Summary

This photograph depicts a woman posed side-saddle on a horse in a cleared area of bushland. Just visible to right of photograph is the corner of a low roof, with guttering, on a timber pole. The horse is well-groomed and has been shod. The woman wears a plain, dark-coloured long skirt, a light-coloured print blouse with long-sleeves and high collar, a wide-brimmed, decorated straw hat covered with a full-face net veil, and close-fitting gloves. This photograph was taken in North Queensland but the exact location is unknown.

Though women riding side-saddle had been introduced in the fourteenth century in Europe, by 1905 Australian newspapers were reporting that women in England were "about to cut loose from the old silly Spanish delusion that a lady has not legs, and English maids and matrons intend to show ... that they are built on the same fashion, and possess two legs, even as a man does." New "ride-astride" garments were being advertised in England and it was anticipated that Australian women would not hesitate to adopt the style. By 1910 the Northern Miner, Charters Towers, claimed that the "divided skirt" had come to stay.

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.