Posted January 28, 2018 09:00:31

Photo: British migrant Dorothy Wright in her kitchen in Sydney in the early 1960s. (Supplied: Mike Wright)

While the ritual of documenting family history has remained a feature for most Australians, it's the situations and locations in photographs that often reveal so much about our modern-day lives.

Alistair Thomson is a professor of history at Monash University.

During his research and teachings into post-war migration to Australia, he observed how family photographs have evolved over time, particularly what is included in the frame.

"The who we photograph has changed less than what we photograph," he told Tony Arthur on ABC Radio.

Photo: Camping at Phillip Island in 1951. (Supplied: Museums Victoria)

Professor Thomson said family portraits in Australia flourished when cameras became affordable to the average person during the 1950s and '60s.

However, unlike today's digital technology with which thousands of photos can be taken without a cost, film imagery brought a selectiveness with what was documented.

"You were more careful and selective with the photographs that you took because you couldn't take endless photos," Professor Thomson said.

For many migrants, one major role of family portraits was to communicate the new lifestyle to relatives and friends in their home country.

Photo: Chinese migrant Mary Louey Hung with her children at Aspendale Beach near Melbourne circa 1949. (Supplied: Museums Victoria)

Images indicative of the casual Australian lifestyle would often be recorded, including visits to the local swimming pool, the beach and picnics in the bush.

"The photographs were telling stories, to console, to reassure, occasionally to show off, and to show what's distinctive and different about Australia," Professor Thomson said.

"It was a way of showing how Australia is such a different country because you're outdoors, you've got a car, you're at a beach, it's Christmas and yet you're having fun in the sun.

"It's extraordinary how many of those photographs are taken alongside the new family car as a symbol of their success in Australia."

Photo: Tenants of Villawood Housing Settlement pose for a portrait with a television set. (Supplied: State Library of NSW)

With post-war manufacturing ramping up, migrants posing with newly acquired electrical appliances would often feature in images also.

"They would open the door of the fridge when they took the photograph, so they're not just showing the fridge but also the plentiful food that's available in Australia," