A woman and her dog posing in front of a kangaroo-skin backdrop. Goulburn, New South Wales, circa 1905.

Silver gelatin print photograph, 65 x 100 mm; printed on postcard stock (89 x 139 mm); a brief message in ink on the front of the card – no doubt in the hand of the woman in the photograph – reads: ‘I find I can’t get round this evening. So sorry – love, A. S.’; the undivided back is addressed to ‘Mrs Kingsmill, The Parsonage, North Goulburn’, and is postmarked ‘Goulburn, MY 31 …’ (the year is illegible); in fine condition.

This charming homemade photographic card was sent to the wife of the Rev. Charles Kingsmill (1833-1910), who was Canon of St. John’s Anglican Church, Towrang, on the northern outskirts of Goulburn, from 1898 until 1908. Canon Kingsmill’s humanitarianism and his dedication to visiting prisoners in the Goulburn Gaol are praised in an anonymous letter published in the Goulburn Evening Penny Post, 8 February 1908, around the time of the end of his tenure:

‘RE. CANON KINGSMiLL. To the Editor. Dear Sir,–I notice in your columns the news of the retirement of Canon Kingsmill and his departure from Goulburn. There is no doubt many a poor person will miss the kind old man, but it will simply mean a calamity to the God-forsaken creatures at the gaol. It is not possible to find Canon Kingsmill’s equal in this respect. He simply lived there as much as possible to keep these friendless wretches from the solitude of their cell. Sundays and holidays this feeble old gentleman found his way and spent the most of his time to keep the particular members of his own flock from brooding in solitude over their desolate condition, buying books out of his own pocket, and making a friend of even the most hardened. I suggest to the church committee that they extend their collection list to the citizens of Goulburn and allow people like myself, who admire Canon Kingsmill’s good and humane work among the prisoners, to help with the testimonial, whatever it might be. The Lord said: “When I was in prison ye visited Me.” CITIZEN.‘