Studio portrait of a lady in mourning resting her hand on a plinth. Hamilton, Victoria, 1863-6.

Albumen print photograph, carte de visite format,  106 x 62 mm; verso imprinted ‘Photographed by J. C. A. Kruger’; the print has some surface scratches toward the the top edge, but is otherwise in good condition; the mount is toned and has some light stains on the verso.

From contemporary newspaper notices we can piece together a rudimentary biography of J. C. A. Kruger, a little-known pioneer photographer of Victoria’s Western District. We learn he was a German immigrant residing in Warrnambool from at least the early 1850s; his purchase of a land allotment in the town is recorded in October 1854. Almost ten years later, in August 1863, he was still in Warrnambool when the marriage of his second daughter, Julie Ida, to Peter Jacobsen, of Germantown, near Geelong, took place. Later that year, however, Kruger relocated to Hamilton, the prosperous wool centre of the Western District, where he placed his first advertisement as a professional photographer in the Hamilton Spectator and Grange District Advertiser, on 6 November 1863:

‘PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTICE. Mr. J. .C. A KRUGER, Photographic Artist, begs respectfully to inform the Ladies and Gentlemen of Hamilton and surrounding district, that he has taken the premises formerly occupied as the “Spectator” Printing Office, Gray Street, and will open his photographic rooms for taking likenesses on paper (carte de visite) and on glass, by the beginning of November next.’

In the same newspaper, on 26 February 1864, Kruger placed the following notice:

‘MR. J. C. A. KRUGER begs to announce that his Photographic Establishment will be CLOSED from the 15th MARCH until the 1st of October next.‘

Other notices from the same time inform us that he rented out his shop and four rooms in Gray Street for 6 months during 1864 – perhaps just enough time to allow him to make a return visit to Germany.

By October 1866 Kruger appears to have abandoned photography altogether and was back in Warrnambool, this time as the proprietor of the Commercial Hotel. In 1867, his oldest daughter, Eveline Maria, married the druggist Charles Klug in Warrnambool. In October 1868 he leased the Commercial Hotel out to a Mr. Macgregor. In July 1869 he and his wife are recorded as passengers on the True Briton, out of Melbourne for London. In May 1873 Kruger was appointed a Trustee of the Warrnambool Savings Bank; and in April 1874 he was elected as Director of the Warrnambool Steam Navigation Company. In June that year his youngest daughter, Julia, married James Davidson of Woodend, near Warrnambool. On 31 July 1878 the Liebig Street premises of J. C. A. Kruger, ironmonger and grocer, were completely destroyed by fire; Kruger’s stock was insured for £1750. In February 1879 his second son, Henry Richard, married Lucy Bennett, daughter of Rev. W. R. Bennett of Glenorchy, Tasmania.

Kruger died on 3 June 1887. A short time afterwards the following notice appeared in the The Argus (Melbourne), 30 June 1887:

‘BUSINESS of a General Storekeeper and Wine and Spirit Merchant, recently carried on in Liebig street, Warrnambool, by the late J C A Kruger, Consisting of: Grocery . …. £289 3 4 Ironmongery . . . £383 16 4 Glassware and crockery . .. £42 12 4 Wines and spirits . ..£200 2 9 Shop fittings and working plant .. £80 14 6 The premises can be leased for three years, at the early rental of £100….’

On 14 July 1887, Kruger’s strong connection with the Freemasons was alluded to in the Hamilton Spectator:

‘St. John’s Lodge of Freemasons was in mourning on St. John’s Day, out of respect to late Bro. J. C. A. Kruger. During the proceedings the lost brother was referred to in terms of the deepest respect and affection, and a letter of condolence was sent to his widow.‘

And finally, a brief obituary for Kruger’s wife, Julia, appeared in The Argus, 6 June 1903:

‘HORSHAM. – The death has occurred of Mrs. Julia Kruger, an old Victorian, at the advanced age of 82. The deceased was the relict of the late Mr. J. C. A. Kruger, and it is noted as a strange co-incidence that they died on the same date, Mr. Kruger dying on 3rd June 1887. Mrs. Kruger was a native of Germany and came to the state in 1850. Her husband carried on a general store at Warrnambool for a number of years and after his death Mrs. Kruger resided in the Wimmera. She leaves one son, Mr. Gus. Kruger of Koroit and three daughters, one of whom is married to the Rev. Mr. Jacobsen, Lutheran Minister, in California.‘