Engineer's eye offers community a view of Liverpool’s past

For more than two decades, Liverpool City Council engineer Ray Hely photographed and filmed the area as it evolved and now Liverpool Regional Museum has collected the best of his work in a free exhibition.

Ray Hely: An Engineer’s Eye 1971-1993, opens at Liverpool Regional Museum on Tuesday 4 August 2020.

“This wonderful exhibition features images of many Liverpool landmarks, pictured in ways we might never have seen or barely remember,” Liverpool Mayor Wendy Waller said.

“Some are still with us today, although they may have changed, while others have given way to new developments.

“The exhibition is not just about buildings and bridges, it’s also a record of our everyday lives, with pictures of people out and about at community events, shopping, swimming or just going about their business.

“Very little escaped Ray Hely’s lens - this is the official, the unofficial and unseen Liverpool, spanning over two decades from the 1970s into the 1990s.”

Liverpool City Council first commissioned Hely, a Senior Civil Engineer, to photograph Liverpool City Council’s 1971 celebrations, which included the Festival of Progress.

But this informal first commission soon grew into an extensive archive of thousands of photographs and kilometres of film, capturing the evolution of Liverpool and its community from 1971 – 1993.

The exhibition offers an opportunity to look back and consider Liverpool’s progress and reflect with 2020 vision through the rear lens of An Engineer's Eye.

Ray Hely: An Engineer’s Eye 1971-1993 runs from 4 August to 23 December 2020 at Liverpool Regional Museum.

Visit mylibrary.liverpool.nsw.gov.au/My-Library/liverpool-regional-museum for more information.