the main entrance is set.

Scope and Contents 258 x 208 mm. View looking seawards along the breakwater and showing the ‘Titan’ crane lowering concrete onto the berm beside the breakwater. An apron 24 feet wide composed of 10 bags of concrete was constructed to protect the top of the sea berm from disturbance. This work was completed between 11th February and 2nd April 1884, during which time 712 bags were deposited. The ‘Titan’ was a huge gantry crane which moved along two sets of track set into the breakwater. It was capable of...

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258 x 207 mm. View from near the root of the breakwater looking towards the warehouses, coaling sheds, etc at the base. The ‘Titan’ crane can also be seen at the base.

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Copy of a diary by Oppenheim describing the retreat of the army to Singapore, the city's surrender and his escape initially by sail boat to Sumatra, Sri Lanka and then Bombay. The diary is anonymous, but Mortimer Hay, who also participated in the escape, has identified its author as Oppeneheim, based upon internal evidence and comparisons of its manuscript with Oppenheim's handwriting. For Hay's account see RCMS 103/12/4.

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This is a copy of a diary describing Hay’s active service during the Malayan campaign, beginning with his joining the battery in mid-Dec. 1941. He saw action at Kuala Selangor and during the siege of Singapore. After its surrender, he escaped by ship on 16 Feb., reaching Sumatra on 21 Feb. and then Sri Lanka on 1 Mar. 1942. See RCMS 103/12/3 for another account of the same escape written by H.R. Oppenheim (21 sheets).

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140 x 110 mm black and white photograph of the Smedleys with Russian Ambassador, Mr Nishanov, presumably during a farewell party.

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270x214mm.

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196 x 144 mm. View from the sea shore looking east towards the flagstaff and the old light house (later, with the top two stories demolished, the signaller’s residence). In the foreground, on the Galle Buck, parties of convicts can be seen at work preparing the site of the future stone yard built to supply the Colombo Breakwaters works (see Y303C). This site later became the Central Timber Depot of the Forestry Department.

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194 x 143 mm. A similar view to Y303B/41, but looking slightly more to the south (i.e. right hand side) and showing the top of lighthouse and clock tower (see Y303B/32) jutting out above the roof tops.