Pages from Newcastle in the 1960s

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Above left: Liz was photographed at Maitland Courthouse by a press colleague while covering the gruesome “double-headless murders” that rocked the Hunter in 1960 (see page 188). Right: Ron Morrison captures a self-portrait while taking an “arty” reflection shot in the chrome headlamp of a fire engine in Newcastle. Below left: A picturegram machine, used in pre-digital days to transmit photographs via telephone lines. Right: The form once required when sending picturegrams using the facilities of Australian post offices. When Ron and Liz Morrison needed to transmit images to distant newspaper customers they usually used the picturegram machines provided by the Australian Post Office. Bigger newspapers had their own picturegram vans which they would send to locations where important news stories were breaking. In order to have an acceptable quality print available to “gram” Ron and Liz often used Polaroid film in addition to their more conventional photomedia. The instant developing capability of the Polaroid meant an image from a major story could be at the newspaper customer’s office in a remarkably short time. The photograph at the top of the page opposite was taken by Ron with Polaroid film, specifically to enter the 1962 National Polaroid Photography Contest. One of the features of the contest was that the winning picture was to be shown on the Tommy Hanlon television show, It Could be You. Ron said he used a zoom lens to obtain a big, bold image with enough contrast to look good on television. The vegemite-loving children were Newcastle youngsters David and Elizabeth Anderson. The prize was £100 cash, and the photograph at the bottom of the page shows Ron collecting the prize from Greenson Photographics, the Melbourne-based agents for Polaroid products. 6
Ron’s prize-winning shot of David and Elizabeth Anderson (above) and Ron collecting his prize (below). 7
Page 1 and 2: Newcastle in the 1960s As photograp
Page 3 and 4: Newcastle in the 1960s As photograp
Page 5: Ron in the dark-room of The Maitlan
Page 9 and 10: Two views of Newcastle, looking eas
Page 11 and 12: Looking south along Bolton Street,
Page 13 and 14: Looking across Hunter Street toward
Page 15 and 16: Two views of the King Street Terrac

Pages from Newcastle in the 1960s

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