James Aebi was a German-Swiss photographer who migrated to Australia in the 1890s. In 1895 he introduced the half-tone photograph process to Australia while with the Electric Photo Engraving Company of Sydney. This was the beginning of colour photographic printing in Australia. Later in the same year he introduced the technology to the Northern Miner newspaper in Charters Towers and the North Queensland Herald in Townsville before becoming Head Operator of Calvert Studios in Melbourne, a position he held until the end of 1899. From 1900 to 1911 Aebi was head of the School of Photography at Melbourne Technical College, a forerunner of RMIT University, where he taught over 700 students.