Family Photos from 1911

This box of Imperial Special Rapid ORTHO plates has the batch number 1159 stamped on the lid. Another stamp says Examined by P. Orthochromatic plates were new in 1911 and the Imperial Dry Plate Company of Cricklewood, London published that year the brochure Orthochromatic Photography: Simply Explained and Illustrated to educate amateur photographers on the benefits of the new emulsion.

There were 9 glass plates and one 4x5 inch film negative in the box. The following notes are written in black pencil on its bottom:

Beach in S. Melbourne in Year 1911
SS Kyarra
Ada + P. Wilson (2)
Coorooraa(?) 30/1/11
... Heywood (2) 30/1/11
Jean Mordialloc 26/12/10
Jean + Ronald (2) 30/1/11
Ormsby(?) 30/1/11
The Wedding 29/1/11
Wilpena(?) 30/1/11
Jean ˙ Pram

The beach scene is most likely this photograph which unfortunately is slightly out of focus. The Steam Ship Kyarra is seen on the film negative. This luxury liner was built in 1903, converted into hospital ship in 1914, and then into a troop transport in 1915. On 26 May 1918 SS Kyarra was sunk by German Submarine UB-57.

There are two photographs of a couple taken in the backyard of a suburban house. This must be Ada and P. Wilson mentioned in the notes. A photo of Jean with a toy pram is taken from the same spot. So this young lady must be Jean, and the boy next to her on this photograph would be Ronald. The kids also appear on another image Jean wearing her best dress and Ronald trying to sit still in a folding chair.

The other glass plates in the box still keep their secrets. They could have been taken from other boxes. This image for example could have been taken in Launceston.