Author: Photograph - Hunting party.
Title: A photograph of a group of colonial hunters.
Description: n.p. n.d [c1880?]. Albumen print 130x200mm on an old card mount that is quite chipped around the edges, now in a modern mount and fake period frame that can be kept or discarded as desired. ¶ An arresting, terrifying image that in bleaker moods represents too well some flipside Australian spirit of achievement: in an near desolated landscape every male who can sit on a horse and hold a gun is about to set out and slaughter whatever is left. The presence of at least three children indicates they aren't out for Aborigines or bushrangers but I wouldn't want to be a creature of any species in that neighbourhood. I count 35 hunters so this isn't some spur of the moment after lunch jaunt. There are a couple of distinguished looking gents but this clearly isn't the kind of mock fox hunt that Trollope describes in his account of Australia, the bandolier draped round one hunter makes that clear. I can't see anything in the costumes or guns that couldn't date from the 1860's but outback Australia isn't known for avant-garde fashion and an expert may prove me wrong; so I've opted for a later approximate date.

Keywords: photography c19th Australia social history sports hunting