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.

This is the mystery photo that confounded everybody for 15 years. (Photo courtesy of Ken Traill)

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 it had HW Traill's name on the building and we didn't know when he first opened at this location. 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 location out. Next candidate was the building next door at 46 High Street operated by his brother Sam - definitely not a physical match and the building still stands so we know it is the original building. And lastly 43 High Street which apart from definitely not being a physical match, the time frame was wrong (1940s)

We then explored the possibility that maybe this building wasn't 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.

Part of a streetscape taken in 1932 - shows the American Soda Fountain (formerly the Union Hotel) run by A Traill & Sons.

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 word visible 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 mystery location was in Burnett Street but the more I looked, the more convinced I became that this was the same building. But my contact in the Traill family said no, it was definitely two separate businesses.

Then at last, a moment of clarity. What if the building in the mystery photo wasn't one shop but two shops side by side? Alex Traill with his confectionery store on the left and HW Traill with his grocery and fruit store on the right. The building was certainly big enough (thanks Ken Traill for this gem of inspiration that helped to complete the picture). I was now convinced and confident enough to put it on the website.

Now comes the really interesting part. I discovered the joys of AI. I first asked Google Gemini to compare the two photos and it confirmed yes it was 100% the same building. Then I prompted it to remove the people and the car to see what was behind and explicitly said not to create, but to use visual evidence. The Ai got a few things wrong but what it did confirm was it was indeed tow shops. And revealed the house next door 01 High Street and the corner of Circle Street. Here are the two photos together so you can see the outlines of the features that the Ai revealed.

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  Caption for Image 1

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  Caption for Image 2

Original photo (Photo courtesy of Ken Traill)

AI modified photo after car and people removed revealing the building behind.

to from The edge of the verandah of 1 High Street can be glimpsed where you would expect it to be. 

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