1892

Between 1891 (Australian Club) and 1895 (no dome on Chief Secretary's Office). Beautiful ship. H.M.S. ????

beachcomber australia This ship is a mystery! We aren't sure on this one but will let you know if our curators come up with anything :)

I think she is a barquentine, which should narrow it a little - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barquentine

Looks like Waterwitch/Lancashire Witch but funnel appears to be missing - should be behind centre mast.

Ted There is a short funnel there - see large size. Another photo of the WATERWITCH for comparison - www.awm.gov.au/collection/302285/ I think this photo may be in April 1895 when the WATERWITCH first arrived in Sydney, and "attracted much attention" in Farm Cove - " ... by far the prettiest vessel on the Australian station. ... " Full description - trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/14009475

The caption is confusing and very misleading, and the date is wrong. The locomotive in the photograph was built for the Cairns - Mulgrave Tramway in 1908. It was built in the USA by Baldwin and this is the builder's official photograph - taken in 1908. When the Cairns - Mulgrave Tramway was taken over by Queensland Railways this became a member of the QR B13 class, but was entirely different to the others of that class. (Frank Stamford, Publications Officer, Light Railway Research Society of Australia Inc. [lrrsa.au] ).

Wonderful moment

Wow. But the apparent poverty is only staggering. Stark contrast to the often dapper ladies and gents in other photos in related sets. Certainly a world away from the relative affluence suggested by the clothes worn by this young fella. (Who was only a short distance and few decades removed). And the mode of dress gives our (light-hearted) "boys wear dresses to avoid kidnap" conversation a few weeks back some extra perspective. (These lads aren't eschewing trousers to avoid kidnap. They simply don't have any. They have rags. Sin é). These kids parents (if they have any) would likely be appalled by our weak bleating at the IMF, NAMA, et al.

guliolopez One great thing is that poor they may have been, but they were at school!

Great children portrait

Suffering a kind of poor we can't even imagine... yet they seem (at least for now) very happy.
I've seen group photos of poor kids where the attitude was totally different.
And although poor and going trough hardships beyond our wildest imagination, these kids also experienced a freedom we and future generations may never know.
They could run wild, they owned the streets, no mobile phones to call home with, they were trusted to walk to school, look after themselves.
I once interviewed a man who grew up in extreme poverty in the 1930s and he said; "It was only afterwards that we realised we were supposed to have been unhappy."