Studio portraits of Lily Kerr-Pearse, wife of the private secretary to the Governor of Western Australia, in fancy dress for the Centenary Ball. Perth, 1929.

A pair of sepia-toned carbon print photographs, in identical 195 x 145 mm format, on individual plain card mounts (355 x 250 mm) with the studio’s signature and address in pencil lower right, and the studio’s protective tissue guard borders still in place; both prints are in superb condition, each mount with a later explanatory caption by a family member.

These striking companion portraits of Lily Kerr-Pearse dressed for the Centenary Ball at Perth Oval on 13 September 1929, in the fashion of the time of the Swan River settlement’s establishment, are quite possibly unique.

Lily (Drummond) Kerr-Pearse (1875-1969), socialite, was the wife of Irish-born Major Beauchamp Albert Thomas Kerr-Pearse (1871-1934), private secretary to Sir William Campion, Governor of Western Australia from 1924 to 1931. Her husband had a distinguished career in Australia as a member of various vice-regal staffs: he served as aide-de-camp to Lord Northcote, the Governor-General of Australia, then as private secretary to Sir Gerald Strickland, Governor of Western Australia; Sir W. Ellison-Macartney, Governor of Tasmania; Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson, Governor-General of Australia; and finally to Sir William Campion. The manuscript diary of Lily Kerr-Pearse, kept between 1911 and 1931, is held in the National Library of Australia.