This is a rare view of a small camp at the mouth of the Snowy River on the western side of present day Lake Corringle. It consisted of four small huts. The later and present town site on the eastern side of the Snowy River was established by James Stirling in 1875 and his bark hut became the Marlo Hotel, the only accomodation house,  as well as the general store and post office.
The name Marlo is thought to be from the local aboriginal language meaning white clay or muddy banks.
The picture is from a photograph by the German-born botanist and photographer Carl Walter, (1831-1907). He accompanied the geodetic survey team which surveyed East Gippsland and the border between Victoria and New South Wales between 1869-1871. Most probably the four huts were the semi-permanent camp site of the survey team. His photograph was the source for a painting of the scene by Albert Cook (1836-1902), which was engraved by Samuel Calvert (1828-1913). The engraving was printed in the Illustrated Australian News 1869.
Wood engravings were first produced in Europe in the fifteenth century. During the late eighteenth century the process was re-introduced and used for inexpensive illustrated books. The nineteenth century publishing phenomena of the illustrated newspaper was made possible by use of the technique. The process allowed for the illustration and the text to be printed by a single pass through the printing press using the letterpress method. It also made it possible for several engravers or even a team to produce and work on a single illustration at the same time.
Wood Engraving.
125 x 380 mm.
Later hand colour.
Very rare.