Percy H Judd, House and Land Agent, Ascot Vale

Source: State Library of Victoria, 'Cheltenham Cycle Club Outings, ca 1897'. 

Actual date closer to 1906-07. Photo by T J A Tinker, Moonee Ponds.  

 http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/295597

The State Library of Victoria has two photographs relating to the business of Percy H Judd, House and Land Agent, which I have investigated, with some further assistance from Alex Bragiola, to establish the location of each of the buildings - one 'Opposite Station' Ascot Vale, and the other in Union Rd, Ascot Vale.  I have created a page on the website to reveal what I learnt.

Another interesting feature of those two photos is the previously unknown photographer, T J A Tinker.  There is a further webpage about T J A Tinker and his activities.

Ascot Vale CYMS Football Club, 1919

The Ascot Vale branch of the Catholic Young Men's Society football team which played in the CYMS competition in 1919.  Courtesy of Kathleen Baker.

Their home ground may have been on the Ascot Racecourse, though this is by no means established.  This team portrait was taken at the Leighton Studios in Moonee Ponds in 1919.  Some of the surnames associated with the club were:  Baker, Culquhoun, Scully, Lynch, Maroney, Dunbar, Smith, Riordan, and Reilly.    Identifications of the players is welcome.  See the Time Travellers website for further information.

Sapper Galbraith at Leighton Studios, Moonee Ponds

Sapper A G F Galbraith, 1915.  Museums Victoria Collections https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/1741042

I have just noticed that Museums Victoria have now made out-of-copyright photos in their collection Public Domain.  The last time I looked, admittedly some while ago, permission was withheld for the use of their online images, despite being out of copyright.

Having a look through the collection last night I noticed the change.  The above portrait is interesting to me because firstly it is a portrait of one of the local men who volunteered for the Great War.  This portrait now appears on the webpage of Sapper A G F Galbraith of Essendon, who did not return to Australia.

The description of the photo reveals that it was taken at the Leighton Studios, which was in Margaret St, Moonee Ponds.  This photo gives the first view of a studio backdrop which appears in other photos, but is not revealed in other portraits, and this is useful for a study of backdrops of local studios which you can see on the Time Travellers of Essendon, Flemington, &c website.

The Foundling Archive

Catalogue description "women; group; lost and found; 1940".  I wonder if there is a studio name on the back?

While browsing through Victorian Collections, I came across this never-previously-encountered collection called "The Foundling Archive".  Contrary to expectations, the archive does not record lost children, but lost photos and ephemera.  The collection is described as follows:

"The foundling archive was established in 2013, as an experiment. We wanted to see if we could track Australia's social history through the old, personal photographs, films and small objects that no longer seemed relevant to their owners. These are the objects that find themselves being sold on ebay and in second-hand shops throughout Australia.

By looking at the bits and pieces we create, keep and eventually throw away, the foundling archive documents evidence of everyday life -of personalities, family dynamics, technological change and social development".

There are photos from places besides Victoria, though they are located in Brunswick, Victoria. A large group was taken in West Sydney.  Unfortunately, when they were cataloguing, other than occasionally including a placename in the title,  they didn't seem to think of recording the photographer's studio and place in the subject headings, so I saw, for instance, two photographs taken in a Perth Studio which you wouldn't know unless you enlarged the photo.

But they are interesting and worth a browse.   Victorian Collections can be searched by place or name, and many of you may find some items of interest there.  I just found a 1941 letter of condolence from the RSL to a woman who used to live in the house I lived in in the 1970s.   Amazing!

Ruth Hollick, Moonee Ponds photographer

 

Photo: Ruth Hollick, Moonee Ponds

This portrait of a woman and child was taken in Ruth Hollick's home studio in Moonee Ponds in 1918. The Hollick home was on the south side of Park Street. Ruth took a number of photos in the local area, and these are referred to in an article about her on the Time Travellers website.  At the end of 1918 she took over the studio of Mina Moore in Collins Street, Melbourne, and went on to develop a reputation for child portraiture, particularly using natural light.     

The subjects of the above photo are not currently known.  This photo is one of a pair.  The other photo is inscribed on the back "With love to Auntie Lola March 1918."   If you can identify this pair, we would love to hear from you.

Dover Studio backdrops

Taken at the Dover Studio to celebrate the marriage of Edward Charles Oram and Violet Barnes.  "To Mother from  your loving son and daughter, Ted & Vi, xx, Aug 2nd 1919". It further refines the early studio background used by Frank Rider after taking over from the late Frank Vallance. Two new photos of the studio from 1919 can be seen at the above link on the Time Travellers website. The dado line showing in the gap between the couple possibly appeared in some photos taken by the previous photographer,  Frank Vallance.  Photo courtesy of Mrs Judy Provan (Paynesville, Vic) and Dayle Mills (Bundoora, Vic).

