Painful Ideal

We know Ethel May Snow (née Lynn) (1900-1965) of Glen Innes in northern NSW, preferred to be called May because, in her portrait, she wears a brooch with that name at her throat. In the studio photograph, May is impeccably dressed in the idealised fashion of the 1910s. It was a style that would soon […]

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The Artist/Explorer

Greg Weight (1946- ) has been photographing artists since he joined Martin Sharp, Brett Whiteley, George Gittoes, and Peter Kingston at the artist-run Yellow House in Sydney in 1970. There, he met people who fascinated him for the ways in which they interpreted ‘the mystery and phenomena of the real world.’ For Weight, taking photographs […]

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Drysdale’s German Shopkeeper

The budding gardener in this photograph, Gustav (Gus) Friedrich Wagner (1881-1950) was the third of the six children of Peter Christian Wagner and his wife, Johanna Hermina ‘Mina’ (nee Rosler). Gus would become a mainstay of Jindera society, operating Wagner’s store for 36 years until his death and was reputedly the subject of Russell Drysdale’s […]

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An Important Event in the Circles of Jindera

The marriage of Gustav (Gus) Wagner and Ottilie (Tilly) Schmidt in October 1907 was definitely an important and notable event in the social circles of Jindera and represented the coming together of four of the original German settler families: the Wagners, Roslers, Schmidts, Kalms and if Ottilie’s mother’s family is included, the Schultzs. The young […]

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Seeing Herman Rosler

If it possible to ascribe personal characteristics based on a photograph this portrait of Julius Herman Rosler (1825-1914) – known as John – suggests a self-confident man determined to make his mark on the world, something he certainly did. One obituary published upon Rosler’s death was subtitled ‘A Romantic Career’ which somewhat downplays a life […]

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