# 44091
WATTS, W. H.
Visiting dignitaries at Paraparap State School No. 3634, Victoria. Possibly a record of the school’s opening day, 12 December 1909.
$100.00 AUD
Large format gelatin silver print photograph,150 x 200 mm, laid down on its original board mount with the studio’s embossed name at lower right ‘W. H. Watts, Ryrie Street, Geelong’; the print has excellent clarity and is in very good condition; the mount is foxed.
The tiny Paraparap State School No. 3634 was a humble prefabricated building comprising one large classroom. It was opened on 12 December 1909, and eventually closed in 1951.
The gentlemen in this photograph appear to be official visitors, possibly a mixture of dignitaries and representatives from the Board of Education. Perhaps Watts, the photographer, came down with them from Geelong to record the visit. What other occasion in the school’s early years would have warranted such a large group of official visitors other than the opening day of the school on 12 December 1909? During that week, Geelong actually experienced wintry conditions, including hailstorms, which would also explain the overcoats….
This is almost certainly a unique image, and a nice piece of Surf Coast Shire social history.