The featured photograph, an item in the Sandhurst Diocesan Archive collection, was created during the 1920s by photographer, W. Vincent Kelly.

Kelly was a prominent photographer in Bendigo from 1904 until 1958 and the Diocesan Archive has many of his original photographic prints. Kelly is known to have created many studio portraits of children, families, debutantes and World War One soldiers and over 5000 Kelly images and glass plate negatives have been collected by the State Library of Victoria.

Unique to the diocesan collection are many photographs of Sandhurst Catholic clergy, churches and church interiors, Catholic organisations and religious activities and events. Kelly was closely associated with Bishop McCarthy and prolifically photographed Catholic events and people during McCarthy’s 33-year reign. Kelly was one of the pall bearers at McCarthy’s funeral in 1950.

The featured image is clearly a photograph of a Queen Carnival, but it has no other details apart from the word “Elmore” handwritten on the reverse. Queen Carnivals, popular during the post war period, were held in Catholic parishes - typically around this time of year, coinciding with Easter festivities. They were designed to raise funds for the parish, or to support WWI returned soldiers and, in Bendigo, they were sometimes connected with our Easter Fair.

Curious about this photograph, Archivist, Dr Donna Bailey used an app to colourise it. We note that colourisation techniques are only a tool and not an exact replica of what was. However, they can help bring to life an historical photograph, accentuating the beautiful detail of the original print.

Dr Bailey has recognised that the photograph was taken inside the doors of the Elmore Soldiers Memorial Hall, built in 1924, but has not been able to find any other detail about who appeared in the image. Any insight into the print will be greatly appreciated by the Archivist.

 Return to Sandpiper e-News 97.