Old Film:: Labourer in the South West (1940s)
The South West of Tasmania and the Central Highlands would be a hard piece of country if somebody had to make a living. Even more so way back in the 1940s. This photograph was scanned from a 6cm x 9cm film negative made by my grandmother Elvie Ruth Bonner (1901-1986) sometime around the 1940s. A lot of my grandmother’s photographs through the 1940s and 1950s were of itinerant workers (friends and family) who made a living as general labourers.
I particularly like this photograph because of the way it captures that tough landscape. This is a beautiful documentary portrait of a man who earned his bread with bone grinding physical work. I have no idea who he is or his connection to our family.
