Dreier Photographic Collection

One of the East Gippsland Historical Society significant photographic collections is the Dreier Photographic Collection.

The collection consists of photographs, negatives and documents that cover a period of more than 50 years. There are hundreds of images of named people and places in the Gippsland region and captures early 20th century life.

The three Dreier siblings, Albert, Herman (known as Jack) and Annie, and became interested in photography and collecting photographs.

They recorded scenes and activities around the family farming property and local district, and also on their trips by bicycle and train to visit relatives in the Maffra and Sale areas. In addition they bought photographs from professional photographers, and must have exchanged images with correspondents both within Australia and overseas.

They meticulously recorded on the reverse of the images in pencil details such as date, names and place, and often even the weather conditions and the camera setting.

Multiple copies of the photographs taken by the Dreier siblings were always printed so that all three had their own collection, and even the purchased images were often bought in triplicate.

Albert Dreier died in 1956 and in his will provided that his photograph collection was to go to the State Library of Victoria.

Jack continued to take photographs until the early 1970s, although some of the last ones are not of the best quality. He died in February 1976 leaving everything to his sister Annie, she died in the Bairnsdale Hospital on 26 November 1977.

The remaining photographs (and other memorabilia) were gathered up by her executors and the Gippsland ones put aside. A clearing sale was held on the property in 1978 at which albums containing non-Gippsland photographs were sold along with a large pile of loose postcard photographs. The executors decided to hand over a collection of local items that they thought were of relevance to the East Gippsland Historical Society.

This now forms a large part of the image collection at the museum. The remaining part of the collection was sold privately by the executors.

Annie and Albert Dreier

A camera used by Herman (Jack) Dreier