There’s been the occasional hint of warmer weather of late.
Let’s encourage it by looking at a summer scene of swimmers at Cronulla beach!
Can you date this photograph?
We have many other undated photographs in Photo Investigator and on our Flickr account. If know the dates or any other interesting facts about these images please let us know.
Category: -- Can you date...?, General
Tag: Moments in Time
John Graham says:
There is a series of postcards at http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/album/albumView.aspx?acmsID=411345&itemID=850413 which are dated c1928, and one in particular shows very close to this scene with the tree growth about 1-2 years behind. So I’ll start with c1930.
Allan Cole says:
My father now 94 dates the Cronulla beach picture at the early 1920’s. I seem to remember a similar photograph in a Pictorial History of Sutherland Shire.
Janette Pelosi says:
@Allan: I’ve had a look at the Pictorial History and compared photos. The building in the middle of the photo is The Cecil Ballroom and Cafe in a 1964 photo (p.125) which has units on its the right. The Cecil Hotel is the building behind it. An aerial view in 1932 (p.93) similarly shows only a few houses to its right on the top of the cliff. A similar photo dated circa 1930 is available on Picture Sutherland. Another closer view of the Cecil Cafe is dated circa 1930 on Picture Sutherland. Thus I think the image could be dated 1930-1932.
Robert Woodley says:
The Government Printing Office dates this photo as November 1937 ? There is an earlier version with the trees smaller dated January 1930 and taken soon after the Cecil adn park were established?
Lynnette Walker says:
The building at the top of the hill is the Cecil Hotel. The building closer to the beach is the Cecil tearoom, cafe and ballroom on the top floor. Also in the picture is the promenade and sea wall which was destroyed in a storm surge in 1950. The houses on the top right were replaced by blocks of flats and units in the 1960s. The Cecil complex was established in 1927 by C.O.J. Monro, a local real estate agent and councillor of Sutherland Shire Council. The front cover of the 1997 edition of Pictorial History of Sutherland Shire has a picure of the beach dated 1937 and the trees appear to be the same height so I would date this picture as circa 1937.
Jennie Fairs says:
We used an almost identical picture dated 1930 in the book: “The Cronulla Story – A Century of Surf Life Saving Vigilance and Service” by Gary Lester.
Edgar Baltins says:
I agree photo has to be before 1961 because the Ballroom building had been demolished by then and the Main Ocean Pool hasn’t been built. However, the swimwear appears to be much later than the 1930s, i.e. post-WWII. Tree height down diagonal pathway in the park seems consistent with aerial photo of 1943. So I’d date the picture in the mid-to-late 1940s and possibly 1950s.