Your questions answered
Who might your great-grandmother be mourning?
Q I am hoping to confirm that the young lady on the right in this group photo is my great-grandmother. The other women are unknown (possibly friends, not siblings). The photograph is 6 ½ inches x 4 ¼ inches and appears to have been taken by a professional photographer in the town of Clunes, in the heart of the goldfields in central Victoria. Alice Mary Smith, born 1863 in Fitzroy, Victoria, married my great-grandfather, Joseph Walter Preston in January 1891 in Ballarat, Victoria. She died in 1952 in West Footscray, Victoria, in the home where I grew up. I have included a second photograph said to be of Alice – there is a distinct likeness between the two.
Garry Preston
A Most of our family photographs from the 1800s were taken by professional photographers, who operated everywhere in the developed world, including the thriving Victoria gold towns. As seen on the back of the mount, the single portrait said to represent your great-grandmother was taken by J Bawden of Clunes, and I found several references to him online, including the State Library of Victoria website, which gives his dates at the Fraser street address c1888-95: https://familytr.ee/jbawden. The stylish costume worn here, comprising tight-fitting bodice with pointed front, moiré silk panels and glimpse of gathered skirt, along with the subject’s modern curled hairstyle, dates this portrait closely to c1889-1890. So I suspect that it might symbolise Alice’s betrothal or forthcoming marriage to your great-grandfather, Joseph Preston, which occurred at the beginning of 1891.
The group photograph is a cabinet card/print – the most popular format of the late-1800s and early-1900s. I agree that the right-hand lady strongly resembles your great-grandmother: the date here is also similar and I have no doubt that she is the same ancestor, aged in her twenties. A close time frame of c1886-89 is provided by the ladies’ striking high-fashion costumes.
Apart from the correct time frame, another very important feature to note is the fact that the
