The Daguerreotype, the world's first workable photographic system, was invented in 1839 by Frenchman Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre. The Daguerreotype was used in Adelaide between the mid 1840s and mid 1850s, after which other less expensive and difficult processes replaced this method.
This example shows Henry Ayers, approximately ten years before he entered parliament. Born in England in 1821, he arrived in South Australia in 1840. He was elected to the first Legislative Council in 1857 and held several positions including chief secretary, premier, and president of the council during his 36 years as a member of parliament. Ayers died on 11 June 1897.
The daguerreotype is accompanied by a note signed by Ayers. It explains how it was taken a few years after his appointment as Secretary of the Burra Burra mines in 1845:
'This was taken by a travelling Artist at the Burra sometime in 1847 or 1848 when I was 26 or 27 years old. It was greatly esteemed by my Dear Wife as a capital likeness of H.A.'
The daguerreotype is part of a collection of papers of Sir Henry Ayers, former Premier of South Australia, and of his granddaughter, Lucy Lockett Ayers.
