Francis Gale b. England, UK

Also known as:
  • Frank Gale
  • Francis Peter Gale
  • Artist (Photographer)
Portrait photographer based in Queanbeyan, NSW between 1860 and 1862, where he opened the first photographic studio in the district.
Talk | Version history | Updated Oct. 19, 2011 | Created Jan. 1, 1992
Name
Francis Gale
Also known as:
  • Frank Gale
  • Francis Peter Gale
Birth date
None
Birth place
England, UK
Death date
1892
Death place
Maclean, NSW
Gender
Male
Roles
  • Artist (Photographer)
Residence
  • England, UK
Active Period
  • 1860- 1862
Languages
  • English
Training
  • Weymouth Grammar School, England
Is Indigenous
No
Initial Record Data Source
  • The Dictionary of Australian Artists: painters, sketchers, photographers and engravers to 1870

Professional photographer, was born in England, son of Francis Gale, an excise officer, and Mary, née Hamlyn. Like his brother John, founder of the Queanbeyan Age in 1860, Frank was probably educated at Weymouth Grammar School. In December 1860, Frank Gale opened the first permanent photographic studio in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, at his brother’s newspaper premises. The following year he exhibited group photographs of Queanbeyan Aborigines in Sydney. When forwarded to the 1862 London International Exhibition, these were awarded an honourable mention. The business collapsed in 1862 and Gale advertised his camera for sale, sold up, and left the district in July. He appears to have mainly produced portrait photographs of white residents of the district, but no surviving examples are known.

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Writers:
Staff Writer
Date written:
1992
Last updated:
2011
child of
née Hamlyn Mary Gale
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
sibling of
John Gale
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
London International Exhibition
1862
Exhibition ()
London, England, UK
Recognitions
honourable mention
Award
London International Exhibition, 1862
Citations:
  • NSW Death Records : 7700/1892
  • Lea-Scarlett , E. & Robinson, T., (1986), First Light on the Limestone Plains, (Place: Canberra, ACT)
  • (September 1970), John Gale, Nineteenth century photographers in Queanbeyan, a note, (Place: Canberra and District Historical Society Journal)
  • Lea-Scarlett, E., (c.1972), 'John Gale', Australian Dictionary of Biography, (Place: ed. D. Pike, A. Shaw, M. Clark, B. Nairn, G. Serle and R. Ward, vol 4, Melbourne, Victoria)