lifeasdaddy

#CommonGround @ the Powerhouse Museum. Part 3. Where did the Ashfield bandstand come from?.

I'm celebrating the generosity of the National Library of Australia.  

The people in the Pictures Branch of the NLA have sent me a high resolution copy of an image to use during my talk next Saturday night.

It's not this one, but here's a photograph from the Powerhouse Museum's Tyrrell photography collection of a bandstand in Ashfield:

It is an extraordinary structure.  I've never seen anything else like it being used as a bandstand in Australia.

Significantly it is topped by a crown showing some sort of Royal connection.  This is an important clue.

Notes online at the Powerhouse Museum only date the photograph between 1859 and 1917.

Now, the suburb of Ashfield in New South Wales is certainly a grand place however it seemed unlikely to me that it had been the scene of a royal visit in the early part of the 1900s.  So the crown on the structure is therefore out of place.

A while back I decided  to find out more, and eventually tracked down a pamphlet issued by the Ashfield Council which stated that the bandstand had been used in Federation Celebrations as a pavilion for the welcome of Lord Hopetoun, Australia's first Governor-General.

It was recycled as the bandstand in 1903!

But what did it originally look like?

The best place to find out was to try and locate it on Picture Australia.

If we search for "Lord Hopetoun 1901"  the first result returned is "Landing of Lord Hopetoun, Sydney 1901", and we find out the image is at the National Library of Australia.

Going direct to the website of the National Library of Australia, we find an even better photograph composed of two images side by side to create a panorama:

( Landing of Governor-General, Farm Cove, Commonwealth celebrations, [1901] [picture])

The State Library of New South Wales also has a good view of the original pavilion here; and at Ashfield here.

An architectural mystery solved.

Oh, and I forgot to tell you.  You can't find this bandstand in Ashfield anymore.  It was demolished in the 1940s due to terminal decay.

My talk @ the Powerhouse Museum's #CommonGround event. Part 2: Requests for images.

I ain't too proud to beg, sweet darlin'

As I said,  I've been asked to speak this coming Saturday night at the Powerhouse Museum's piece of the global Flickr Common Ground event.

There's going to be an outdoor image slideshow using giant projection onto the outside of the Powerhouse Museum's mothership building in Ultimo.  See the test projections here.  It's going to be big in every way.

I've been selecting images to project during my talk, which are from The Commons on Flickr.  All except for four images.

The images I want have to be in high resolution format so that they can make a reasonable showing on the giant screening surface. 

As you may know, the custodians of the such iconic photographic images usually licence the images for use at a fee.  Sometimes the fee is high, sometimes less so.

Since my speaking fee for this engagement is a big fat zero, I'm going to try to get the images I need for a commensurate sum.  Also zero.

The first two images I need are of Roger Fenton's iconic 1855 Crimean War photographs usually known as The Valley of the Shadow of Death.  Lots of institutions have a copy of one of his photos, but only one that I know of has both images with cannon balls on and off the road.  The photos I'm talking about are shown near the top of Erroll Morris's blog post for the New York Times here.

They are credited to the Harry Ransome Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin.  So I've sent a begging email to the Curator of Photography for high resolution electronic copies of the two photographs.  And I politely  requested expeditious consideration due to the time constraints.

Secondly, I need to use a wonderful image of 1901 Federation Celebrations.  This one held at the National Library of Australia.  So I've asked them to come to the party too.

The last non-Commons image I need is held by State Records New South Wales, our state archives.  It's one of Bennelong Point seen here on Flickr, and here at their Photo Investigator site.  And I ain't too proud to beg.  I know that State Records NSW is very interested in becoming involved in social media, so I'm quite hopeful they'll help spread the joy.  Check out their very fine blog, Archives Outside, including an example of dating a photograph by the length of shadows in the photograph.

Let's see how far the love spreads.

I'm tagging my blog posts on this topic here as #CommonGround.

You can also follow progress on twitter at #CommonGround.

Here's how the image projections are going to look in the forecourt of the Powerhouse Museum:

(Above image used with permission of Paula Bray )

Items we want to donate to an Australian cultural institution.

Through the recent death of an elderly relative, we now have a number of items, photographs and ephemeral souvenirs which we would like to donate to an Australian cultural institution.

She was a lifelong resident of Dubbo, NSW.

