M000437 Wagon loaded with wheat, 1880-1900
Description
This is a black-and-white photograph from a silver gelatin dry-plate glass negative, attributed to George Bell and produced by the studio of Charles Kerry and Co, Sydney. It shows a horsedrawn wagon at Narromine railway station, fully loaded with bags of wheat. The cart is harnessed to ten horses. Two men face each other in the foreground. One man is dressed in work clothing and is holding a whip, the second appears to be wearing a uniform, possibly a railway master's uniform. A saddled horse is also in the foreground. Men in suits are in the background. The caption, studio number and studio mark are inscribed on the reverse of the negative (not shown).
Acknowledgements: Reproduced courtesy of Powerhouse Museum. Photograph by Charles Kerry and Co, Sydney.
- Educational value
- Large tabletop wagons such as the one shown were first built in Australia in the 1890s in response to an increase in wool production and improvements in roads. They were designed to transport wheat or wool to the nearest railway station and could carry up to 20 tonnes.
- The cultivation of wheat and wool were, and continue to be, important primary industries in Australia. Australia was described as 'living off the sheep's back' for much of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and demand for wool was responsible for much of the country's wealth at that time.
- This photograph was probably taken by George Bell, who was employed by the Sydney firm Charles Kerry and Co in 1890. The work he produced over the next ten years stands among the best of the period. His best pictures have a lyrical quality at odds with the demands of journalistic realism. Among his best known are 'Pioneers', 'The farmer's daughter' and 'The waterbag'. In 1900 he took up a position at the Sydney Mail newspaper, and he later became the Sydney Morning Herald's first full-time photographer.
- Topics
- Wheat
- Railway stations
- Horsedrawn vehicles
- Rights
- © Curriculum Corporation and Trustees of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences 2009 (except where otherwise indicated). You may view, display, print out, copy and modify this material for non-commercial educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with the material.
