State Library and Tasmanian Archives Blog

Narrow escape from crushing fate: the A.A. Rollings Collection

The stunning A.A. Rollings Collection of 2440 photographic glass plates could easily have been crushed fill under our feet if it wasn’t for the actions of Robert Tanner. Thankfully these images of South-east Tasmanian life in the late nineteenth and early 20th centuries were saved. The story behind this donation is almost as wonderful as the images themselves.

When it comes to adding donated material to the Community Archives, things can at times move at a rather ‘measured’ pace. There are good reasons for this. The transfer of documents, photographs and other records needs to be negotiated with donors. Then, once delivered, the items need to be stabilised, safely housed, researched, accurately described, sometimes digitised, and then listed online. This ensures items are available to researchers and everyone with an interest in Tasmania’s history.

Whilst this process can be quite slow, it can be worth the wait. This is certainly the case with the recently updated A. A. Rollings collection (series NS1553) – a stunning collection of 2440 glass plates that provide a valuable pictorial record of the Sorell, Hobart, and Port Arthur areas from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The story behind this wonderful cultural gift goes right back to 1959 when donor, Robert Tanner – at the time a keen-eyed teacher at the Sorell Area School – visited the clearing auction for the house and contents of the late photographer Albert Archer “Arch” Rollings.

An extra threepence well spent

Robert’s eagle-eye spied a small shed in the backyard “that looked a bit like a backyard ‘dunny’”. The shed turned out to be a darkroom filled with thousands of glass plate negatives. After Robert enquired with the auctioneer, the darkroom’s contents were added as a single lot to the auction list (even though the auctioneer saw little value in it). On the day of the auction Robert was teaching at school so sent his friend, Len, to bid on his behalf. Len’s opening bid of ten shillings was raised to ten and threepence by a rival bidder, before Len won out with a final bid of ten and sixpence.

This extra threepence turned out to be a fortuitous investment as, when the rival bidder was queried about his interest in the glass plate negatives, “he replied that he was looking for some filling for a concrete path he was constructing!”

Following the auction, Robert relocated the glass plates to a shed at the house where he was boarding, “over the next two or three years a team of local people, headed by Sadie Kean, helped me get some printed and identified. Fortunately, there were still a number of older people about who could identify many of the people and places in the photos”.

What images did Robert save from being crushed?

Amongst the images that came so close to being lost were two photos (NS1553/1/1867 and NS1553/1/1798) of Fanny Cochrane Smith recording a statement and song (see p.81) on a wax cylinder phonograph with Horace Watson on either the 8^th or 10^th of October, 1903 at Watson’s home ‘Barton Hall’ in Sandy Bay.

Also, included in the collection are portraits, scenes of daily life in the Sorell area, and now demolished buildings such as the original St Georges Church of England (NS1553-1-245). The old council chambers, Sommerville Street, Sorell (NS1553-1-432) is still in use and is now used as a community centre.

Ensuring the images are preserved

Robert was thankfully well aware of the importance of this collection and decided to donate the glass plates to the Archives Office of Tasmania (as it was then known) in 1992. Over the next 6 years, the Archives Office made contact prints from the glass plates and an initial list was made with many of the people, scenery and subjects identified. This process was much assisted by the work Robert and his team of Sorell locals had already undertaken with this collection.

Despite the initial work on the collection, over a thousand of the images had only very general descriptions. Seeing this situation Robert got back in contact with the Tasmanian Archives and offered his services as a volunteer. Robert commenced work describing more of the A A Rollings Collection in early 2023. This re-describing project was recently completed in February 2025.

Improving item descriptions is an ongoing process. Can you help?

Many people, places and events in the collection still remain unidentified. Is there anyone you recognise? Perhaps there is a match from your family photo albums? Additional information is gratefully received and can be left in the ‘user comments’ tab on each item in the series or by emailing Community Archives.

Thank you, Robert!

The Tasmanian Archives are very grateful to Robert for his foresight with the original purchase, his generous donation of the collection, and the further generosity of giving his time as a volunteer describing the images. The team at Geilston Bay have greatly enjoyed his company, quick wit and knowledge. Whilst in his volunteering role it became apparent that Robert also had fantastic footage, photographs and stories to share about Tasmania’s wild South-west. Watch the films he recently donated to the Tasmanian Archives and hear more about his expeditions during the 1950s and 1960s here in the accompanying blog post – ‘1950s Southwest Tasmania and other expeditions’

References

1. Tanner, Robert ‘The Rollings Photos’ in Pitt Water Chronicles, Vol 2, May 2017 – SD_ILS-1230905
2. Longman, Murray, J, 1960, ‘Songs of the Tasmanian Aborigines as recorded by Mrs Fanny Cochrane Smith’ in Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, Vol.94 – eprints.utas.edu.au
3. Archives Office of Tasmania Non-State file NG1553 – AF536-1-1522
4. ABC Radio Hobart, ‘Treasure found in an outhouse in Sorell’, interview 31 March 2021 – ABC listen
5. ‘Bush Nursing Fete at Hobart’ The Mercury, 30 November 1938, p. 16 – Trove
6. Personal communication with Robert Tanner, 2025