Just don't mention the war..

[56 Fregate]

Pre-war at least. This photo is apparently in Australia, Queensland I would suspect judging by the architecture of the pavilion and the Araucaria cunninghamii. Interesting also is the use of a bastard hip on the roof of the pavilion. Would also note that if it is indeed in Queensland the screen fence wouldn't last a single cyclone season.

Feel sorry for the poor kid in the sailor suit. I would also speculate that the old girl in the bottom right seems to be picking her nose.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Dion-Bouton

 

[Sunroof]

Is the 60 on the side in lieu of a number plate? Therefore perhaps the 60th car registered in Qld.

A bit of an effort for the woman in long skirts to get into the rear seat. Are the little rods with a knob on the end steps for rear access?

 

[56 Fregate]

Ahh but men were men in those days.

I would hasten to point out that the average life expectancy of men in 1906 was 46.9 yrs and that was without the risks of motor racing..

 

[56 Fregate]

Is the 60 on the side in lieu of a number plate? Therefore perhaps the 60th car registered in Qld.

A bit of an effort for the woman in long skirts to get into the rear seat. Are the little rods with a knob on the end steps for rear access?

That little lady would only weigh about 40kg, I'm sure Walter could easily hoist her up into the seat while still maintaining her feminine dignity.

 

[Kenfuego]

PC Correctness or simple facts.

I would hasten to point out that the average life expectancy of men in 1906 was 46.9 yrs and that was without the risks of motor racing..

These days it is even less in platforming terms if you dare mention physiology in such male superiority terms....

Ken:wink2:

 

[JohnW]

I'll bow to your architectural judgement there regarding location. Not NSW? It looks Edwardian in timing, doesn't it. Great photo - the lad is lucky he's not in a skirt, judging by photos of small children in the late Victorian era.....

Great hefty post and rail fence in the second photo. Judging by the hat, I'd have said SA..... But the fence does suggest further east with more and bigger timber available.

Great photos thanks.

 

[56 Fregate]

I bow to your judgement re the hat and knee warmer. Post and rail fences aren't impossible to find on the east side in fact there is one just down the road from me on the way to Phil Harrisons place...in suburbia no less.


In fact here it is..

 

[JohnW]

I bow to your judgement re the hat and knee warmer. Post and rail fences aren't impossible to find on the east side in fact there is one just down the road from me on the way to Phil Harrisons place...in suburbia no less.

I'd be guessing 1908-1912 but who knows.... Re post and rail fences, they existed in SA but those are big rails.... Men were men with axes and adzes then, so little wonder the life expectancy was what it was (an average of course, with horse accidents no small issue I suspect, having no brakes and no steering).

I actually have seen people of my generation whom I knew in Adelaide wearing hats like that btw. The Sporting Car Club of SA is the second oldest in the world I believe and some strange habits hung on with a few of its members.... Great library too.

 

[Andrew Watkins]

If this taken in QLd surely it is a contemporary photo?

Andrew

Pre-war at least. This photo is apparently in Australia, Queensland I would suspect judging by the architecture of the pavilion and the Araucaria cunninghamii. Interesting also is the use of a bastard hip on the roof of the pavilion. Would also note that if it is indeed in Queensland the screen fence wouldn't last a single cyclone season.

Feel sorry for the poor kid in the sailor suit. I would also speculate that the old girl in the bottom right seems to be picking her nose.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Dion-Bouton

View attachment 120388

 

[56 Fregate]

Another Australian pic



- - - Updated - - -

Another Australian pic..??

 

[56 Fregate]

If this taken in QLd surely it is a contemporary photo?

Andrew

I'm only guessing of course but have formed my opinion on the architectural style of the pavilion, the trees, the use of corrugated iron on the roof (Vic and NSW mostly used tiled rooves particularly on govt buildings) and the fact that these cars were around in Brisbane as early as 1905, see posts 33 and 41

 

[JohnW]

I'm only guessing of course but have formed my opinion on the architectural style of the pavilion, the trees, the use of corrugated iron on the roof (Vic and NSW mostly used tiled rooves particularly on govt buildings) and the fact that these cars were around in Brisbane as early as 1905, see posts 33 and 41

I can't remember the details but "we" know who this is and both when and where the photo was taken in Brisbane. Was it on Aussiefrogs or RCCQ? Can't remember but it was a year or two back I think.

 

[56 Fregate]

To my l delight I spotted an interesting albeit minor detail on a brick building dated back to 1842 in Armidale. There is a keystone feature over the lintel area of this brick vent which served absolutely no purpose other than to display the attention to detail of the Architect These days we'd call it OCD, a mental disorder and provide medication for it.

Ah, take me back to 1842 to a time when dreamers could flourish, explorers could explore and Architects could experiment.

Where's the French content I hear you groan? Well, bricks have frogs..

 

[seasink]

A lot later than 1842. That's probably Richardson's founding date.

The Armidale post office from 1843 is one of the first buildings in a then village.

 

[seasink]

Here we are - Armidale Express, 4th April 1941

In June of this year J. Richardson and Co. Pty. Ltd. will enter the 100th year of the store's existence. A magnificent record of service and achievement equalled by few businesses of any type in the provincial areas of the State can be indisputably claimed by this 99-yeaf-old establishment. The business was established by the late Major Innes in 1842, and is recorded as the town's first business. The extent of Armidale at this period can be gauged by the description penned by Lieutenant-Colonel Mundy during Lord Fitzroy's visit here in 1847. The full text of this old and interesting reference appears elsewhere in this issue.

Major Innes was followed in the business, by James Gilchrist and John Moore, the .latter relinquishing full control in i872 to the late Hon. John Richardson, M.L.C. The business has remained in the hands of the Richardson family to this day

 

[56 Fregate]

Yep I don't dispute that.
Armidale is a beautiful place this time of the year and sans drought conditions. The hills are green, the street trees are budding and the creeks are full. Ahar the serenity..

 

[seasink]

Have a squiz at the brickwork in Horbury Hunt's St Peter's Cathedral. It would be nice to see more of that skill today.

 

[56 Fregate]

Blimy. I don't know if that could even be done today given the cost and lack of detailed skill available today. I mean there are good neat bricklayers around but that is on another level.

 

[seasink]

The other Hunt cathedrals (Newcastle, Grafton) are brickwork marvels, but Armidale is astonishing. Hunt was reputed to lay a few to show what he wanted.

 

[Kenfuego]

To me the more interesting detail is in the other brick courses, where the bricklayer of the day adjusted and juggled the brick courses as a skilled bricklayer does. My Father In Law had to show his bricklayer who was building their home how to adjust brick courses to avoid lopsided arches on the windows of the house. Then modern tradesman bricklayer insisted that it could not be done until Norm had him pull down the recently laid bricks and showed him how to adjust the pattern of laying so that all window arches were even.

F.I.L. was at that time in the Furniture retail business and had learned the techniques in his early Tech School building design and drafting classes 40 years before.

Times change I guess.

Ken