Summary

This photograph depicts a group of two men, two women, two boys, and a little girl sitting or reclining on a large rock formation while on a bush picnic. The well-dressed group are relaxed and smiling for the camera. One man wears a light-coloured lightweight suit and dark shoes. The woman near him wears a lacy, light-coloured blouse with a brooch on the high collar, a long skirt with horizontal pleats, and holds what appears to be some foliage in her hands. She is looking at a little girl seated at her feet who wears a light-coloured long-sleeved smock. At right of these three a woman is recumbent upon the rock. She wears a light-coloured long-sleeved blouse, a light-coloured long skirt, and has a dark-coloured broad-brimmed hat at her side. Beside her is a man, half-reclined, wearing a light-coloured shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a short, light-coloured tie with tie-pin, trousers, and boots. He is holding what appears to be a small square of crumpled paper in one hand. Beside him are three hats - a brimmed felt hat, a light-coloured pith helmet, and a straw boater. Perched higher on the rocks above this group are two barefooted boys. The older boy has a light-coloured long-sleeved shirt with breeches and braces, while the younger boy has a long-sleeved lightweight jacket and breeches with an umbrella in front of him and clothing or sacks beside him.

The rock formations are most likely somewhere in the Newcastle Range, a 150km volcanics group that runs north-south roughly 50km east of Georgetown. As Reverend Hall was appointed as Curate (and later Curate-in-Charge) of the Georgetown parish, the Newcastle Range may have served as an excellent option for day trips as it is not an unreasonable distance to travel by carriage from the townships of Georgetown, Forsayth and Mount Surprise.

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.