Joseph Check – Photographer

Travelling photographer from 1889 to 1930s

Joseph Check was much more than just a photographer. He was a real “showman”. He came to town and spent the days taking portraits and then in the evening he would put on a “limelight exhibition” with moving pictures of glass-plate slides, jugglers, dancing, fire-eating and whatever other skills his assistant at the time possessed.

He would stay for a few weeks selling paintings and photos, collect the door sales from his shows and then move on to the next town. He gained a reputation as a genial man and a superb showman. The newspapers gave him good advanced publicity and he was obviously able to charm his subjects into posing for “staged” shots – a unique style not often copied at that time.

He travelled all over the NSW countryside, revisiting towns many times. He often did series on the larger construction projects or installations in a town – like a mine, a woolshed, sugar mill or meat processing plants. He utilised his Masonic contacts and often hired the local School of Arts hall for his studio and show. He also visited some Victorian towns and travelled to Tasmania.

MR. CHECK’S THEATRESCOPE.
Mr. Joseph Check’s American Theatrescope was shown to a large and very appreciative audience in the School of Arts Hall on Monday evening. The pictures are life-like and very steady, and afforded a fund of entertainment, amusing and instructive. The finest pictures were those connected with the San Francisco earthquake and fire, and the new Oberammergau Passion Play. Some very beautiful pictures were shown, notably the Wonderful Beehive, showing a marvellous blending of colours. There were pictures grave and gay, and some very interesting ones of the great Atlantic liner Kaiser Wilhelm II. The entertainment is splendid, and one deserving large patronage. Mr. Check will show again on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.
Northern Star July 1907

Joseph’s travelling cart

Woodburn showroom

This was the era of delicate glass plates and mixing chemicals on the spot – a travelling photographer like Joseph Check was not simply sending his negatives back to Sydney for reproduction, he was setting up portable darkrooms as he went. Everything he needed was loaded onto his horse-drawn cart.

Captain Frazer and family

Captain Frazer’s Drawing Room

Mr Dodd’s drawing room

Miss Sekyll’s private drawing room

Dr Berstein’s drawing room

Yabsley drawing room

He liked to experiment with different light, using natural light where possible and supplementing it with rudimentary flash where necessary. The composition and quality of his photographs stands testament to his skill – when the art of photography was still in its infancy.

Glen Innes Fire Brigade. Night photo

A group of aboriginal men and women performing a ceremony

“A Feat in Photography”
Matt Donoghue dancing master, Rous 1898

Broadwater audience

Children’s matinee picture show

Broadwater Ambulance men

Broadwater Sugar Mill 1895-98

Broadwater Sugar Mill

Loading sugar onto carrier

Clarifiers

Cane rollers and engines

Filter presses

Taking on hands

MORE photos of Broadwater Sugar Mill

Yabsley & Yeager Saw Mills 1895-98

Yabsley sawmill

Oakland sawmill

Oakland sawmill

MORE photos of Oakland Saw Mill

Riley’s Hill Quarry 1895

Rileys Hill quarry

Quarry tramway

30 ton crane

30 ton crane

Loading stone Woodburn

Ballina breakwall

MORE photos of Riley’s Hill

Ramornie Meatworks

Ramornie meat processing plant

Ramornie meat extract room

New Italy

New Italy settlers

Residents

Joseph was always up with the latest technology of the age and often utilised it in his shows – like the American Theatrescope and the Edison polyphone.
Sometimes not everything went to plan like this incident in Narrabri: “a rubber pipe connecting with the limelight jet became disconnected, allowing the gas to escape from the saturator. There was an explosion of the gasoline in the saturator.”

Iolanthe

City of Grafton

s.s. Kalatina

Leander at Fenwick shipyard

Rescue at Fenwick shipyard Ballina

Mystery at Oakland slip

Tunnel Glen Innes – Grafton Road

Joseph Check ‘s wagon Glen Innes – Grafton Road

Wilkinson’s Royal Mail coach

Tea break

Rous Sugar Mill

Joseph’s cart 1917

He had a home and studio in Leichhardt, Sydney with a wife and children holding the fort, but he was rarely home for very long.

The timeline for Joseph Check’s travels:

Joe Check kept travelling in a car and caravan right into his 70s. He passed away in 1936 aged 80 and is buried in Gunning NSW.

Unverified Check photos

Roder’s Blacksmith Woodburn

Yeager’s house Oaklands

Bungawalbyn school

We would be grateful to be contacted by anyone who has an original Joseph Check photo from anywhere in the country. We can organise to have it professionally digitised. This is an important collection recording many aspects of early life in the growing colony and is deserving of revival and research.

All of the above photos were sourced from private collections, northern rivers museums, Ballina Library and the Mitchell Library.
With much thanks to Dr John Davies for background information.

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