Public Record Office Victoria competition unearths historic photographs held by everyday people

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Historic photos previously hidden away in family albums are being shown to the public for the first time thanks to a competition held by Victoria's state archives.

Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) ran the competition ahead of their Dig The Archives Open Day this weekend.

A dozen photos have been entered by people across Victoria, with many entering photos taken by their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents.

Matthew Wilson's entry is a photo from 1919 of his great-grandfather Edward Malcolm Garsed and grandmother Kitty.

Mr Garsed enlisted for World War I in 1914. Wounded in action, he was sent to Wiltshire, England where he met volunteer nurse's assistant Olive Kathleen Mounty.

"Nursing my Edward back to health, Kitty fell madly in love with Edward and were soon married," wrote Mr Wilson in his entry.

In late 1918 Ms Garsed gave birth her first son, Henry. However, Mr Garsed did not see his son until the following year.

"Edward was returned to Australia by the army in mid-1919 with Kitty and Henry following on a 'bride ship' soon after," Mr Wilson wrote.

They settled in Cottles Bridge near Melbourne where they established a farm and had four more children.

Irene Hughes' entry is a photograph from the 1920s.

It shows her grandfather Jim Wollin with a giant tree he found near Healesville on Christmas Day, 1920.

"He travelled by horseback from Healesville to work in the Toolangi Forest during the 1920s, only returning to his family on weekends," Ms Hughes wrote in her entry.

"I believe the central character in the CJ Dennis book Jim of the Hills was based on my grandfather."

She said the tree, which was later named "Jim's tree" by the Granton sawmill, was 100 metres in height and would have produced enough timber to build three houses.

Linda Barraclough's photo was taken in the late 1930s or early 1940s by her father George Barraclough at his rabbit-trapping camp in Glenmaggie near Maffra.

It shows dozens of dead rabbits hanging from a rope strung between trees like laundry hanging from a line.

Sharon Fritz accompanied her entry with quotes from the photo's subject, Mavis Pilgrim.

"We had a great farm at Winiam, with sheep, cows, horses, chooks, dogs and cats," Ms Pilgrim is quoted as saying.

"I loved it, especially helping with the cropping and harvesting then turning the sheaves of hay for the men to make the stack.

"I loved driving the tractor, and would go home when my shift finished [after] about two hours, and Mum would have a lovely hot dinner waiting for me."

William Rainey's entry was taken in the late 1930s or early 1940s and shows his father, also named William Rainey, driving a horse and cart loaded with products from Saunders Malt.

"My parents had a 40-acre farm at Thomastown and he did jobs like this to help pay the mortgage," wrote Mr Rainey in the entry.

"Unfortunately he was killed in a tractor accident while working on a neighbouring farm. He was 37 years old."

Geoff Lloyd's photo shows the 1908 wedding of his grandparents Agnes Cobbledick and William Patterson at the Holy Trinity Church in Nathalia.

Mr Patterson died almost 20 years later, while his wife lived on in Wangaratta and died in 1973 aged 86.

Another wedding photograph, that of Henry and Victoria Davies, was entered in the competition by Zoe Davies.

Born in 1873 and 1880 respectively, Mr and Mrs Davies married in 1900 and had 14 children. They lived in the Swan Hill district in northern Victoria.

Mr Davies served in World War I and seven of his children served in World War II.

A more recent photograph was entered by Steven Haby.

Taken by his father Murray Haby, the photo shows Camberwell Station on a Sunday afternoon in May, 1981.

The platform is deserted save the crew of a "Tait" single-carriage, suburban motor train.

The winner of the PROV photo competition will be announced at the Victorian Archives Centre open day on Saturday.

The event features guided tours, talks and presentations including information on how to search PROV's photo archive and conduct genealogy research.

Topics: 20th-century, photography, north-melbourne-3051