Summary

This photograph depicts two young boys and a young girl each mounted bareback astride ponies in a paddock next to a house surrounded by fences and with flowering garden beds. The children are all barefooted but each wears a wide-brimmed hat. The older boy wears a type of sailor suit with a belt, while the younger boy wears a smock-style shirt also with a belt. The girl has had her hair styled into long ringlet and wears a frilly, light-coloured long-sleeved dress from under which peeps the leg of knee-length shorts. The house, which is only partly visible, is neatly constructed of corrugated-iron and timber poles. the extensive fence is constructed of chicken wire attached to short poles and inside can be seen several garden beds prolific with flowers, and there appears to be a sectioned-off area with a gate within the yard. This photograph was taken in North Queensland but the exact location is unknown.

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.