Queen's Album e-catalogue - Catalog - Page 42
38
Cultivating the ‘exotic’ was a powerful symbol of
19 Century colonial advancement. The Botanic
th
Gardens represented an expression of this agenda
writ large, more so when it became the site of the
1879 Sydney International Exhibition building,
the Garden Palace. As the grand, bold structures
of Victorian-era Sydney juxtaposed the Garden’s
curated wilderness, ordinary people and even
the Queen herself, could take reassurance that
the path of progress was well on its way in NSW.
Botanic Gardens
1879
Glass plate negative
NSW State Archives
NRS 4481 SH443
