Summary

This photograph depicts two men, standing in front of a row of canvas tents in a bush setting in North Queensland. The men are both wearing light-coloured collared button-down shirts with dark trousers and pith helmets. This is most likely a surveyor's camp, perhaps employed by a mining company. The four tents have been set up next to each other and the tent on the far left has a rough table and chairs, most likely built on-site. This tent was most likely multi-purpose and used for dining as well as mapping and charting. The remaining three tents have been set up with extra pieces of canvas over the top, which would help keep some of the heat or inclement weather out. Equipment and beds can been seen inside these tents so these are most likely where the men slept.

This particular image includes a white frame border added by the photographer, which has been left intact. The photographs in this collection were taken by the Reverend Frederic Charles Hall (1878-1926) during the period 1902-1909 when he was the Anglican Curate appointed to Georgetown in North Queensland. Hall's foremost hobby was photography. He used both a half-plate camera with tripod made by J. Lancaster & Son, Birmingham and a quarter-plate Austral No. 3 made by the Australian company, Baker & Rouse. Glass negatives from Ilford and Austral were used; developing was done by the photographer himself and printing by exposure to sunlight.