1880, Gympie, Queensland.
A group of 35 men are photographed just before going below ground at the No. 1 North Phoenix mine. Some are quite young, others raw-boned, haggard from years of hard work. The men gaze at the camera warily, wearily. They know that accidents are common in their line of work. If they don’t die or suffer and injury down there, they’ll work an exhausting shift in the dark and heat, with only two candles each as safety equipment.
December 20, 1895. Brisbane River, Queensland.
A group of construction workers pose with five divers at the construction site of the Indooroopilly Railway Bridge. Everything about the divers looks heavy – their diving suits, enormous boots, the ropes tied around them. A huge metal diving helmet reposes on a pile of hoses and ropes. The divers are all seated, most have pipes. They all have the thousand-yard stare of men who routinely risk their lives in their line of work.
The above-water construction men pose among the ladders, probably glad of a few minutes’ rest while that fellow sets the camera up. And someone has invited Management – in the form of a smug party with a straw boater, polished shoes and white trousers that have never seen a speck of dirt from honest labour. Management gazes comfortably at the camera and leans against an upright. Everyone else looks rumpled and work-weary.
Vindex Station, 1895.
Four years after a strike that polarised the colony of Queensland, the shearing team at Vindex Station posed for a photograph. The shearers themselves are blurry figures, bent over at their task. There is an ecosystem in the shed – classers and sorters and supervisors. Even those men whose jobs permit them to stop and pose for the picture will shortly be lugging heavy fleeces around.
The Torres Strait, 1890.
A grainy photograph records a pearl diver aboard ship in the Torres Strait in 1890. The two men assisting on deck appear to be Torres Strait Islanders. The diver is fully suited up, with the huge, windowed helmet and lengths of rope between him and peril. Diving was one of the most dangerous occupations of the 1800s.
Brisbane Region, 1890.
Two timber-getters are dwarfed by the enormous trunk they will be sawing down in the Enoggera Ranges. It’s possible that someone invited management here, too, judging by the presence of a well-dressed chap in the background.
Atherton Tableland, 1890.
In the Atherton Tableland, in North Queensland, two timber workers are applying the best technology they had to the task of removing this giant old tree. They’ve erected a very temporary looking temporary structure next to the tree, and one is working away with only his axe. In the tropics. In a rainforest.
Moreton Bay and More 