He also patented numerous inventions relating to various aspects of photography, his best-known innovation being the woodburytype photomechanical process.

[3] The discovery of rich goldfields in Australia in 1851 drew young men from the United Kingdom and elsewhere to try their luck on the diggings.

He found a job as a wagon driver taking supplies to the diggings and sleeping by the road at night with a bag of oats as a pillow.

During this time he lived in a tent city established on the south bank of the Yarra River, rental accommodation being scarce and expensive.

The quality of his work was recognised and he received a medal for “9 views of Melbourne, taken by the collodion process on glass” at the Victorian Exhibition in 1854.

He and another young man named Spencer then travelled to the goldfields of the north-east to see if they could earn a living from making portraits of the miners.

[15][b] During most of 1858 Woodbury & Page photographed in Central and East Java, producing large views of the ruined temples near Surakarta, amongst other subjects, before 1 September of that year.

[15] Woodbury & Page sold photographs of topographical views, temples and portraits of high ranking Dutch officials and members of Indonesian aristocracy.

They had a large collection of photos of “native type,” craftsmen, servants, dancers, musicians and food vendors.

[15] In late January or early February 1863, Woodbury left Java to return to England, because of ill health.

[16][20][21][e] Between 1864 and 1885 Woodbury took out more than 30 patents in Britain and abroad for inventions relating to balloon photography, transparencies, sensitised films and improvements in optical lanterns and stereoscopy.

He was buried at Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington, close to London, where his family memorial stands to this day.