Shearing sheep by machine in North Queensland

Circa 1910. [Title from translation of inscription verso]. Silver gelatin photograph, 165 x 210 mm, contemporary inscriptions in ink verso: “Tosatura a macchina delle pecore in N. Queensland” and “D.G. Capra, Pont St Martin”; unmounted; tiny crease at top right corner, otherwise fine.

A photograph showing the animated interior of a Queensland shearing shed. A superb composition showing the entire line of shearers and their machines.

The Italian ethnologist, photographer and traveller Giuseppe Capra, a native of Pont-St-Martin in Italy,  was the author of three works on Australia and New Zealand: L'Australia Occidentale : studio illustrativo per gli Italiani (1911); La Nuova Galles del Sud (Australia) : studio descrittivo per gli Italiani (1912); and L'italiano in Australia e Nuova Zelanda : guida pratica (1914).