John Hinton "Jack" Edmonds was my father. He was born on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula in 1911, and grew up on the family's sheep-wheat property at Pygery, a farm like so many in the district at the time, that the family carved out of the virgin mallee bush from about 1914 onwards when the South Australian Government opened that country up to development. His parents' story can be found via the link below, on the genealogy site "STIRRING THE BONES"....
It was a fairly austere life in those early days, but by 1925, the time Jack was about 14, he found an interest in photography, bought a camera, and learnt how to develop his own photos. Photography went on to be a lifelong hobby.
I inherited about 800 negatives in black and white when he died in 1990, but only recently found a way to develop them to a clean digital format, along with about 200 prints, forming an invaluable record of a Life and a Time that has now gone.
Much of his material to about the mid 1930s depicts life on the farm, when settlers' greatest assets were ingenuity and fencing wire, knowing 10 ways to use an empty 4 gallon petrol can, 3 ways to cook rabbit, and how to make quondong jam. It's mostly about work, but there's some play, and I've arranged them here in small groups for ease of access. There is also a lot from around the district, and of their neighbours. The quality is "variable", but if you download a copy, they may take some additional photo-editing.
Many of the prints had notations on the back, mostly by Jack, which I've included, and the rest of the notes are from research, or my best guesses. There are also later batches from his Army days, his early travels after the war, the city of Adelaide, and its surrounding countryside.
Anywhere I say "Dad" in the notes I mean Jack Edmonds, "Mum" I mean Ella nee Osborn, "Grandad" I mean Ernest Harry Edmonds, and "Grandma" I mean Mabel nee Haines. Likewise...
"EP" and "The West Coast" means Eyre Peninsula in South Aust.
"c1930" implies it's part of Dad's earlier snaps, say 1925-1935.
"The Sturts" are the two main bumps on the horizon out towards the Gawler Ranges.
"The Lakes" are the large salt lakes out towards The Sturts north of Wudinna.
The captions in ( ) brackets are mostly my own comments, but if they are someone's from the day, other than Jack's, I've said who they are.
There's plenty of snaps that are unidentified, and I'll update as I find out more, but if you think you know who/where it is, take a copy of the snap and email it to me, with notes, at...
Not included on this site are family photos from 1940-1945 at Prospect, and from 1946 to 1952 at The Gorge. Any descendants of Jack Edmonds, Ella Osborn, or Gordon Murray who may be interested in these, should email me at the above.
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FOR THE TECHICAL MINDED...
If you have old black and white negatives that you'd like to try developing the way I did these, it's all on the "STIRRING THE BONES" website. Just go to....
STIRRING THE BONES: Developing old B&W negatives
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