Lower Queen Street, outside the Railway Station
ca.1885 (unknown photographer) - 2024
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Historical image: Foot of Queen Street (At the side entrance to the Railway Station). Original print donated by Bill Main, 1974. Ref: 1/2-51347-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
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This 1880s scene outside the old Auckland Railway Station at the foot of Queen Street (at left, behind the wall) is an unusually early example of what we would now term street photography. Alas, we will never know the exact nature of the transaction taking place between the gent and the two other figures—who I take to be hand-cart men—while the railway porter waits.
Below, two details from the 1880s photograph (click on images for larger versions).
