1906? Visiting dignitary at Cambridge Street Primary School

ID: 9596
Photographer: Model Studio, 330 Smith Street, Collingwood|Janes, George
Copyright: Image held by Collingwood Library
Org ID: CL PIC 9

Description: Size: 153 x 200 mm A view looking north across the school yard towards Derby Street. This was obviously a very important occasion and the photo is so full of detail that it well repays careful study. A large group of school children stand in a circle around a dais on which stands the visiting dignitary (perhaps the governor?) wearing a uniform, plumed headpiece and sword. In front of the dais are two potted plants, one an aspidistra. Behind the dignitary stand twenty to thirty men. Many of the children have one hand raised and others wave flags. A number of boys have climbed a brick wall in the background for a better view and a teacher has his head turned towards them, perhaps in reprimand. On the other side of a fence are a group of soldiers with bayonets, and a group of sailors, watched by a number of adults including two men in shirtsleeves, waistcoats and long white aprons who look as though they have just stepped out of their shop for a moment to view the festivities. In the right foreground are a number of women wearing very elaborate hats, while the children wear boaters, broad-brimmed straw hats, caps, berets and tam-o'-shanters. From the tall flagpole is suspended a rope on which hang more flags and a 'Welcome' banner. Beyond the school yard more children are peering over the fence. The men walking into the toilets might have been embarassed to know that they were being caught in the act by the photographer's bird's eye view. The backs of the buildings in Derby Street can be seen: mostly two-storey brick with rather ramshackle outhouses, and one single storey double-fronted eatherboard with a slate roof. To the right in the background is the intersection of Derby and Cambridge streets, showing the terrace of bi-chrome brick houses with doors opening directly onto the footpath which still stands there today. A gas lamp can be seen on the corner of the street and there are telegraph lines running along Cambridge Street. In Derby Street the blacksmith business of William Brown is just visible. Content of image: Collingwood Primary School (Cambridge Street) Source of image: Grace Hocking Address: Cambridge Street schools - collingwood primary (cambridge street)
Subject: schools

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