Summary

This photograph depicts a man and woman with their three small children posing outside a small weatherboard structure adjacent to a fenced yard. The man is seated on his haunches and is holding the arm of a toddler who stands beside him. Behind the toddler sits the woman and, on either side of this trio, sit two young children, both holding kittens. A cat sits behind the young boy on right of photograph. The neatly-moustachioed man wears a what is believed to be a Queensland Police country uniform, consisting of a button-up serge jacket with a standing collar, epaulettes, buttoned pockets, and lightweight trousers. The woman has her hair swept up in a bun and wears a light-coloured skirt with a light-coloured striped blouse. The barefoot toddler in the centre wears a dark-coloured long-sleeved smock, as does the young girl on the left who also wears shoes, a cap, and a ribbon in her hair. The young boy on the right wears shoes and socks, a cap, dark-coloured shorts, a light-coloured jacket, and light-coloured shirt. The small building behind them is built of weatherboards atop short stumps with ant-caps and, at both front and rear, has a set of four steps leading up to a door. There is one sash window visible. The yard is fenced in with timber rails and chicken wire. Various items are stored under the building. The building could be either a small home or police station.

Early twentieth century houses in North Queensland mining towns frequently consisted of two rooms, often with balustraded verandahs front and back, and outbuildings such as kitchen, bathroom and toilet. Due to the high cost of transport and labour, the houses were commonly constructed by erecting a timber frame with belt-rails and braces, set upon timber stumps, with corrugated-iron gabled roofs, and cladding of corrugated-iron and perhaps timber. These simple constructions were often extended and added to over time.

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.