This year we are trying something a little different. We have created an I <3 Sydney Harbour Bridge tribute board at Pinterest.com. The aim is to get together a collage of images both from our own collection and other peoples (where copyright has been made available).
This is where you come in!
The Find and Connect Records Access Documentation Project will provide cash grants of up to $15,000 to eligible not-for-profit organisations to document, index and release records relating to children placed in Homes, orphanages and other forms of out-of-home ‘care’ during the 1920s–1980
Picnickers in what is now Lane Cove National Park enjoying a sunny day – it mustn’t be a La Niña year!
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.
Back in April 2010 we highlighted some photos of Australian soldiers from our collection. Quite early ones, in fact, perhaps dating back to the 1870s. We received many comments on the post at the time with most suggestions pointing to around 1870-1890. With only a rural landscape and no obvious landmarks/features, the site remains a bit of a mystery.
This post has been a bit of a slow burner; eight months after it was initially published it caught a second wave of interest and has just recently grabbed the attention of some of our readers. One in particular has made several observations about the possible location of the photos.
Can you help?
Some comments are also on the photo pages themselves and not on the post. Select a photo below to read more comments:
We’ve also replaced the Flickr versions with larger images so the uniforms and civilian clothing are now much clearer.
A bit of a story
This image has come from a packet of negatives found in the donated papers of Senator Percy P. Abbott of Glen Innes. (A0224) He was a New England solicitor, politician and soldier. As can be seen from the telegram below he was officer in the army reserve for many years and was urgently called up for active service in early 1915 and sent to ANZAC Cove with the Light Horse.
What is exciting about the photo is that there is a walking stick in shot. This stick was made from local timber on ANZAC Cove and presented to Abbott. This object is now on display in the Light Horse Regiment Museum in Armidale and our archives were able to provide this image of the owner with his walking stick on campaign.
There are many regional museums and historical organisations who are actively collecting and preserving our history. While the internet is now providing a forum for catalogue matching that previous generations have never enjoyed, the matching of themes or objects within photography is still a task for the human eye. To make this match between the image and object provided me with great pleasure. I wonder if other readers have made similar links between different collections.
A view of Darling Harbour which is nearly unrecognisable compared to this patch of Darling Harbour today!
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.
Jenny Sloggett is an Archivist working in the Archives Control and Management section of State Records NSW.
Darwin Wharf after Enemy Raid 1942
State Records is highlighting a connection between New South Wales and Darwin in its ‘War and Australia’ Digital Gallery. In 1941 and 1942 the NSW Board of Fire Commissioners released two Dennis ‘Light 4’ fire engines from service so that they could be quickly sent to Darwin. But what happened to them after 1942?
From 1926 fires at Darwin had been fought using a cylinder on a handcart that used chemicals to create water pressure and was operated by the police. But with the new town water supply for Darwin almost finished in June 1941, the Army, the Darwin Anti-Aircraft committee, the local newspaper and concerned citizens called for a fire brigade. The Queensland Fire Brigade conducted a review, recommended in favour of a fire brigade, and the Federal Cabinet agreed.
The State Library of Victoria has an image of a fire cart photographed in 1941 in the Northern Territory. Is this the 1926 handcart?
New South Wales was asked to supply equipment for the Darwin Fire Brigade. On 18 September 1941 it sent hose, branches and nozzles via a Qantas flying boat. On 29 September a Dennis ‘Light 4’ Fire Engine, No 269, was sent on the SS “Marella” and arrived at Darwin a fortnight later. The ‘Light 4’ was a new model developed by Dennis Bros in 1938 to replace the Dennis ‘Ace‘. The engine sent to the Northern Territory had only been in use in NSW for ten months and was previously based at Lidcombe. Its Chassis number was 3017 and its Engine number 141069.013. It was in Darwin when the Japanese attacked on 19 February.
A second fire engine, also a Dennis ‘Light 4’ No 269A, was despatched from Sydney per the SS “Montora” on 25 February 1942 and had a longer trip. It had previously been in service at Lidcombe for 5 months. Because of the bombing of Darwin, the ship was held in Townsville and the fire engine was to be transferred to a smaller vessel, the “Tulagi”, for Darwin. Some reports suggest the fire engine reached Darwin and was sent back to Sydney, only to be returned to Darwin. It finally arrived on 7 April. It was taken over by the Navy, as the Darwin Fire Brigade had been disbanded. Its Chassis number was 3014 and its Engine number 140997.013. The first engine was taken over by the Army and stationed at Larrakeyah.
Did they survive the war?
R J (Lou) Cowan tells us, via the Museum of Fire at Penrith, that:
In 1946 the civilian fire brigade started up again, and the Fire Brigade took back possession of the two Dennis Light 4s, which must have passed through the war years relatively unscathed. These appliances remained in service in Darwin for many years…. the Light 4s [were next] in service in Alice [Springs], where both finally ended up before finally being decommissioned. I have heard that both Light 4s ended up in sand pits in the Alice area pumping water for washing sand.
The Northern Territory Library has an image of a fire engine at Alice Springs photographed in the late 1950’s.
Lou states it is one of the Dennis Light 4s from New South Wales.
Acknowledgements:
Our thanks to Lou and to Mark White of the Museum of Fire, Penrith, for satisfying our curiosity as to what became of the Dennis ‘Light 4’ fire engines from New South Wales that served in Darwin.
Sources:
Board of Fire Commissioners; NRS 476, Special bundles, 1884-1971; [20/14783], 599 Darwin, 1941-1942.
Gary Boyce, ‘Involvement of the NSW Fire Brigade in the formation of the Darwin Fire Brigade 1941, unpublished manuscript, 2009, courtesy of the Museum of Fire
Darwin 70 years on
This is a concise 3 minute overview of the history of the bombing of Darwin in 1942 and its subsequent impact. I would highly recommend it to those unfamiliar with the history.
Military historian Tom Lewis discusses the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Darwin during World War II on ABC News.
Moments and memories
ABC news are also the authors of a comprehensive page on the Darwin bombings which includes an eyewitness account from a veteran, a then and now audio slide show and an interactive map with photo’s and audio.
On February 19, 1942, shortly before 10:00am, Japanese forces launched air raids on Darwin, the first on Australian soil.
More than 260 enemy planes, including land-based bombers and planes flying off aircraft carriers in the Timor Sea, attacked US and Australian shipping, the town’s harbour, military and civil aerodromes and the local hospital.
The attacks, which came in two waves, were part of Japan’s efforts to damage Australia’s morale, hinder Darwin’s use as a military base, and ultimately secure neighbouring Timor.
At least 243 people were killed in the attack, and up to 400 people were injured.
Twenty military aircraft were destroyed and eight ships in the harbour were sunk.
Air attacks continued over a space of almost two years, with about half of Darwin’s population ultimately fleeing south.
A peaceful scene of Rushcutters Bay in Sydney – with not a spot of rain in sight!
Can you date this photograph?
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.