A selection of items which may find a place in a collection are:

1. Concertina with 21 buttons and decoratively detailed wooden fretwork ends.  Made in Germany, "TRADE - HOUSE - MARK", Stahltone (signifying steel reeds).  Appears to be in working condition, although I have only opened the concertina 2 cm, it did make a sound.  Used by Miss Douglas's father.  Certainly manufactured pre-1920.  Possibly turn of 1900.

2..  9 x Certificates from the N.S.W. Govt. Railway and Tramway Institute awarded for various training courses completed in 1919 and 1920.  All printed in a highly decorative manner and with recipients name, course name and % mark filled in by hand.  All contained in an official railways cardboard posting sleeve reserved for official railway communication.  Certificates in very good condition, showing some tearing at edges consistent with age.

3. 1x large photograph of Mr. Wally Field, former Australian champion  sprint car driver at the wheel of his stationary car attended by what appear to me to be  officials  and a mechanic.  

1 x Photograph of Mr. Field at wheel of sprint car in motion marked in hand "Penrith" on reverse [ Penrith used to have a raceway].

1 x photograph of Mr. Wally Field in Australian army uniform standing beside a 1940s truck/van which has lettered upon the side

"Australian Military Forces Mobile Cinema Unit No. 1 presented by The motion Picture Industry of Australia" On reverse is handwritten "Taken just before we entered Beaudesert Q."  [ Beaudesert was a major training venuefor the Australian Army during WWII]  We believe that Mr. Field at one time had a significant relationship with the holder of the photographs.

4.  3 x small bibles.  

4a. 1 x  hand inscribed " Presented to [ name redacted ] from The Presbyterian Sabath [sic] School (Mrs) L. Drysdale Superintendent Narromine 9 - 8 - 24 "  Published by "London British and Foreign Bible Society ... Printed by Eyre and Spottiswoode, Ltd. Printers to the King's Most Excellent Majesty"  Contained in worn white cardboard box, possibly original presentation box.

4b. 1 x small bible inscribed inside "Joseph Christopher Cox buryed (sic) Westoek Ridge three miles east of Ypres near the edge of Nonalelbosches wood." and "Dad Died 13 April 1918.

Note:  J. C. Cox was a World War One serviceman killed in action in 1917.  An even more distant relative.  We also have a standing portrait  photograph of "Joe Cox" in uniform which I will loan to the Australian War Memorial for inclusion in the AWM's Roll of Honour photograph project.

5.  Official World War Two civilian identity card complete in original blue coloured leather case with transparent polymer window - the window now being opaque with age.  This is reasonably rare.

6.  Christmas card with Australian Army motifs of artillery men, signal men and infantryman in action.  Printed "Christmas Greetings and Best Wishes for the New Year" and handwritten From "Dusty"".  Appears to be World War Two era, possibly issued en-mass to servicemen.  Although I have not yet confirmed this by research.

7.  Folded paper serviette with two hand drawn sprint cars on the outside.  One sprint car  bears the number "45".  Also handwritten on the outside of the serviette is "W. Field (Dusty) No 45"  Contained in the folded napkin are a sprig of dried lavender, a dried flower (unidentified) and an oval shaped metal disc, possibly made of aluminium minted on one side "A.D.F.C.  N.S.W. and on the other side " 1d bottle token 1d". Also contained is an Australian Army felt sh older patch, but I do not yet know of what unit or division.  These appear to be romantic keepsakes.

8.  Christmas gift tag bearing a printed colour picture of a square rigged sailing ship and "Seasons Greetings".  Handwritten is "To Dear Heather From "Dusty""

9.  Items numbered 5a, 6, 7, 8 and 9 above all contained in a tin with a hinged lid with a dining scene titled "The Toast".

10.  12 photographs which appear to be related to Dusty's WWII service in the Australian Army.  the chronicle his travels from  Australia to Palestine and New Guinea.  One very rare photograph shows him beside the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, having a recreational swim in the Mediterranean Sea, with native helpers in New Guinea, and outside a makeshift bay.  All bear handwritten inscriptions signed either W.F. or "Dusty".

For example, 

- Taken at Xmas nearly as cold as Dubbo.

- An Arab boy with 5 mils in his hand about 1 1/2 Aust

- The ruins of an old Mosque Palestine

- A Camel train of 76 Camels Palestine

- A very old Olive tree

- A couple of our 'Fuzzy Wuzzie Angels' + their familys, I taught the little one to say ' Dusty' - But I couldn't get her 'Phone number -

- Your truly on the right in charge of a patrol in the jungle, my shirt looks as though its a nice shiny silk, but it is just wringing wet with perspiration.  How do you like the 'mo' + stern look?

