Photographic Memoirs: Visit to Launceston of September’s Prettiest Bride (Mrs W. H. Dando).

With Compliments from Burrows’ Studios, Launceston, 1926. Photograph album, oblong folio (240 x 340 mm), original burgundy crushed morocco over boards with gilt-stamped initials ‘T.D.’ (Thelma Dando) to front (upper boards with a few scuff marks; lower board with the leather worn at fore-edge); gilt-stamped title leaf, followed by [20] sepia-tone gelatin silver print photographs in uniform 160 x 210 mm format, mounted recto and verso of 10 leaves of thickish board; each photograph is accompanied by a manuscript caption by Burrows’ Studio on the mount below the image; all of the prints are in superb condition; the mounts have some occasional silverfishing, but are otherwise very clean; loosely enclosed is a printed programme for ‘An Eighteenth Century Costume Wedding’ held at the Launceston Mechanics’ Hall, 9 September 1926, at which Mrs Dando was presented with a special wedding cake.

The Fifty Thousand League was an organisation established in 1926 to promote tourism in Launceston and surrounding districts in northern Tasmania. One of the first events it inaugurated was a monthly ‘Prettiest Bride’ competition, and, in September 1926, Mrs. W. H. Dando (née Miss Thelma Crowther) was the winner. Her prize was, in effect, to be given given the keys to Launceston: she and her husband – and, it seems, her new young step-daughter, who appears in several of the photos in this album – were treated by the League to a very public type of honeymoon they would certainly never forget! They were feted guests at the Brisbane Hotel, were taken on sightseeing tours and introduced to football teams and dignitaries, and even had a public reception in their honour at the Princess Theatre. To top it all off, the couple’s entire honeymoon was documented by a photographer from Burrows’ Studios (slightly intrusive?!), who presented Thelma with this unique ‘photographic memoir’ in the form a customised photograph album.

The following report appeared in The Mercury (Hobart) on 7 September 1926:

‘The winner of thc September bride competition, Mrs. W. H. Dando (nee Miss Thelma Crowther), who is spending her honeymoon in Launceston, had a narrow escape from accident this morning, when, in company with her husband, she was beginning a motor trip. The motor car was proceeding across the intersection of Wellington and Patterson streets, when a motor lorry passing along Wellington-street collided with the ear. As both vehicles were proceeding slowly, no one was injured, but the running board of the bride’s car was smashed. Mrs. Dando spent the day in a motor drive round the outskirts of Launceston, and in the evening, on the stage of the Princess Theatre, was welcomed by the 50,000 League. Tho Mayor of Launceston (Alderman A. A. Evans) spoke, und the bride was showered with flowers, bouquets, and gifts.’

Provenance: Mrs. Thelma Dando; thence by descent.