Charles Dare Horses on the 1892 Armitage-Herschell Carousel - Geelong Waterfront Esplanade

            One of the most delightful tourist attractions along the Geelong's Waterfront Esplanade is the beautifully restored 1892  portable steam driven, hand-carved wooden carousel.

Constructed around 1892, the Armitage-Herschell portable steam driven, hand-carved wooden carousel one of only 200 in operation around the world. It features thirty six Charles Dare horses (twenty-four of which are original) and two dragon chariots (both faithful replicas).  The horses still have their original real horse hair tails!  There are forty eight original artworks adorning the carousel's boards, inspired by the legend of King Arthur.  Each painting has a Holy Grail, and the artist's initials JMC hidden within it.  

The carousel can be traced back to the Mordialloc Pier where it operated after the Great War through until the 1950s.  It was purchased by the Steampacket Place Development Board in 1996 and painstakingly restored.   Each horse alone took over three hundred hours to restore as forty layers of paint were stripped back to reveal the brilliant original colours.  All in all the restoration took three years and cost thirty million dollars to achieve.  The time, effort and money has been well invested I think, as you cannot help but smile when you see the carousel in action; with or without playful children on board.

The Allan Herschell Company Incorporated was established in 1873 as a general engineering shop.  Later it became the North Tonawanda Engine and Machine Company.  In 1876 the name of the company was changed to the Armitage-Herschell Company.  The first carousel built by the company was in 1883.  By 1891 over one hundred carousels had been manufactured. Despite the commercial success, poor investments saw the company placed in receivership in 1899. Consequently, Allan Herschell and his brother-in-law, Edward Spillman, bought the ailing company and formed a new firm called the Herschell-Spillman Company. They went on to become the largest carousel manufactures in America.

It is believed that the horses were hand-carved by the American master carver, Charles Dare, which makes them very rare.

I spent a delightful, if rainy, Saturday with the Famous Flickr Five+ Group along the Geelong Waterfront where we walked from central Geelong Esplanade to the Art Deco Eastern Beach.

Geelong is a city southwest of Melbourne, Australia. Lining its bay, The Waterfront Esplanade has a Nineteenth Century American carousel, a curved art deco boardwalk and sea bath at Eastern Beach, and scattered along the waterfront are more than one hundred bollards painted as colourful sculptures chronicling city history by artist Jan Mitchell. The Geelong Botanic Gardens lie at the eastern end of the bay. The central National Wool Museum hosts changing exhibitions, concerts and entertainments.

Taken in: Australia / Victoria / Geelong (show map)

Taken on: November 2, 2019

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Sets appears in: • Victoriana • The 1892 Armitage-Herschell Carousel

Groups appears in: • Australian Images • Carousels more » • Melbourne and Beyond • Historic Australia 1788-1901 • australian flickr {2 pictures a day} • Trove: Australia in Pictures • Victoria, Australia • victoria australia • Your Carousel Shots • My Australia • Australia-down-under • The Best of Australia and New Zealand • Bellarine Peninsula Gallery • ! F l i c k r | S t y l e ! • School of Digital Photography • 1892 • Objects & Art • Group for all users of FLICKR - No 30/60 Groups Limit • Famous Flickr Five+ • FLICKR INTERNATIONAL - No 30/60 Groups Limit • Photo-Phactory • Flickr Australia Unlimited (No 30/60 restriction) « less

Camera: Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS, f/4.0, 1/100 sec, 11.6mm, ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS
Aperture:	f/4.0
Exposure Time:	0.01 sec (1/100)
Focal Length:	11.6mm
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Auto, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
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