Summary

This photograph depicts a group of eight men, three women and a youth posing on beds on the verandah of a well-built structure. The building is most likely on the corner of St. George Street and Normanton Street in Georgetown, North Queensland. One man reclines on a canvas stretcher while three men, a woman and the youth stand to the rear of a cast-iron bed. Two men are semi-reclined on the bed behind two men and two women seated along it at front. This is most likely a private residence but it is possible that this is a care facility or sanatorium as the group is posed on what appears to be a hospital bed, on wheels and castors, and there is a pair of crutches under the canvas stretcher bed upon which one man reclines. The building, only partly visible, has weatherboard walls with a neat timber door-frame. The verandah, which wraps around, has a timber floor, milled timber and corrugated-iron roof, and decorative balustrades. Also notable is the electric light which hangs from the verandah roof. The eight men are all well-dressed in long-sleeved shirts and ties. One man in back row is wearing a suit, bow-tie, fob-chain, and hat, while two men are wearing waistcoats. The man seated on the bed to the left wears slippers without socks. The youth is less formally dressed, wearing a felt hat and buttoned-up checked shirt. The three women all have their hair neatly swept up and are wearing lacy, light-coloured dresses or skirts and blouses with belts. In the background to the left another building is visible, also of neat and solid construction with tongue-and-groove timber walls, balustrades, and a corrugated-iron roof with vent at top. A partially obscured sign hangs on this building which reads "Bank of New South Wales." The top of a building, possible a church steeple, can be seen behind the bank building.

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.