This week’s Sepia Saturday photo prompt is a photo of three men on rocks with a telescope.
When I saw this it reminded
me of two sets of photos in my collection – so I’ll do two blogs for this
prompt.
The first blog is of my Nanna
and her family and the second will be of my Pa and his family.
Strangely both
these sets of quite similar photos were taken well before they met and married!
When my Nanna, Mavis
Fanshawe LONG (1906-1982) was in her teens, her family moved to Watch Hill,
Beeac in Victoria’s Western District.
I've written about this beautiful property before, here.
Their ‘back paddock’ was
known as ‘the Stony Rises’.
When I asked Mum (Nanna’s
daughter) about the Stony Rises, she told me,
“We used to go for picnics to the Stony Rises when we stayed at Watch
Hill. This was a volcanic area, very large and some of it was on their [her
grandparents] property. It hadn’t been cleared of rocks. We used to go
rabbiting there with Pa [Edward Long] and the sheep dog called Budgie.”
Nanna loved animals,
especially dogs, so it’s no surprise to see her dog Nip with her amongst the
rocks in quite a few of these photos.
What is a little surprising
are the clothes and shoes that they went climbing over these rocks in – even a
fur coat!
 |
| Nanna at the front, looking very happy - with dog by her side. |
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| climbing in a fur coat! |
I cannot imagine ever climbing those rocks in a skirt!
ReplyDeletePeople seem to have a natural affinity for being photographed posing on rocks.
ReplyDeleteThat's quite a pile of rocks! And I agree with ScotSue - I can't imagine climbing on them in skirts. At least Nanna & the other gals had short skirts. When I look at photos of women in my great-grandfather's age climbing around Yosemite in long full skirts I can only shake my head in wonder at how they ever did it - as well as riding side-saddle on steep trails!
ReplyDeleteLovely rocky pictures - the dog doesn’t look too impressed,
ReplyDeleteYou wouldn't want to climb on those rocks in summer. Too many snakes!!
ReplyDeleteI have memories of stopping at Floating Islands in the middle of the Stony Rises on our way to Melbourne.
Those rocks were made for climbing. They provide natural steps, it seems. It is so much fun looking at these photos of well-dressed folks who look as if they had not planned a day of rock climbing. I wonder if future generations will look at us in our jeans and sweatshirts and think we were slobs.
ReplyDeleteAt least the ladies look to have been wearing sensible shoes for clambering over those rocks.
ReplyDeleteOh my what a hike to get there! They blend so much that it makes me wonder if they were trying to be camouflaged on purpose.
ReplyDeleteThe dog's expression is priceless. Full marks for all these photos; how they got to those positions to to be photographed dressed like that beats me.
ReplyDeleteIt almost as if they took along clothes to change into when they arrived at the top of those rocks. Cannot imagine climbing dressed that way.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had a picture of myself on some rocks.
ReplyDeleteMore granite boulders - at least that's what they look like to me. Great photos.
ReplyDeleteYour Nanna is so pretty. What a wonderful smile. I just love these photos. They must be so precious to you.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if she was wearing her pearls with her fur coat. just lovely.
ReplyDeleteI love how they're all sitting in a row in that third photo. What a fun way to pose, even if it seems a bit treacherous on those steep rocks.
ReplyDeleteA fine set of family photographs documenting an outing climbing rocks. Hiking clothes hadn't been invented yet!
ReplyDelete