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Humpback whale carcass, Tangalooma Whaling Station, c1957 - item 1 of 2

This is a colour photograph showing the carcass of a southern humpback whale ('Megaptera novaengliae') on the wooden slipway of the Tangalooma Whaling Station on Moreton Island in Queensland. The whale is intact with its underside uppermost, showing distinctive colourings and markings, including the ventral grooves. Onlookers, ...

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Chinese workers at the Croydon Court House, c1905

This black-and-white photograph shows two lines of Chinese men, about 19 in all, squatting on the bare ground and eating a meal outside Croydon Court House in northern Queensland. The men are wearing Western-style long-sleeved shirts and trousers, and their queues (plaits) are wound around their heads. Plates and mugs are ...

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Anti-Chinese cover on Queensland Figaro and Punch, 1888

This cartoon appeared on the cover of the weekly Queensland Figaro and Punch on 14 July 1888 and depicts a stereotypical image of a grotesque Chinese man with gaping mouth, protruding teeth and a pug nose, about to be kicked by a tall strapping Australian bushman. The cartoon is titled 'THAT PEKIN EDICT' and has two captions. ...

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Chinese fruit and vegetable hawker, Brisbane

This black-and-white photograph shows a Chinese fruit and vegetable seller, or hawker, known as 'Vegetable John' according to the accompanying rather derogatory description of the time, posing at the steps of a suburban house. He is wearing Western-style clothes and is resting his shoulder pole and two very large open-weave ...

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Pacific Islanders harvesting cane on Bingera Plantation, 1884

This sepia photograph shows around ten Pacific Islander labourers in a sugar-cane field at Bingera Plantation near Bundaberg in Queensland as the cane is being harvested. A well-dressed European man and two young children pose in the cleared foreground, while in the mid-ground stands a fully laden horsedrawn wagon with ...

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Female emigrants bound for Australia, 1834

This hand-coloured lithograph, measuring 36.0 cm x 22.7 cm and consisting of seven panels of an original ten, depicts in cartoon form the deprivations suffered by single women migrating to Australia in the 1830s. Titled 'FEMALE EMIGRATION!', the scenes follow the story of the women leaving Britain, their rough crossing ...

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Cartoon of an Australian wife kissing a US soldier, 1943

This cartoon shows a US soldier romancing the wife of an Australian soldier. A shocked Australian Army private in uniform is depicted peering from behind a curtain at his attractive wife in the arms of a suave-looking US staff sergeant, who is also in uniform. The private holds a photograph album and the uniform hats of ...

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ANZAC poster

This is a poster commemorating the New Zealand role in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) campaign in Gallipoli during the First World War. Along the top is a photograph depicting three naval vessels on one side and Anzac Beach, Gallipoli, after the landing on the other. At the top of the photograph is the ...

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'Night refuge at the Immigrants' Home', c1873

This is a black-and-white print that depicts a group of men taking refuge at the Immigrants' Home in Melbourne. The men, most of whom are seated on wooden benches, are shown in a large common room. They are occupied by an activity that may be the picking of oakum. Sacks either hang from or have been placed on high shelves. ...

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Wool sorting at Gilgandra, 1936

This is a black-and-white photograph, measuring 21.3 cm x 16.2 cm, of four men skirting fleeces and classing wool at Berida Station near Gilgandra in New South Wales. They are using two long tables in a large shearing shed. The station manager's daughter, a shearing contractor and two shed hands are looking on. In the background ...

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Touring possible sites for the federal capital, 1902

This is a black-and-white photograph, measuring 18.8 cm x 24.0 cm, taken in 1902 during a tour of inspection by senators from the Federal Parliament of possible sites for the proposed federal capital. Having alighted from a horse-drawn stage coach, five members of the party en route to Tumut, New South Wales, are standing ...

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Loading camels, early 20th century

This is a sepia-toned photograph measuring 10.3 cm x 5.0 cm, taken in outback Australia in the early 20th century, probably by John Flynn (1880-1951). The photograph shows three men, one of whom is an Afghan cameleer, loading a camel with two wool bales. A camel already loaded stands in the foreground with other camels ...

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The 'Dig' tree in 1878

This is a watercolour by Arthur Esam (1850-1938), created in 1878 and measuring a modest 32.5 cm x 26.7 cm. It shows a coolibah tree with two sections of bark missing - the famous 'Dig' tree of the Burke and Wills Expedition of 1861. A man (perhaps Esam himself) is standing holding the reins of a horse, and appears to be ...

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Ophir gold diggings in 1851 - asset 1

This is a hand-coloured lithographic print of a painting by George French Angas showing a stream zigzagging through she-oaks and sparsely treed cliffs at what was to become Ophir, Australia's first gold rush site. The print shows 14 miners prospecting using several different methods. Measuring 24.2 cm x 35 cm, the print ...

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Washing clothes in an iron tub, c1890s

This is a black-and-white photograph made from a glass negative. It shows a woman washing clothes by hand in a galvanised iron tub outdoors, beside a high fence made from sheets of galvanised iron. A cane laundry basket and washed clothes hanging on a clothes line can be seen.

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Ruins of the Model Prison, Port Arthur, 1911-15

This is a sepia-toned photograph measuring 8.2 cm x 13.2 cm. It shows the ruins of the Model Prison at Port Arthur, Tasmania. A semicircular brick wall has three barred doors that open to exercise yards. A fourth door is open, showing another brick wall with steps leading up to the closed door of a solitary confinement ...

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'Panorama of Challicum, No. III', c1850

This is a watercolour measuring 16 cm x 24.5 cm showing the Victorian squatting run Challicum, from a south-westerly viewpoint. A team of four bullocks, pulling a single-axle wagon loaded with fuel and rough bush timber, is centred in front of a large forest. Two unidentified mountains or hills are on the horizon. The artist, ...

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'Panorama of Challicum, No. IV', c1850

This is a watercolour measuring 15.9 cm x 24.3 cm showing yellowed pasture backed by gum trees. A herd of cows with calves is grazing both in the foreground fields and the background timber. A small hill, part of the Challicum Hills, rises from the trees on the right. The artist, Duncan Cooper, included this painting as ...

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Visit of Australian cricketers to the USA, 1913

This is the front page of a program printed in rust-red-and-black letters on a beige background, with the words 'OFFICIAL PROGRAMME COMMEMORATING THE VISIT OF THE AUSTRALIAN CRICKETERS TO AMERICA 1913'. The text is set within decoration in the Art Nouveau style.

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Priest blessing Irish emigrants in 1851

This is a black-and-white print made from a wood engraving, which appeared in the 'Illustrated London News' in 1851, of a priest blessing a group of poor Irish emigrants who are packing their belongings onto a horse-drawn cart. The people are dressed in hats and coats, and some are kneeling to accept the blessing. The landscape ...