Summary

This photograph depicts some men and women with a large group of children playing picnic games outdoors in a bushland setting. The camera has caught the blurred images of four or five boys running towards a finish line while a crowd of boys and girls and some adults look on. The boys wear broad-brimmed hats, long-sleeved shirts, shorts, and most are barefoot. The girls are wearing straw hats or bonnets accented with ribbons, most have pinafores over their dresses, and while some wear dark stockings with dark shoes, many are also barefooted, perhaps in readiness for running. The men all wear long-sleeved shirts, trousers, and hats, with one visible wearing a waistcoat and tie and another with a pith helmet and cummerbund. The women are largely obscured, but one holds aloft a boldly-striped umbrella. This group is most likely from St. Margaret's Church in Croydon, having gathered together for a Sunday School picnic. This photograph was taken in North Queensland but the exact location is unknown.

Due to the isolation experienced by most of the residents in the Normanton and Croydon areas, bush picnics, organized by social clubs and church groups, were a popular outing. These picnics were often for men, women, and children, but sometimes a women's church group would organize a ladies' tea out in the bush. While the events themselves were somewhat informal and social, everyone would wear their "Sunday best". While social etiquette required arms, shoulders and legs to be covered, especially for women, the fabrics used would have been lightweight and durable, such as cotton and thin wool, in deference to the climate.

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.