John Henry Harvey was born in Melbourne in 1855. He became an architect and worked for 38 years with the Public Works Department of Victoria. He was a Fellow of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects, Fellow of the the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and Honorary Editor of the Journal of the R.V.I.A for many years. He died at his home in East Melbourne in 1938 aged 83. (SLV)
Harvey travelled extensively in Australia and captured many great images, particularly of East Melbourne and Victoria.
After his death Harvey's landlady, Miss A.M. Coath, donated his collection of photographs to the State Library of Victoria. They are now catalogued in over 3,500 items, many of which contain multiple images. The glass lantern slides are of particularly high quality.