An imposing large-format portrait photograph of Clara, a young Central Australian Indigenous woman, smoking a pipe (circa 1900s)
A vintage gelatin silver print (291 × 225 mm), lightly creased, with a tiny chip to the top right-hand corner; in excellent condition.
Charles P. Scott (1878-1928), an Adelaide photographer, made at least two trips to the Oodnadatta area between 1903 and 1908 to photograph pastoral properties, in particular Todmorden and Allendale Stations. During this time he produced several fine portraits of the local Indigenous people, including this one. We have previously handled another example of this photograph captioned 'Clara of Oodnadatta', and have noted at least five separate South Australian publications from the 1920s and 1930s featuring this portrait on the front cover (in two variants). Sadly, it is also reproduced to illustrate a story in 'The Advertiser' for 18 March 1915, which reads in full: 'Tragedy at Oodnadatta. A Lubra Killed. On Wednesday the Commissioner of Police received a report from the Oodnadatta police station that a lubra named Clara had been killed on March 5, near the police-station. When the police went to the spot they found the woman lying on the ground in a pool of blood, and with terrible wounds on the back of her head. She died shortly after her admission to the hospital. The police have arrested a lubra named Rosey, and charged her with the offence'. On the verso are two ink captions reading 'Portrait' and 'Australian Aborigines'.
Item #145511
Price (AUD):
$2,500.00