Summary

This photograph depicts a group of three men, two boys, a woman, and a baby - perhaps a family and a couple of workers - posing, along with two dogs, outside a roughly fenced yard. This photograph was taken in North Queensland but the exact location is unknown. Among the group are an older, bearded man wearing spectacles, and two younger men all of whom are holding garden implements such as rakes, hoes and mattocks. The older boy holds a pitchfork. The men and two boys wear battered felt hats while the woman and baby are bareheaded. The three men all wear short-sleeved shirts, thick work trousers, boots, and neckerchiefs. The two barefooted boys wear light-coloured long-sleeved shirts and to-the-knee shorts. The woman wears a light-coloured blouse with long sleeves gathered at the wrist, and a dark-coloured skirt, while the baby is dressed in a light-coloured smock. The yard, which appears to have a row of plants, has been constructed of rough-cut saplings and chicken wire. Beyond the yard stretches wooded bush land. An old shoe lies in the foreground.

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.