Group portrait of retired military personnel

Photographer Samuel J Hood Studio (Australian, 1899 - 1953)

Date1916-1930

Object number00034843

NamePhotograph

MediumGlass plate negative

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionThis image depicts a group of retired military personnel. They appear to be wearing triangular badges and the two men to the left are wearing a sprig of rosemary, worn as a sign of remembrance usually on ANZAC or Remembrance Day. The man standing in the centre appears to be wearing a Khedive's Star for service in the British Army. It features the Sphinx and Great Pyramids of Giza along with a crescent moon. They were awarded by the Sultan of Turkey, Tewfik Mohammed, to all personnel who served during the Egyptian Rebellion of 1882 and also in the campaigns in Egypt and Sudan between 1884 and 1889. The two men on either side of this man appear to be railway workers based on their hats.SignificanceThe Samuel J Hood photographic collection records an extensive range of maritime activity on Sydney Harbour, including sail and steam ships, crew portraits, crews at work, ship interiors, stevedores loading and unloading cargo, port scenes, pleasure boats and harbourside social activities from the 1890s through to the 1950s. They are also highly competent artistic studies and views - Hood was regarded as an important figure in early Australian photojournalism. Hood’s maritime photographs are one of the most significant collections of such work in Australia.