Going back in time with a master of photography – Walter Woodbury's 1856(?) Panorama from Parliament
Walter Woodbury came to Melbourne as a young boy, hoping to strike it rich on the gold fields. Unfortunately, he soon discovered that some people were getting very rich and most were not. Fortunately for us, he decided to take on work at the public works department and documented much of Melbourne using the new collodion coated glass plate technique which had been invented by Fredrick Scott Archer, the English inventor of the first practical photographic process by which more than one copy of a picture could be made. Wood bury's first panorama of Melbourne is though to be captured from the tower of the gasworks chimney in 1855. This was a tremendously difficult task and he had one opportunity to get to the top of the tower as an observation room had been erected to house a celebratory party for the opening. A steam engine hoisted dignitaries to the top in a cradle and Woodbury availed himself of this to haul up all his gear. He required not only his camera and a tripod, but also glass plates which had been coated with a collodion solution then dried. Photographers had to carry a tent to develop their plates in after exposure to “fix” the images using a number of chemicals. The plates were first sensitised by dipping in silver nitrate solution, then exposed in the camera while wet, and fixed immediately afterwards.http://latrobejournal.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-65/latrobe-65-028.html
This panorama of Melbourne from the roof of parliament is thought to have been captured in 1856. The corner of Bourke and Spring st where the Imperial Hotel now stands, shows a vacant lot at that time. Nobel's Circus stood there in1 852, then Salle de Vallentino unitl 1856, then retail stores until 1858 and Imperial Hotel from 1862. The site shows evidence of a circular area where the Salle stood (Image H4976 State Library of Victoria, shortly before demolition in 1856)
As Woodbury left for Java in 1857, this indicates that the panorama from Parlament was captured in 1856 or early 1857.
https://www.hiddenmelbourne.com.au/time-travel/1856-woodbury-from-parliament/