Just a postcard ...

My daughter runs a vintage store in the historic town of Maldon, Victoria, and among the objects she sells are old postcards, also historic family photographs.

Some date to the late-19 Century and the most recent is around mid-20 Century. These provide much inspiration for anyone interested in family history and trying to find the stories behind some of these bits of ephemera.

Sadly, the family photos often have no clues at all as to who the individuals are and many of the postcards are blank – perhaps purchased by people as souvenirs while on their travels – while others have been written on, sent to families and friends from all sorts of places around the world. Each of these provide tantalising snippets of long-forgotten people and lost lives. Most of the time it is almost impossible to find anything out about that Violet or Edna who dropped a line to “Aunty” or “Mother”, but some cards provide a few clues and with, the aid of online sources, it is possible to tease out a bit of their history.

Here is a coloured postcard of a sailing boat at Hamilton Beach, Brisbane, Queensland [see note below]. There is an interesting tale on the reverse, the card having been written just a few weeks after the outbreak of World War I.

Murwillumbah,

11^th September, 1914

Dear Ones All [meaning One & All perhaps?]

Just a line or two, while we are on our way. Left Tweed Heads this morning and have got as far as Murwillumbah, and will have dinner here, then go on to Burringbar, where we give a concert tonight. -

Had a good house last night at Tweed Heads – Shows what a decent fellow did for us at first you see, they came then, and evidently liked us so crowded us again last night. We met Mr [or Mrs] McAlister today as we came here. -

Also heard some of the Fisk Jubilee Singers rehearsing in the hall. – Had pleasant time at Tweed yesterday – went in bathing again, and enjoyed it. – I can manage.

Unfortunately there is no signature, but as this person appears to be part of a troupe, they could have been some sort of entertainer, singer or musician.

It is difficult to know exactly how many concerts were being performed in Tweed Heads, Murwillumbah and Burringbar area on the relevant days in September 1914 as some of the local newspapers covering this period are only on a paid subscription and not freely available via the usual Australian sources at TROVE. Therefore, linking this postcard with certainty to a specific travelling company is problematic but the “decent fellow” might have been a Mr Saunders who raised over £35 for the Belgian Fund, as discerned from the OCR text that is available for the newspapers.

Numerous “patriotic concerts” were being held during this time throughout the country to raise money and bolster national pride and enthusiasm for the War. This would change drastically as the War dragged on and Australia lost more and more of its young men and the prospect of conscription loomed. (Two photographs in my daughter’s collection have led me to another upcoming story which demonstrates this.)

The “Fisk Jubilee Singers” originated in the United States but in the days before use of title copyright was tightly controlled as it is today, it appears that a number of groups simply appropriated the name, with the only qualification being that the performers were Afro-Americans or other black individuals who could sing in the original Fisk style.

So there is no definite provenance for this particular postcard – or not yet. If the anonymous author was a performer of some note, it could add value to the piece. Research ongoing!

This 1914 photo from the Tweed Regional Museum, ladies who collected for the War Chest, which would have included funds from concerts. 

Note:

We complain today of the carbon footprint of things we buy, but this postcard has a note on the back that it was “Printed in Prussia”.

Why a Queensland postcard was printed so far away in Europe suggests that printing in Australia was rather expensive and it was cheaper to get this done overseas, which has echoes of today’s trade and manufacturing issues.

Prussia was part of the German Empire so by September 1914 would have been classified an enemy country and one imagines future postcards had to be produced locally.