- At the wailing wall Jerusalem.  This is a rare photograph showing 3 Australian servicemen in wartime next to the Wailing Wall.

- Yours truly with some willing helpers NOTE. 5 days growth

- Yours truly.  After a dip in Mussoes Lake.         [ "Musso's lake" was WWII service slang for the Mediterranean Sea:  Benito Mussolini's lake ]

- The boys have a joke + this is a wet canteen at a camp we visited way up North.  That's me alongside the ( illegible) I'm the one with glasses on!

11.  One lace square, about 6inches x 6 inches, depicting Charles Kingsford-Smith's aircraft Southern Cross.  Family legend has it that this was made by hand however it may be machine made.

There are a few more items, but I have not yet looked at them all.

Your correspondent @lifeasdaddy to speak at Powerhouse Museum - again!

Apparently there has been some clamour about my last talk at the Powerhouse Museum.  I've now been asked to speak at an upcoming event there on October 3.

It's the Common Ground event - a global event related to historic photographs.

Here's the backstory: Flickr, the photosharing website, has a section called The Commons populated by a range of cultural institutions from around the world where photographs mostly of no known copyright are displayed for viewing, commentary and tagging.

A selection of photographs from these collections which were recently chosen as favourites in a public poll will be shown at each participating institution on an around the clock timetable.

The event here in Sydney at the forecourt of the Powerhouse Museum will be held between 6.30pm and 9pm on Saturday evening Ocrtober 3rd, 2009.  That's just 9 days away.

Other institutions confimred as participants in this global meet up are:

Brooklyn Museum + New York Public Library combined at Brooklyn Museum

George Eastman House

Powerhouse Museum + State Library of New South Wales combined at the Powerhouse

Oregon State University Archives

State Library and Archives of Florida

State Library of Queensland

Swedish National Heritage Board

Australian War Memorial

Why me?  Well, I've been pretty involved in researching and adding information to some of the historical photographs.

I won't be restricting my talk to the Powerhouse Museum's photographic collection - other insitutions will be getting some lovin' too.

Now, I have to work on my outline and slides.  I'll be blogging about that too, natch.

Researching an Australian soldier of World War One. Part 1.

Let's have a look at how we identify an Australian soldier of The Great War from a photograph.

Here he wears a typical World War One soldier's uniform of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF).  Complete with fur-felt slouch hat, rising sun insignia on the collar tabs and puttees on the lower legs.

This portrait has been taken in a photographer's studio in front of a painted backdrop.  Typical of the period, such portraits were often taken after basic training was completed, and before a soldier was sent overseas.

But which one of the more than 375,000 Australians who enlisted for service in WWI was he?

Let's look at the back of the photo.

A relative has helpfully written "Joe Cox killed in first war"  and at the bottom is printed "A J Vincent Talbragar St., Dubbo"

Ok, that makes sense since the photograph came from one of my distant relatives in Dubbo, New South Wales.

That makes Joe Cox one of the 2055 who enlisted at Dubbo.

Since we believe he was killed in the War, he is almost certainly commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

We can use the CWGC's record search function to find out more about him.

On the Debt of Honour Register we use the following search terms:

Search for Casualty

Surname Cox

Initials J

War First World War

Year of death From 1914 to 1919

Force Army

Nationality Australian

Then click on "SUBMIT"

This yields 13 results.

Of these we can see 4 have Joseph as their first name.

We then can take note of the names and service numbers:

a. Joseph Cox [ 2160 ]

b. Joseph Christopher Cox [ 6063 ]

c. Joseph Claude Cox [ 1661 ]

d. Joseph Cornelius Cox [ 11935 ]

The service numbers are important, because they make it easier to do what we are about to do, search the National Archives of Australia.

We go to the NAA Recordsearch function. And search as a guest.

In the General Search page we use as a keyword the service number of candidate a.

searching for "2160" gives us 120 results.  Lets narrow it down. try "cox 2160" as the search parameter instead.  That's better.  Just one result.

Cox Joseph : SERN 2160 : POB Northfield SA : POE Adelaide SA : NOK W Cox Annie E

That means: Place of Birth, Northfield South Australia; Place of Enlistment, Adelaide South Australia.

Probably not him since those places are not near Dubbo..  I'll click through to have a quick look at the digital copy of his service record.  I'll be looking to see if his Next of Kin has a Dubbo address.  Nope. One down.