Agnes Thomson, photographer

'Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild', &c. (Agnes Thomson, Ascot Vale).

THE VICTORIAN AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHIC ASSOCIATION'S EXHIBITION. (1905, February 18). Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918), p. 35. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198171601 

Agnes Scott Thomson's father was a commercial traveller called Murray Thomson.  Murray was born in Edinburghshire in 1843, and was an older man of 37 when he wed Susannie Jones, 27, in Lancashire in 1880. They had two daughters, Susannie Manley and Agnes Scott before emigrating to Victoria.   

The date of their arrival in Victoria is not certain, but they were here in time for the whole family to be included in the 1903 Electoral Roll.  Agnes Thompson (sic) was an “artist”, and her sister Susannie  was  recorded as a “milliner”.   

Agnes' particular interest lay in photography, and her name appears in many newspaper accounts of photographic exhibitions and competitions.  She was often a prize-winner of competitions and can be regarded as a leading amateur photographer in the early part of the nineteenth century. 

Agnes first began being noticed as a prize winner in photographic competitions was in 1903, competing in interstate competitions as well as in Victoria.  Her particular genre included still lifes of fruit and flowers, animals and children, and landscapes and seascapes.

By about 1907 Agnes had begun to operate as a commercial photographer, from a studio at her parents home in Milton Street, and later North Street, Ascot Vale.  In 1910 she was the President of the Victorian Ladies' Photographic Association.

To see  a fuller account of Agnes's photographic business, go to Agnes Thomson, Photographer.

SCENE FROM "THE GEISHA," RECENTLY PRODUCED BY ESSEND0N OPERATIC SOCIETY

Photo by Agnes Thomson, Ascot Vale,  Punch (Melbourne,1909, April 15 ), p. 27. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article176024165

Photo by Agnes Thomson. Ascot Vale. BRIDAL GROUP AT THE MARRIAGE OF MR. V. H. COOPER TO MISS F. R. TROTMAN. Celebrated at St. Thomas's Church, Moonee Ponds, on 2nd November, and afterwards at "Shelton,", Moonee Ponds, the residence of Mr. John Beale.

Additional photos for Time Travellers

 

This week we revisit the Directory of Local Photographers where a handful of new photos illustrate the props and backdrops in the local studios.  The most recent are indicated in red typeface at the above link. 

The photo above of Jack Mitchell Williams as a St Thomas' Choir boy was taken in the Leighton Studios in Margaret St, Moonee Ponds in about 1913.

A previously unknown photographer, Lee and Co has been identified,  

These new photos are courtesy of Allan and Craig Williams.

Don't forget, if you wish to keep up to date on material added to the Time Travellers website, follow this blog, or add your email to the mailing list (see the right hand side panel).

Dover Studios, Moonee Ponds

This wedding photo from the Dover Studios in Moonee Ponds circa 1930s is interesting because of the new painted window backdrop with the same lino and fluffy woollen mat on the floor behind the couple.  The bride's Marcel waves and Juliet cap with veil will probably allow a closer date

Probably a Sears photo, Newmarket, circa 1910

This photo is from the State Library of Victoria Collection, H93.406/48.  In its comments, the library states "Embossed on mount u.r. (just visible): OSIT STATION. (Possibly SEARS? On mounts SEARS sometimes printed "OPP., STATION, NEWMARKET".)  Although the SLV dates the photo to circa 1885, it is from a later period, the younger women's hairstyles being of an Edwardian style.  The cleanshaven younger men also point to a post 1900 date.

The family in the photo may be one of the more prosperous families of Flemington.  Alternatively the family could have been from Essendon. John A Sears was listed in the 1897 Sands & McDougall Directory living in Laluma St, Essendon.   If you can identify any of the people in the photo, please get in touch.

The Dover Studios, Moonee Ponds

This portrait of Arthur Henry Anderson, born 1918, was taken circa 1924 at the Dover Studios, Moonee Ponds.  The Dover Studios by this time was being operated by Frank Rider after the death of the original proprietor, Frank Vallance.  The studio backdrop, however, is different from photos dating from 1924, and it may be that Rider was still in Vallance's old premises in Puckle Street. It seems, however, that the long woollen rug often used in the later Rider photos appears to be in the background of this photo.  You can compare the studio backdrops and the woolly rug at the Time Travellers website.

This photo and others of Anderson family weddings are courtesy of Julie Knight.  The wedding portraits provide useful evidence of the hat styles for bridesmades in the late 1920s.