More mysteries solved

Once again the keen eyes and canny detective skills of our social media followers have assisted us in identifying previously undescribed photographs from State Library's collection. This information will prove invaluable as it allows us to update our records, making these images more discoverable to other researchers. Without any further ado here are four mystery images now solved.

Is it Windsor? Nope

We initially convinced ourselves that several unidentified photographs of a house and backyard from the Siegfried Monz negatives collection were taken in the Brisbane north-side suburb of Windsor, but we thought we'd run it by our Facebook followers for their thoughts.

One undaunted follower used electoral rolls to determine that Monz lived at 'Elsigana', 35 Nicholson Street, Greenslopes. Unfortunately the house no longer exists to validate this theory, but nevertheless our fearless investigator was able to conclusively prove that this was the correct address by using a 1995 aerial photograph from QImagery and an image from an old real estate web page. According to the researcher, the house disappeared from aerial images between 2000 and 2001.

Obscured business signs

Often when identifying photographs of street scenes, business signs provide significant clues. Annoyingly with our next image, all three business signs depicted were partially or completely obscured by trees.

The least obscured sign was "...azzi......ess Maker". Within a few hours Facebook followers had cracked the case. One sharp eyed person saw an ornate cupola in the background of the image, just peeking from behind another building. This cupola was correctly recognised as belonging to the Cunnamulla Post Office in Stockyard Street, which still stands today.

Researchers also turned their attention to the partially readable business sign, determining that '...azzi' was in fact Victor Pazzazi who ran a harness maker business in Jane Street. After delving into Trove Newspapers it was established that Pazzazi ran the business in Jane Street between 1901 and 1907.

Other mystery images solved

Another mystery photograph from the Queensland Cement & Lime Company Limited Photograph Albums was quickly identified.

The business sign on the building, although out of focus, was determined to be K.M. Smith Funeral Directors. The wall, pictured on the right, was identified as part of the retaining wall of the foundations of the never-built Holy Name Cathedral in Fortitude Valley. The photograph was taken from Centenary Place looking across Gotha Street.

This unidentified ca.1950s lantern slide of a scenic view from the Beryl Clowes Collection was identified as being taken from Eildon Hill Reserve in the Brisbane suburb of Windsor, looking towards Mt Coot-tha.

Myles Sinnamon, Engagement Officer, State Library of Queensland

Further reading

• Part One of Mysteries Solved