03 High Street - how we identify photos
Here is a sample of the often long and tricky process we go through to identify "orphan" photos. Accuracy is everything and we never just guess as this helps perpetuate false information and once it is out there, it is often difficult to correct! In this particular instance it took two years on and off before being 100% certain of the location. I am recording it here because I think it is such an interesting story.
Immediately we were able to identify the car as a 1923-25 Willys-Overland Model 91 Tourer and because the whole family were posing with the car, we assumed it was a newly arrived addition to the family. So we dated the photo to between 1923 and 1925.
Key identifying features of the building: It was a two story building with at least one upstairs window - or a single story building with a parapet wall and a feature that resembled a window. We were looking for a building that had (or once had) a verandah with a distinct pattern on the corner brackets. That ruled out most of the buildings in New Norfolk.
The first step was to try to match it to a known location where the Traill family had conducted business. The most obvious candidate was 44 High Street because we didn't know when the Traills first opened this business. It had a verandah but no posts - doesn't mean it never did but the parapet would need to be dramatically changed to make it match. So we ruled this one out. Next candidate was the building next door at 46 High Street - definitely not a match. And lastly 43 High Street which apart from definitely not being a physical match, the time frame was wrong as it was opened in the 1940s after 44 High Streetwas sold to SP English.
We then explored the possibility that maybe this building was never actually located in New Norfolk at all. But our research told us that the Traill family had lived and worked solely in New Norfolk.
Then we found a Trove article that featured Alexander Traill (Alex) & Sons as the proprietors of the newly opened American Soda Fountain in 1925. We already knew the location of the soda fountain because we had a 1932 photo of it, but we still dismissed this as the location of the mystery photo because the only name I could see was HW Traill and the features of the building didn't seem to match.
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At this stage I left it for several months, as truth seekers often do and came back to it much later. I had another look at the Wise directory for 1925 and found Traill A, confr and Traill H W, grcr & frtr so I decided to take another look at the mystery photo. This is when I had the epiphany! I realised that the partial name on the sign did not say "Auctioneers", but "Confectioners"! How I missed this I do not know. I was looking for HW Traill and I knew he was an auctioneer at a later period so my brain made a false connection. We were getting so close but still not quite making the connection.
I looked at the top of the parapet in the 1932 photo and thought could it be? The different viewing angles of the two photos made it deceptive, but now I could see that nothing actually ruled it out. Surviving members of the Traill family said they thought the location was in Burnett Street but the more I looked, the more convinced I became that this was the same building.
The at last, a moment of clarity. What if the building in the mystery photo was two shops side by sideAlex Traill had his confectionery store on the left and HW Traill had his grocery and fruit store on the right. The building was certainly big enough - thanks Ken for this gem of inspiration that completes the picture.
It makes sense that he would have started in partnership with his father before branching out on his own.
The edge of the verandah of 1 High Street can be glimpsed where you would expect it to be.
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