The
five-figure numbers are Merlin's index numbers
as shown on the corresponding negatives.
18444:
The Souters were reported the first chemists
in Gulgong, and, incidentally, their "shingle" is
still to be seen in Cleveland Street, Sydney.
They also appear to have had established the
branch in Home Rule which is here depicted. The
goldfields'
chemist shops were used as consulting rooms
by visiting doctors, and on the left we may have
the
Dr. O'Connor referred to in the left-hand notice
(as for Dr. Kelly, see below). The assistants
were not members of the Souter family.
18037:
Dr. Kefly seen outside his consulting rooms
in Mayne Street, Gulgong, next door to Wood's "West
End" Stores. Of especial interest is his
window display, which comprises articulated
hands and
other bones and jars of coloured water adorned
with astrological or similar emblems.
18787:
Chemist Charley Bird had two stores, one in
Gulgong and the other in Home Rule, as depicted
here
in a particularly fine technical shot. It effectively
records the contents of his display window
(trusses, cigars and sewing machines), the current
supplement
to the "Illustrated Sydney News," and
the noticeboard for the town crier, "Matthew
the Bellman". Charley, "the man with
the big ear," is recorded as one of the
town's personalities - "good company,
clever amateur actor, and a champion at all
kinds
of card
games."
18-,
18141, 18149, 18372: To select just four from scores
of pictures of commercial establishments was a
problem, but it is hoped that these four will convey
something of the "frontier" atmosphere
that was Gulgong's in the early 'seventies.
18781,
18772, 18672, 18603: Several hundreds of very informative
pictures show us the residents
of the goldfields standing outside their homes.
These four are all Hill End subjects selected
as
being somewhat more "pictorial" than
the earlier Gulgong ones, which were still in
the stringy-bark era. We are specially impressed
by
the brave showing of the pioneer women folk,
despite the incredible (to us) shortcomings in
the way
of home conveniences, to say nothing of the climatic
variations to be expected from life on an exposed
ridge three thousand feet above sea level.
18630:
This one was selected for two reasons; first, for
the trim freshness of the premises, and, secondly,
for its obvious authenticity. The left-hand poster
refers to the visit to Hill End of the Hon. H.
Parkes and of the address which he planned for
5 p.m. on September 2nd, 1872, in the Public School
grounds.
17758:
This concluding reproduction tells its own story
of Merlin's love of the great out-doors and of
his intense artistic feeling.
