We have a bit of a Riverina district theme going on. Later this week we will be publishing an interview with Wayne Doubleday, Manager, CSU Regional Archives and University Art Collection. And here we have a street scene of the town Wagga Wagga with the court house in the background.
What we do know, from Wikipedia, is that the court house was built by Charles Hardy and Thomas Hodson in 1901-1903.
We have many other undated photographs in Photo Investigator and on our Flickr account. If you know the dates or any other interesting facts about these images please let us know.
Category: -- Can you date...?
Tag: Moments in Time, wagga wagga
John Graham says:
The car on the extreme left, which looks to be the newest car in town, is a 1936 Chrysler (or very similar).
JennysOldCars says:
Newest car body styles identifiable 1936-37, therefore photo likely to be NO OLDER than 1936-37.
Extreme left – 1935-’36-’37 deluxe car. Dated by side mount spare sitting high, tear drop guards/fenders, hedalights not fender mounted, and appears to have centre fabric turret (i.e. not all steel body). I’d suggest a Holden-bodied GM car Buick, Chev, Pontiac or Olds, or a maybe 1936 Dodge. Nice bumper overriders too, also suggesting not an economy model.
Foreground Centre – 1933-34 (more likely ’34) Ford De Luxe model – cowl mounted side lights, dual horns. My second choice would be 1934 Dodge DS model.
Foreground Right – Coupe Utility, probably 1933-34, no later than ’35. Maybe Ford.
Mid picture – First of the parked vehicles is a mid 30’s van, judging by the teardrop guards/fenders, squared rear body section and what appear to be headlights not fender mounted or recessed.
Other cars are late 1920’s
Anthea Brown says:
A great start on the cars @JohnGraham and @JennysOldCars, thanks!
We were hoping this photo had enough to tease out the car (and possibly fashion) experts.
We have the newest car on the street at 1936-37.
beachcomberaustralia says:
My guess would be late 1930s from the cars and the frocks, like many of these railway carriage decoration photos.
I googled “David Copela[nd] Wagga Wagga” and came up with several generations of interesting local history – Member of Parliament, merchant store, etc.
Likewise Charles Hardy the builder of many prominent public buildings around Wagga Wagga over several generations, all called Charles. His bio talks about him coming from Dorset, UK. I wonder if he was related to Thomas Hardy (the poet and novelist), whose family background was also in building / stonemasonry / architecture in Dorset in the mid 19th century. Does anyone know?
Google street view is quite good comparison – http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Fitzmaurice+St,+Wagga+Wagga+NSW&aq=2&sll=-33.868901,151.207091&sspn=1.281654,2.469177&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Fitzmaurice+St,+Wagga+Wagga+New+South+Wales+2650&ll=-35.105779,147.36949&spn=0.009936,0.01929&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=-35.105735,147.369599&panoid=ubQ0BkobPhTFJ7balCTq0A&cbp=12,123.7,,0,-0.51
Anthea Brown says:
@beachcomberaustralia Good question about a Thomas Hardy link; it may catch the interest of some local history experts!
Thanks for adding the Google Street View link, the court house and buildings further along still look the same.
It seems that late 1930s – c.1936-37 – is still our best guess, thanks to our car experts :)