Donated photographs give a unique view of Sydney in the 1930s and 40s

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At the age of 17 Percy 'Sam' James Bryant traded a piece of furniture which he'd built for his very first camera. That simple swap in 1923 sent Bryant on a decades-long photographic journey. Now, almost 100 years later, a huge collection of Bryant's images have been donated to the City of Sydney Archives.

As an amateur photographer, Bryant took hundreds of photos in and around Sydney, from happy snaps on Bondi beach, to public events and fascinating cityscapes.

"He never thought they were any good, they were just photographs," says Bryant's grandson, Chris Lloyd. But as a historical record, these photos give us a unique insight into the life of a working family in Sydney at a time of huge societal change.

Bryant's life was tough in a way that was common in the early 1900s. "He never knew or met his father and his mother died when we has very young of TB, leaving him and three other children," said Lloyd. "He was the eldest and he endevoured to fund those children and kept them alive."

He was never educated past the age of 12, and made ends meet by growing vegetables, labouring and bartering pieces of furniture he made.

Bryant got a job wiring the lights on the Sydney Harbour Bridge which was being built at the time. He would smuggle his camera onto the worksite and from the top of the arch he captured incredible photos of a growing city. "He loved taking photos of the harbour and the bridge. The bridge was for him one of those iconic things about how Sydney and Australia grew."

"I don't think his story is particularly remarkable or unremarkable," said Chris Lloyd. "He's just typical of the unrealised story of working dogs in this world, the people who made Sydney really."

His photographs passed to his grandson, Chris Lloyd, who donated a collection of slides and negatives to the City of Sydney Archives. "He did see public service as far more important than private," said Lloyd. "So this would be an enormous piece of pride for him, that they went to an institution that was a public institution."

The whole Percy James Bryant collection is available to view online, along with over 1 million other items, in the City of Sydney Archives.