Charles Millington Nixon

Charles Nixon (1870-1934) arrived in Western Australia in 1892. He was a prolific and influential photographer for many years, running his business from 7 William Street 1893-1934. He was commissioned by the City of Fremantle in 1929 to provide the photographs for J.K. Hitchcock's The History of Fremantle, 1929. (Dowson 2003: 12.) He also had a studio in Northam.

Nixon was in partnership with Henry Merrilees c. 1892-1902, after which he continued alone, dating the second photo (below) @ after 1902. This > first c. 1898 photo of Nixon & Merrilees studio (taken by Nixon) is obviously earlier than the second, and is courtesy of John Dowson, who published it in 2003: 13.

[[People/buildings/img/nixonwilliamst.jpg|]]

Nixon's studio at 7 William Street became the Wrightsons barbershop from 1933. It's still there, but only just. This photo shows it c. 1919.

David Hutchison writes that 'the photographer Charles Nixon had his studios [at 97-99 High St, the Bousfield building] from 1901'.

SILVER CHAIN CHILDREN'S SPORTS.
FREMANTLE OVAL
TO-MORROW. TO-MORROW.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4.
Foot Races, Novelty Races, Mystery Races.
BICYCLE RACES. GOAT RACES.
Skipping Contests, Fryingpan Contests
BABY COMPETITION. BABY COMPETITION.
Competitors photographed free at
Melba Studios, High-street, Fremantle,
or at Mr. Nixon's Studio, opposite
Town Hall.
(Daily News, Friday 3 October 1919, p. 1, advertising. The same advertisement was placed in the West Australian that day.)

Nixon may have named his studio after the famous soprano Dame Nellie Melba (1861-1931).

References and Links

The photo of Nixon (top) is from Shelley Tonkin's invaluable site. As is the photo of the situation of his studio in William Street, just across from the Town Hall.

Dowson, John 2003, Old Fremantle: Photographs 1850-1950, UWAP.

Hitchcock, J.K. 1929, The History of Fremantle, The Front Gate of Australia, 1829-1929, Fremantle City Council.

Entry in Shelley Tonkin's 'History of WA Photography' blog for Charles Nixon.

Entry in Shelley Tonkin's 'History of WA Photography' blog for Nixon & Merrilees.

Freotopia

This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 11 February, 2016 and hosted at freotopia.org/people/nixon.html (it was last updated on 14 March, 2024), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.