All My Lifetime It Was There . . .
​1992

This exhibition of photographs originated from a National Trust Victoria funded heritage project in 1992, the first of its kind undertaken in Australia. The National Trusts intent was to probe whether existing criteria for heritage aligned with community understandings of heritage value, engaging P.L.A.C.E. (People Landscape Art Community and Education) to coordinate the project. My role in the project, as artist/photographer was to visually respond to East Ballarat as a place of significant colonial historical value. I worked in conjunction with poet Linda Blake. The original photographs were taken on a 5x4 inch view camera, printed on silver bromide paper with handwritten poems by Linda and presented to the National Trust in a large scale single edition book. Viewing the images from a distance of more than 30 years, the speed and scale of change in one of Australia's most significant colonial era urban areas is made apparent.
 
Paul Lambeth


Initially exhibited at ​the City of Ballarat Townhall in 1992, and re- exhibited at the 2023 Ballarat International Foto Biennale 2023, The Eureka Centre, Ballarat.