Frederick Coldrey

"[8] The procedure involved making an underexposed collodion negative, giving the added advantage for portraiture of a shorter exposure time, then transferring it from the original glass support to black oilcloth, leather or even wood, the result being an unbreakable photograph.

Variations on the pannotype appear independently as a less fragile backing material was sought, and each practitioner used their own collodion recipe with good adhesion to its unusual substrate being the aim, so whether Fenton and Coldrey's application to leather was sufficiently unique to justify a patent is not recorded beyond their applying for one,[9] and only days after The Age announcement of their invention, The Mount Alexander Mail reported on an announcement of photographs on leather being invented by a Mr Smith in Tain, Scotland.

[10] Other photographers took up its use, several in Sydney including Lawson Insley (1858), Alfred Winter (1859), and Henry Jones (1860); Frederick Frith in Melbourne (1861), G. M. Challinor in Hobart (1861), and Thomas Ham, Brisbane (1862).

[3] In Ballarat Coldrey was active in petitioning, with others, in support of nominations for the Municipal Council,[11][12] and in calling for removal of some serving councillors,[13] sporadic involvement in politics at a local level that he was to continue.

[31][32][33] He acted as auditor for Mount Alexandershire Co., Boatswain's Gully mine,[34] and he took interest in municipal affairs[35] and the Independent Order of Oddfellows benevolent society,[36][37] to which he was appointed guardian in 1887.

At 20mm to 25mm wide and 30mm high, like the carte de visite they were exposed in a multi-lens camera but directly on a single metal photographic plate that was then cut.

Their local manifestation presented competition for Coldrey and he raised futile objection at a borough council meeting,[43] but capitulated and advertised in Melbourne for one of the Gem cameras for his own studio.