Try candidate b.  I'll try to search for "cox 6063".  There is one record:

Cox Joseph Christopher : SERN 6063 : POB March NSW : POE Dubbo NSW : NOK F Cox Francis

Looking good!  Place of enlistment, Dubbo NSW!

Scanning his digitised record, I see his original Next of Kin is listed as "Father Francis Cox Dubbo N.S.W. which was later amended to "Martha Cox mother P.O. Dubbo N.S.W."

But just to be sure, we had better check the other two J. Cox candidates.

Candidate c. Try "cox 1661":

Cox Joseph Claude : SERN 1661 : POB Wilcannia Rd NSW : POE Broken Hill NSW : NOK M Cox Grace

Probably not, but we had better check the address of his Next of Kin, who turns out to be his mother, Grace Cox of Milparinka N.S.W.

I must admit that I don't know where Milparinka is, so I had better check with Google Maps.  Nope, Milparinka is nowhere near Dubbo.

Candidate d.  Try "cox 11935"

Cox Joseph Cornelius : SERN 11935 : POB Mudgee NSW : POE Lithgow NSW : NOK F Cox Edwin I

Ok, Mudgee and Lithgow both have some directional proximity to Dubbo.  Better check out the Next of Kin's address.  Father lives at Lawson Street, Mudgee.

So, that leads us to conclude that the Joe Cox in the photograph is Joseph Christopher Cox of Dubbo, New South Wales service number 6063.

Let's double check. 

There's an old family bible with the photograph.  It was common in the olden days to inscribe family bibles with important dates.  Births.  Deaths.  Marriages.  I wonder ...

Joseph Christopher Cox.  He's our man.

Rest In Peace, Joseph Christopher Cox.

We'll find out more about you in the next few days.

 

Part 2 is here:  http://lifeasdaddy.typepad.com/lifeasdaddy/2009/11/researching-an-australian-soldier-of-world-war-one-part-2.html

Aunty Rae wearing her patriotic costume during World War One.

During patriotic festivals during World War One many young (and not so young) women in Australia wore patriotic dress to show their loyalty and fervor for victory.

[ Added 20 Sep 2009 : I've been thinking about what I wrote here earlier today.  It may be that this photograph was not taken during World War One.  There are other photographs on record in Australian cultural institutions showing similar costumes worn outside the World War One period.  I'll nedd to check more to narrow it down.] 

This is a photograph of a very distant relative wearing one such costume. Here wearing the Union Flag instead of the flag of Australia.  The riband on her left lapel says "FRANCE" and on her right lapel "ENGLAND".  The colours would have been red, white and blue, emblematic of the flag colours of all three allied countries.

The border of the photograph bears the handwritten caption, "Aunty Rae."

I have seen photographs elsewhere of women wearing similar costumes, but at the moment I'm unsure what it is called.  One scholar has told me it is related to the French Marianne - a symbol of the French Republic - but I am unsure at the moment how it came to be so popular as a patriotic display here in Australia as opposed to say, Brittania.

There is a photograph held by the Mortlock  State Library of South Australia of a group of women wearing patriotic fancy dress during World War I, (circa 1917) which shows some very similar costumes. 

Although you cannot tell from the view on this blog, Anty Rae is wearing long white gloves of very fine material - perhaps silk.  Her shoes are covered in material and have a bow on the top above the toes.  The bracelet around her left wrist has a motif in the middle of each disc. 

Below is a photograph taken, I would say, a few years later, of the young woman getting married.

The reverse of this photograph bears the handwritten dedication, "To alma & Jack With love from Auntie & Uncle."

I have another photograph dedicated by Aunty, where she calls herself "Ray", so there was some discrepancy within the family about how her forename was spelled.

Some Australian history for you...

ADDED:  

1.  The Australian War Memorial blog has a very interesting bit about a patriotic costume made for, and worn by, Mrs. Ratigan during World War I.

2.  The Queensland State Library has an outstanding comparison photograph of this patriotic fancy dress here.

sdf

Do you know what a Forest Devil is? Clearing trees on rural land in the 1800s.

I was looking at an unusual original picture the other day.  It seems to be mainly watercolour, possibly with some pen an dink drawing.  A large picture, it's hard to capture properly in a photograph for here.  

It shows an archaic method of clearing trees.

I'll show you some close ups in a minute so you call better see what is going on.  The horse is harnessed to a long pole or log at one end.  The other end orf the pole is chained to the base of a tree.  A second much longer chain extends from part of the pole near the base of the tree up to a fixing point on the second tree about 6 or 7 metres above the ground.

