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History Magazine photoshoot for RAHS captures a window into the past in Camden

camdenhistorynotes

A camera captures a moment in time

A historian rarely gets a window into the past in real-time through the lens of a camera. I did this in Camden, New South Wales, recently at a photo shoot for the History Magazine for the Royal Australian Historical Society.

camden laura jane arygle st photo shoot 2019 iwillis
A photo shoot in Camden, NSW, for the Royal Australian Historical Society History Magazine. Model Laura Jane, photographer Jeff McGill. Location Argyle Street Camden 2018 (IWillis)

Photographer Jeff McGill and author Laura Jane were the participants in this activity. We all walked along Camden’s historic main thoroughfare, Argyle Street, which still echoes the Victorian period.  Our little group made quite a splash and drew the attention of local women who swooned over the ‘gorgeous’ vintage dress Laura Jane wore.

sydney david jones market street 1938 sam hood dos slnsw
Sydney’s David Jones Market Street store was one of the city’s most elegant shopping precincts. The city had several department stores that attracted women from rural New South Wales. This image was taken by noted Sydney photographer Sam Hood in 1938. (SLNSW)

Mid-20th century enthusiast Laura Janes lived the lifestyle in dress, makeup and hairstyle. They made the perfect foil for her History article on Sydney fashion, the David Jones store and their links to Dior’s fashion house.  Laura Jane modelled her 1950s Dior style vintage dress  in front of Camden’s storefronts that were reminiscent of the period. With a matching handbag, gloves, hat, hairstyle, stiletto heels, and makeup, she made a picture to behold captured by Campbelltown photographer Jeff.

camden laura jane looking class 2019 iwillis lowres
A photo shoot for the History Magazine of the Royal Australian Historical Society in Argyle Street Camden. The location is Looking Class retail outlet in a building from the Interwar period. The entry tiles are reminiscent of the mid-20th century that are representative of the period for model Laura Jane’s Dior-style gown. (I Willis)

Laura Jane encompasses the experience of the country woman going to town when Camden women would dress up in their Sunday best to shop in Camden or catch the train to the city.

Pansy Camden train crossing Hume Hwy L Manny Camden Images
The ‘Pansy’ Camden train crossed Hume Highway at Narellan in the mid-20th century. This was a light rail service which used a tanker locomotive and ran as a mixed freight and passenger service. The service ran several times a day  between Camden and Campbelltown railway stations. The train has just left Narellan Railway Station on its way to the next stop at Currans Hill. (L Manny/Camden Images)

A city shopping expedition would entail catching the Pansy train at Camden Railway Station, changing steam trains at Campbelltown Railway Station, and another change at Liverpool Railway Station from steam train to the electric suburban service for Central Railway Station in Sydney. The suburban electric trains did not arrive at Campbelltown until 1968.

burragorang valley women 1923 claude jenkins' service car at the bluff light six buick cipp
This image shows country women from the Burragorang Valley coming to town in 1923. They are done up in hats, gloves and stockings and travel in the valley service car run by Claude Jenkins. He ran a daily service between Camden and the Valley using this Light Buick Six Tourer. Here they are stopped at The Bluff lookout above the Burragorang Valley. (Camden Images)

City outings for country women often happened around the Royal Easter Show when the whole family would go to the city. The family would bring their prized horses and cattle to compete with other rural producers for the honour and glory of winning a sash. While the menfolk were busy with rural matters, their women folk would be off to town to shop for the latest fashions for church and show balls or to fit out the family for the upcoming year.

sydney royal easter show cattle parade sam hood 1938 slnsw 17102h
The Sydney Royal Easter Show was a regular outing for the whole family. The men would show their prized animals in the various sections hoping for a sash, while the women went shopping in town. This image by noted Sydney photographer Sam Hood shows the cattle parade for Herefords at the 1938 Royal Easter Show. (SLNSW)

Country women from further away might stay at swish city hotels like the up-market elegant Hotel Australia near Martin Place. These infrequent city outings were a treat and a break from the drudgery of domesticity, and women would take the opportunity to combine a shopping trip with a visit to see a play or the Tivoli theatre.

The Sydney street photographers captured the intrinsic nature of the city outings for country women.   They operated around the Martin Place, Circular Quay, Macquarie and Elizabeth Street precincts and are depicted in an current photographic exhibition at the Museum of Sydney.

sydney hotel australia 1932 wikimedia
Sydney’s Hotel Australia was the city’s most elegant hotel on Martin Place and Castlereagh Street, opened in 1891. The country family would stay here for a special treat when the Royal Easter Show was on at the Moore Park Showground site. This image is from 1932. (Wikimedia)

The images of the Sydney street photographer captured moments in time, and their most prolific period was during the 1930s to the 1950s. The country woman would be captured on film as she and a friend wandered along a city street. They would be given a token, and they could purchase a memento of their city visit in a postcard image that they could purchase at a processing booth in a city arcade. The Sydney street photographer captured living history and has not completely disappeared from Sydney street.

sydney street photographers mofsyd 2019 iwillis
Sydney street photographers were a standard part of the city streetscape between the 1930s and the 1960s. They captured Sydney street life in a way that was unique and, along with it provided the viewer with an insight into Sydney’s cultural life. These images are from the photographic exhibition on at the Museum of Sydney. (I Willis, 2019)

Laura Jane, whose lifestyle encompasses the mid-20th century, expresses the living history movement in motion.  The living history movement is a popular platform for experiencing the past. It incorporates those who want to live the past in the present, aka Laura Jane, or relive it occasionally as re-enactors who relive the past for a moment. There are many examples of the latter at historic sites in Australia, the USA, and the UK.

The Camden photo shoot was an example of how a moment in time can truly be part of living history, where the photographer captures a glimpse of the past in the present. An example of how the present never really escapes the past.

Many of these stories are in my Pictorial History of Camden and District.

Cover Pictorial History Camden District Ian Willis 2015
Front Cover of Ian Willis’s Pictorial History of Camden and District (Kingsclear, 2015)

Updated on 9 May 2023. Originally posted on 13 January 2019.