75 years on – Photographic conundrums in the Centaur Memorial Fund Collection

Dr Madonna Grehan, John Oxley Library Fellow 2015 and guest blogger reports on continuing work to identify photographs held in Centaur Memorial Fund for Nurses collection at State Library of Queensland.

Photographs can be valuable sources for historians. Photos can tell us about topography, transport and roads, building and engineering, agriculture, recreation, people, fashion, clothing, hairstyles, food, workplaces and work practices, all sorts of things. Photographs without context can present a particular challenge.

A good example are photographs in the Centaur Memorial Fund for Nurses (the Fund) deposited at State Library of Queensland in 1976. It includes around 90 high-quality, black and white images, some annotated, some not. During a John Oxley Fellowship in 2015-2016 and since then, I’ve endeavoured to identify, date and provide context for these items. Once an image is identified with surety, the data can be added to the item record.

Filed with application forms for entrants in Queen of the Nurses and similar quests held in 1948, 1950 and 1955 are a number of stunning professional portraits. They capture women in nursing uniform and others in civilian dress. There are trainees wearing caps, trained nurses wearing veils and badges, and senior trained nurses wearing military ribbon bars. Would-be quest entrants had to supply a professional portrait for use in promotion of Fund activities.

The portraits were copied by the Brisbane Telegraph newspaper, an official sponsor of the Fund. Some portraits are by: Dorothy Coleman, Ranald Simmonds, Frank W Thiel and Shelley Studio. The Fund kept Scrap Books of the Telegraph articles which featured these portraits. By comparing and re-comparing original photographs with clippings, visages became familiar to the eye, and I’ve been able to confirm the identity of some subjects.

A number of other high-quality photographs were likely taken by the Telegraph and once in press, their captions are not always 100% accurate as a photograph here shows. It featured in the Telegraph captioned as Sister Mann signing an autograph for Nurse Norma Cronin, with the contest winner Sister Peggy Taylor on the left.

The nurse on the left holds a pen and the visible text reads MANN. Correctly, the caption read as left to right should say: During a visit by Centaur candidates to Greenslopes Hospital, Sister Jean Cronin (Nurse City Theatres) signs an autograph for Nurse Norma Mann (Nurse State Insurance). On the right is the Queen of the Nurses Quest winner, Sister Peggy Taylor (Nurse Cold Flame). I thank Jean Cronin’s daughter for confirming her mother’s identity.

The image below of a group is undated, unidentified and hasn’t been located in print. It shows 38 people of whom 36 are women; 28 of them are well-dressed in civilian clothes, headwear/hats, handbags and gloves; eight others wear the uniform of a trained nurse, indicated by veils. There are two men wearing glasses. Signage reads “NURSES QUARTERS”. A woman on the right holds a fan. A uniformed nurse holds a camera with the case slung over her left shoulder. Who are these people and what does this photograph have to do with the Fund?

From Fund records, newspaper articles and images, we know that the Queen the of Nurses Quest culminated in a crowning and concert at Brisbane City Hall on Thursday 16 December 1948 with a weekend of activities planned. Of 39 country candidates, 25 travelled to Brisbane with support from the Fund. Three from northern Qld were welcomed at Brisbane airport and named in an article.

A group of the rural candidates was photographed at the Canberra Hotel where their rooms had been beautifully decorated with flowers from the Brisbane General Hospital and the Lord Mayor, JB Chandler.

With the Thursday crowning and concert over, on Friday 17 December Brisbane’s Lord Mayor hosted candidates at a daytime civic reception. Later in the day, Mr Charles Hope sponsored a buffet supper at the Carlton Hotel then a picture party at the Regent Theatre.

On Saturday 18 December, the candidates had a day trip around Brisbane, courtesy of the Telegraph newspaper. It began with morning tea in the mess of the nurses quarters at Greenslopes Repatriation Hospital and a tour of the hospital, followed by a tea and swimming party at the Oasis Gardens in Sunnybank. From newspaper reports, some with images, it’s possible to establish the context for the unidentified group photograph yet not possible to identify everyone in it.

The below photo is of Quest candidates and supporters outside the nurses’ quarters at Greenslopes Repatriation Hospital, taken Saturday 18 December 1948. Those wearing white dresses, veils and white shoes are trained nurses employed at Greenslopes, of whom seven were Quest candidates (#4, 7, 15, 28, 30, 32, 34). Two staff from the hospital hosted the visit: Sister F Pass (# 6) representing Matron Monckton, and Sister Margaret Kavney (# 32).

Accompanying the party were Reg Vickers (# 13), Editor of the Telegraph newspaper and Deputy Chairman of the Centaur Executive, his wife Margaret (# 18), and Miss Hazel M Johnston (# 8). Johnston was the only nurse on the Centaur Executive and the powerhouse behind the Fund’s campaign. The group was welcomed officially by Mr BJ Harlem (# 11), Deputy Commissioner for Repatriation Qld.

Despite continued searching and repeated comparison, 9 of the women pictured are not identified with certainty. Country entrants who indicated that they would attend were: Catherine Evans (Ipswich), Josephine Murphy (Biggenden), June Fischer (Chinchilla), Iris Cliffe (Mundubbera), and Ailsa Cardell (Nurse Maroochy). It is possible that friends of the candidates were permitted to join the party.

An identity legend to the photo is below. Original photographs have been digitised at SLQ

Feedback on any information featured is welcome.

Collections

• OMEG, Centaur Memorial Fund for Nurses Records, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.

More Blogs by Madonna Grehan

• Read more blogs exploring Madonna's research into the Centaur Memorial Fund for Nurses