George Rose

George Rose, founder of the Rose Stereograph Company, grew up in Clunes, Victoria, son of a bootmaker. Settling in Prahran, he became a keen photographer, as was his wife from 1887, Elizabeth Wickham. In about 1890 he gave up the family trade of bootmaking, moved to Armadale, and began producing stereographs - pairs of pictures of the same scene, usually taken with a camera with two lenses so that, when viewed through a special viewer, they appear three-dimensional. He travelled broadly both in Australia and overseas, producing hundreds of stereographs of Egypt, England, Europe, Japan and China as well as Australian scenery, parades and important occasions. The State Library of Victoria holds more than 400 of his stereographs alone. After the First World War he turned to producing photographic views for postcards. By now the Roses' two sons were working in the business, conducted in a two storey factory at the rear of 17 Auburn Grove (both house and factory still stand). The eldest son, Herbert, was more interested in painting than photography, although he helped the family survive the Depression by painting birthday cards for the company. Walter managed the company's finances. In 1931 George sold the company to Walter, who developed a huge range of postcards of Melbourne suburbs and country towns for tourist trade. When Walter died in 1940, aged 51, he bequeathed the company to his two employees, the photographers Herbert Cutts and Edward Gilbert. Gilbert soon left the company, but Cutts ran the business until he died in 1962; his wife carried it on until the company ceased trading in the 1970s. George Rose: Australia's master stereographer by Ron Blum was published in 2008.