H B Williams
Harry Brisbane Williams
(Born Brisbane, Queensland 1869. Died Sydney, NSW 1959)
Williams was an Australian photographer and amateur artist. He produced one of the most vivid private visual photographic records of Sydney Harbour in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Born in Brisbane, he later settled in Balmain and Point Piper, where daily proximity to the water shaped both his photography and his painting. He was the photographer for the Water Board of New South Wales and was one of the founders of the Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club, in Point Piper.
Williams is best known today for his photographs. Many of these photos can be seen both in the Australian National Maritime Museum, Vaughan Evans digital collection and the State Library of NSW digital collection.
Williams was a keen amateur artist - becoming friends with a number of prominent Sydney artists including Alfred Coffey. However, there is very little information available about his paintings. The only two paintings traceable so far are the “HMAS Tingira” shown on this website and “Sydney Harbour View” dated 1932. “Sydney Harbour View” is an oil painting on canvas board which overlooks Sydney Harbour showing small sailing boats, harborside homes and greenery. The two paintings show his transition from documentary photography to traditional canvas landscape painting.
Williams artistic legacy mainly lies in his photography. His work is valued for its intimate portrayal of harbour life, its technical precision, and its contribution to Australia’s visual maritime heritage.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Photographs_by_Harry_Brisbane_Williams
https://tingira.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/3.-VP-SPRING-
https://collections.sea.museum/objects/32859/the-tingira-volume-1-number-3