Mandurama Collection

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The Mandurama Collection is a collection of 3,444 photographs from between 1865 and 1935, they were taken by photographer Evan Lumme.^[1]

The collection of photographs were taken in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, most are of the residents and village of Mandurama, but there are images as far west as Boorowa and many which are of unknown areas. In general however the images are primarily of the residents and areas of, Mandurama, Lyndhurst, Carcoar and some are from Cowra, Boorowa, Burnt Yards, Garland, Gallymont, Neville, Shaw, Blayney and Orange.

The photographs are considered an invaluable resource for seeing Country Australia as it was in the Victoria era, and the post-federation era. Few collections of this size survive to this day, and the reason for the survival of the Mandurama Collection is that they were forgotten about after the death of Lumme. In the 1970s the negatives were 'rediscovered' in an abandoned house in the Mandurama area.

After their rediscovery the collection was given to the National Library of Australia, and since then has made a short return to its home of Mandurama, during the towns 125^th anniversary celebrations. The photos were commemorated in a book "Faces of Mandurama" written by John Thompson in 1997.