corset

Whoa! Steady on with the alliteration ...

9 April 1908 was a Thursday ...

"Shallows Park" Streetview -
maps.app.goo.gl/9MosU1yCez9PgzGw8

Google says -
Sunny · 1°C
8:38 am

And what about the girl on the left?

The 25" map show a "Shallowspark [sic] Corn Mill" next door. Gone.

Man wearing a suit and his woman in a casual elegant dress.

Meet James Stewart, our pioneering ancestor and muse. James and Alexander Stewart – lovers of adventure and the finer things in life – were the sons of a Scottish haberdasher. Their enterprising spirit brought them to Australia to open a draper’s store on Brisbane’s Queen Street in 1860. Later it would become one of the country’s first department stores. James (known as ‘Jimmy’) went on to open several more stores, including James Stewart & Co. in Rockhampton, which remains operating today. James Stewart & Co. was the first Queensland store to import international finery, such as hand-spun silks from Japan, hand-crafted knits from Scotland, bentwood furniture such as Thonet from Austria and glassware from Sweden. Jimmy’s sharp eye for design trends – combined with an innate ability to curate and source goods – kept him well ahead of his competitors until his death in 1923. The business continued to flourish and he realised his vision to construct a flagship store in 1926. With its café, fashion shows and couture garments direct from the fashion houses of Europe, it was revolutionary. The business expanded into furniture and fashion manufacturing in the early twentieth century. With 150 years of history, James Stewart & Co. remains Australia’s longest surviving family-owned department store. The James Stewart Furniture Collection draws inspiration from this visionary great, great uncle, evoking his sense of charm and employing his eye for detail. Source: www.jamesstewartfurniture.com.au/blog/2018/1/31/james-ste...

Famous opera singer wearing a white elegant dress, white hat, and gloves, and carrying a white umbrella.

Dame Nellie Melba (1861–1931) Portrait of Dame Nellie Melba. World-renowned soprano. Dame Nellie Melba's voice was remarkable for its even quality over a range of nearly three octaves, and for its pure, silvery timbre. She had international renown as a soprano, performing in many cities including Milan, Brussels, London, Paris, and New Yrk.

Source: banknotes.rba.gov.au/australias-banknotes/people-on-the-b...

1914–1918: Based in Australia during World War I, Melba worked tirelessly to raise funds for war charities. She also gave wartime concerts in North America. For her services to the war effort, Melba was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1918. During this period she established a singing school at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in Albert Street, later renamed the Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music, providing her services free of charge. She often travelled from Lilydale to teach her ‘Melba's Girls'. 1920: She became the first artist of international standing to participate in direct radio broadcasts. 1926: Melba gave a number of supposedly ‘final’ performances. Her final Covent Garden performance was in 1926. 1927: She sang at the opening of Parliament House in Canberra, and was made a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire. 1928: Her final and emotional concerts took place in in Australia. 1931: Melba died in Sydney on 23 February 1931 and was buried at the Lilydale Cemetery in Victoria. 2008: The private conservatorium, Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music, ceased teaching and became the Dame Nellie Melba Opera Trust. Source: banknotes.rba.gov.au/australias-banknotes/people-on-the-b...