Summary

This photograph depicts two men and three young boys posing outside a corrugated-iron dwelling with a seven-strong goat team harnessed to a small goat cart. One man leans against a water tank while the other stands beside the cart. Two of the boys stand at the head of the goat team while the third sits in the cart holding the reins. The man leaning against the tank wears a felt hat, light-coloured shirt with sleeves rolled up, and trousers. The man with the cart wears a light-coloured long-sleeved shirt with small necktie, a waistcoat perhaps made of velvet, trousers, boots, and a fob chain on his waistcoat. His right hand is bandaged. The boys all wear light-coloured hats and light-coloured long-sleeved shirts with to-the-knee shorts and are barefooted. The dwelling behind them appears to be fairly substantial and consists of several connected structures, all made of corrugated-iron. On the largest structure, to the right, can be seen windows, a wooden door, and a system of pipes connected to the water tank. This building is connected by a covered walkway to a smaller one, on left, while in the background can be seen another corrugated-iron roof. In the area behind the walkway are roughly made benches, a shallow basin, large can, log stump, straw broom, and a teacup. A chicken is near the house corner. On the cart is a hooped wooden barrel. This photograph was taken in North Queensland but the exact location is unknown.

Goats were both a blessing and a curse in North Queensland. Though they would cause destruction and were difficult to control, they were an important - albeit less-favoured - source of milk and meat for many families and communities, and also provided much entertainment for children in the form of billy-goat carts and racing.

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.