A gas balloon similar to Vaniman’s on display three years earlier at the Royal Agricultural Showground,1901. The flags and inclination of the balloon indicate it was a blustery day.Credit:State Library NSW
Vaniman had a passion for taking photographs from unusual vantage points such as ship’s masts and balloons. His antics atop a pole in Katoomba Park in 1903 earned him the nickname “the acrobatic photographer”. When his trusty pole didn’t give him the height necessary to photograph the entire city of Sydney in a single sweep,he imported a balloon from America and spent months tethered 180 metres above North Sydney,experimenting with the new perspective.
Australia’s clear light was a bonus to photographers. Vaniman commented on it in an interview just before he left Sydney:“You have a splendid light ... and beautiful clouds:no question about that. Especially up country the atmosphere is beautifully clear,and in Bathurst I got one of the most beautiful skies I have ever met.”
North Sydney Council historian Ian Hoskins said it was a superb panorama with nothing else from the period to compare with it. The image is on display at the Don Bank Museum in Napier Street,North Sydney.
“North Sydney was used as a platform by artists and then photographers as a platform to depict the harbour and the city opposite,” he said.
Melvin Vaniman and Kiddo,the first cat to (reluctantly) attempt an Atlantic crossing by airship.Credit:Smithsonian
“What is so special about this is that it captures a part of Sydney in the absolute moment of its boom with about 20,000 people and on its way in a decade or two to become 40,000 people. That was all because of the ferry service. The thing that is so noticeable is that there is no bridge. Milsons Point (9) on the photo is where the Sydney Harbour Bridge now goes across to Dawes Point (10).”
After a failed attempt to be first to cross the Atlantic in an airship (which Vaniman and his cat survived),he built a second dirigible in 1911 at the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company in Akron,Ohio. “The Akron” was filled with 300 cubic metres of hydrogen,had two decks,with cabins above,and dining room,saloon,kitchen and promenade below.
Vaniman’s gas balloon was tethered to the now demolished Crows Nest House,which was owned by Sir John Hay.Credit:North Sydney Council
The airship left its hangar at Atlantic City on July 2,1912 and held its course for Brigantine Beach,rising steadily. After just 15 minutes,at a height of 750 metres,the Akron exploded. When the car plunged into a swamp,Vaniman and his crew of four were killed.
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