riverina

No. 11 in the same series - As noted by beachcomber australia, numbers most likely represent 23 February 1931.

Just read a good review of an excellent book, "Survival Legacies: Stories of Aboriginal Settlements of Southeastern Australia" bu Peter Kabaila; that mentions a sad history of this place! reviewed in the Panorama of the Canberra Times 30/07/11

Looks like a pic of an infamous Training School for Aboriginal Girls. Kids were taken from their families to be trained as domestic servants and then sent to work in so-called "good homes" at slave rates of pay or no pay at all - A sad reflection of those times. In Queensland up till WW2, there was a scheme whereby orphans or state wards until the age of 18 were sent to farms to work for families where they would be sent to school for an education but were also expected to work on the farm for their keep. At the same time, some money was deposited in their bank accounts so that they would have some aside for when they left "care". Of course one knows what happened in some cases - Kids were ill-treated and worked like slaves and they probably never received the money. My grandparents used the scheme but they did the right thing by the kids. One lady from the scheme became part of our family (actually I consider her my aunt) all thru the years until she died at the ripe old age of 85, And another bloke from the scheme and my dad were friends for many years.

That's a great photo. Seems like there has been a bit of retouching to the swag, billy and trouser legs to make them more defined, but I'd be interested in an expert opinion. Good to compare with "On the wallaby track" from the Tyrrell Collection here: www.flickr.com/photos/powerhouse_museum/2363534490/ ADDED: Oh, I see now through at the persistent URL, that these were glass slides for display at an exhibition, so it is understandable that some features were retouched to give more definition on the big screen. Maybe some of the trees in the background have been blurred in processing too.

Very impressive portrait.

Compare him to this photgraph of Ninely and Nine: www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmediamuseum/3084038737/

BobMeade - the whole photo has been touched up extensively, but the eyes most strikingly of all. In the original only the whites of his eyes are visible and it gives the image a powerful aspect. The State Library have the original, but only digitised in low definition. A sharper version can be seen reproduced on p. 78 of Gaslight Sydney by Louise Johnson (Sydney: George Allen & Unwin, 1984). The State Library further define the location as Walbundry Station.

Thank you pellethepoet.