Regular readers would know that your editor is a huge fan of the National Library of Australia's online archive Trove, which is a remarkable public treasure. Every month, the massive repository of digitised content grows as new newspapers, photographs, maps, diaries and letters are scanned and catalogued... accessible free to anyone from an internet-connected device.

One spectacular collection among many to be found on Trove is the Fairfax archive of glass plate negatives, some 18,000 high-quality news photographs taken throughout NSW between 1890 and 1984. Among them, I stumbled across the images on this page, which are aerial photographs of Orange taken nearly a century ago in 1932. The photos were taken by a 'Daily Telegraph' photographer from an Adastra Airways plane specially chartered for the occasion. The photos featured in a special newspaper supplement titled 'Orange — The Queen City of the West'. The occasion was 'Back to Orange Week' held in December 1932.

Summer Street and Robertson Park, with Blackman's Swamp Creek still flowing in an open channel.

Orange at the time had a population of just over 10,000 and was a booming agricultural district with extensive grazing interests and more than 350 orchardists. Indeed, orchards are visible on the close outskirts of Orange at this time, which did not extend past Woodward Street to the west.

The quality of these old glass plates is such that you can even zoom in and see details, such as people riding bicycles and driving horse-drawn vehicles, along with more "modern" motor vehicles. You can see people who appear to be gardening in their yards, advertising signs, and more. Below we have cropped a few interesting details, but it is worth taking a look for yourself if you have an interest in such things.

All photographs are from the Fairfax archive of glass plate negatives, National Library of Australia.