POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Wunderlich Collection and Archive

Object No. A7437

While 1888 is best remembered as Australia's Centenary it was also an important date for the new company formed by Ernest and Alfred Wunderlich. This was the year they not only patented their new zinc ceiling process but also constructed the ornate ceiling of the Sydney Town Hall, the first of its kind Australia. Founded in 1887 by the end of the century demand for Wunderlich's lightweight ceilings and roofs had grown to the point where they were used in preference to plaster in practically every major museum, church, hospital, town hall, school, railway station across Australia. This was in addition to the many businesses and private houses that used their product to line their ceilings and roofs. The durability of these zinc embossed ceilings is such that even today, over 100 years later, many can still be found in building across Australia and New Zealand. By 1895 Wunderlich had completed the installation of new machinery at its Redfern Plant, in Sydney, and their being able to increase output is probably one of the main reasons they began printing catalogues. These catalogues were initially targeted at regional areas and served as both a resume of the work they had performed and a list of styles and methods of installation provided by the company. They also served another purpose which was to try to expand Wunderlich's business into more remote areas as … "the success of our work has in every Colony of the Australasian Group, has naturally stimulated the parasitic, not to say piratic, habit in the incompetent mimic and the cheap copyist." While product lines were changed or expanded and new processes were introduced the catalogues remained essentially the same up until the 1920s. In the earlier brochures there is more information about the work already executed by Wunderlich and almost all included some kind of price list. The 1895 brochure even includes photographs of some of their more ornate interiors like the Board Room at City Bank, Centennial Hall, St. James Church, Holdsworth, and McPherson & Co's showrooms in Sydney. Geoff Barker, Curatorial, January 2010