Joseph Check arrived in Australia around 1876.

He married Jessie Fisher in 1884 and over the next 16 years, they had six daughters. The family lived in Leichhardt while Joe travelled the countryside with his horse-drawn cart.

He was much more than just a photographer. He was a real “showman”. He came to town and spent the days taking portraits of the townsfolk and then in the evening he would put on a “limelight exhibition” with moving pictures of glass-plate slides, jugglers, dancing, fire-eating and whatever other skills his assistant at the time possessed.

He would stay for a few weeks selling paintings and photos, collect the door sales from his shows and then move on to the next town. He gained a reputation as a genial man and a superb showman. The newspapers gave him good advanced publicity and he was obviously able to charm his subjects into posing for “staged” shots – a unique style not often copied at that time.

This was the era of delicate glass plates and mixing chemicals on the spot – a travelling photographer like Joseph Check was not simply sending his negatives back to Sydney for reproduction, he was setting up portable darkrooms as he went. Everything he needed was loaded onto his horse-drawn cart.

He travelled all over the NSW countryside, revisiting towns many times. He often did series on the larger construction projects or installations in a town – like a mine, a woolshed, sugar mill or meat processing plants. He utilised his Masonic contacts and often hired the local School of Arts hall for his studio and show. He also visited some Victorian towns and travelled to Tasmania.

In 1900, his wife and baby daughter died and the older girls [aged 12 to 3] travelled with him for a time, with Eva playing piano to accompany the films. For 10 years from approximately 1907 to 1917, he only did Theatrescope shows, staying only one or two nights in a town before moving on.

By 1917, most towns had their own cinema and a travelling Theatrescope became less relevant. All his girls were married and he returned to taking photographs and staying longer in each town to set up a studio. He passed away in Gunning NSW in 1936 aged 80 with many newspapers published tributes, eulogising his talent and geniality.