Summary

This photograph depicts two small, barefooted boys posing on bridled goats in a rocky paddock containing a couple more goats. In the background are fenced yards with a horse in one, various North Queensland buildings including a two-storey one with raised water tanks and windmill, and a dirt road. The boys are wearing straw boater hats, good long-sleeved shirts, and above-knee shorts.

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.