It’s a living!

Work and business between 1860 and 1900.

E.W. Cohen was an entrepreneurial chap. He was the Dentist and Chemist at Longreach, and unusually, at least to modern minds, this business included a billiards saloon.

And here’s Mr Cohen in the 1880s at his establishment in nearby Arrilalah. Here, he’s the surgeon dentist, druggist and purveyor of horse and cattle medicines, and perfumes – in that order. It was the outback. A businessman had to be realistic.

Here in Charleville, Mr Troup plied his trade as both a chemist and stationer to youngsters on newfangled bicycles.

Dr Brown made his home visits in this rather elegant carriage, complete with lights on the side for journeys at night.

The Brisbane Courier, successor to the Moreton Bay Courier of old, occupied premises just above the Frog’s Hollow neighbourhood and just below the Government buildings of George and William Streets. They were ideally placed to observe high and low life in Brisbane.

In the detail (below), the journalists and managers wear waistcoats and top hats. The workers, right down to a few pugnacious-looking children presumably employed as copyboys or paperboys, do not.

Here, the staff of Hobson’s Foundry pose in front of their building (and behind a sprawling pile of rubble – perhaps it was hard rubbish day for the Charters Towers garbage collectors).

Everyone looks conscientious and workmanlike, except one boy leaning against a large wheel. Take the photo, I’m over it.

First, you would probably need a coherent structure to apply the paint to, just saying…

Devotees of tiny homes would be impressed by the compact business spaces occupied by the Commercial Bank and the neighbouring Watchmaker. Three men pose on the verandah in that characteristic Colonial Lean, while an old timer catches up for a yarn and a pipe.

Even tinier is Pechey’s Iceberg Dairy. Regrettably, there was no information about the business or the photo, beyond the caption supplied by hand all of those years ago.

Mr Lee made confectionary and pastry as well. There’s a lot of detail in this tableau, and if you look carefully, you can see some of August’s fancy goods in the store window.

Some jobs even came with their own bijou accommodation. Here are the Bachelors’ Quarters at Kinnoull Station at Taroom in 1864. Presumably the Married Quarters had, um, proper doors and windows.

And lastly, a picturesque spot in which to make a living. At the time of the photograph, the station was no longer in danger of being overrun by Norfolk Island escapee pirates.