Summary

This photograph depicts a young girl, with a dog, posing in the corner of an enclosed timber verandah with a cluster of potted plants behind her. The girl is well-groomed with her long hair brushed back loose and a ribbon to the side. She wears a light-coloured, long-sleeved dress to just below the knee, with light-coloured socks. The reclining dog sports a collar. The wide and shady verandah has a balustrade that is partially enclosed using timber boards, lattice, and thin bamboo screens. Shade is also provided by trees and shrubs growing against the verandah.

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.