As the horse is driven forward the mechanical advantage, or leverage pulls on the chain with the objective of pulling down the second tree.

A Forest Devil is a device to pull down a tree by mechanical advantage, sometimes with a winch, as a method of clearing trees from land.

There is very little information available about a forest devil, and the picture you see above may be the only one showing a forest devil at work in existence.

In the Channel Museum  located at Lower Snug in Tasmania there is a mechanical forest devil log winch, and you can see it here and a larger view here.  The one in Tasmania is described as a "large drum winch on a double hatchet and extended lever handles for operation of 2 to 6 men." Of course the word "hatchet" there should be "ratchet".  

Now, back to the picture above.

Here's a close up of the harnessed horse:

and here's the other end of the pole where it's chaned to the base of a tree:

You'll also see one worker quenching his thirst and another using a pick to hack into the base of another tree.

Here in the next closeup you can see the chain extending up to the tree which is to be pulled down:

To the right of the tree to be pulled down, we see another worker at the top of a high ladder readying another tree to be pulled down.

In the field being cleared we can see many tree stumps, some apparently clear-sawn, others jagged from the effect of being pulled down with the Forest Devil.

It is also apparent that the Forest Devil was not an entirely efficent means of felling the trees, as there is also evidence of parts of trees and branches which have been pulled off, yet without pulling down the whole tree.

It's unclear at the moment, but the picture is thought to date from around 1860.

Anyway, just a bit of Australian rural history for you.

The Binishell is back!

As you know Binishells, a famous construction method of the 1960s and 1970s are the coolest buildings ever.

Looks like they are making a comeback as a green building method.

Ed completes the Premier's Adventure Challenge.

Edward has been enjoying the Premier's Adventure Challenge.

It's a programme created by Nathan Rees, the Premier of New South Wales, to encourage children to visit art galleries and museums in our great state.  Until January 2010 children who have a passport booklet can get free entry to nearly all the major galleries and museumsin NSW outside normal school days.

There is a passport booklet which includes space for the child to receive a stamp imprint at each participating institution, and for the major venues, a specific quiz question to investigate and answer.

When a child has completed visits to three different locations for the challenge there is also a tear off card for the parent or guardian to certify and submit via post to claim a completion certificate and enter a prize draw.

The reverse of the card also has space for the child to draw their favourite object they have seen during the challenge.  A selection of kids' drawings are posted up at the challenge website.

Today Edward said that the object he wanted to draw was the Enigma Machine from the Powerhouse Museum:

 

and here's a photograph of it:

After he had done his bit he wanted to address the envelope.  I must admit I thought that his writing may not be quite good enough for the postal system, but I was wrong.

The challenge is a pretty good way of getting kids excited about going to a museum or art gallery, a way of giving them an idea of what to expect from each type of venue through the structured quiz question, and should even produce an incremental increase in business for participating institutions because although entry with the passport is free for school age children, other accompanying children and adults must still pay any applicable entry fee.

Even in our case - although usually keen museum goers we did add in a visit to the Australian Museum which we would otherwise not have made.  Additionally while at the Australian Museum Edward saw a pamphlet about the Egyptian Treasures exhibition which opens tomorrow and is very keen to go back to the museum again to see that.

Trying to explain slavery.

Edward wanted to know what slavery is.

I did not tell Edward all about my half of the presentation of Our Favourite Things About The Powerhouse Museum until last Friday.  Of course one of my favourite items is the Slave Medallion.

Then on Saturday and again on Sunday Edward asked me, "What is slavery, Dad?"

Here's how I tried to explain it:

- Slavery happened 200 years ago when some bad people kidnapped men and women from Africa and took them in ships to other parts of the world.  The bad people made the people they took work for no pay and sold them to other people as if they were a thing to be owned instead of free to make the choices we can about how we live.

- The slave medallion was used to advertise that slavery was a very bad thing and that it should be stopped.

"Is there any more slavery going on nowadays, Dad?"

- Well, there is.  There is not as much as there used to be, but there are still people being made to work for no pay.

[ I know there are some historical inaccuracies in my explanation, for example leaving out Caribbean slavery, but it was the best I could do at the time. ]

 

[ Photograph shows half-length portrait of two girls wearing banners with slogan "ABOLISH CH[ILD] SLAVERY!!" in English and Yiddish, one carrying American flag; spectators stand nearby. Probably taken during May 1, 1909 labor parade in New York City. From Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA -  Digital ID:cph 3a23285 ]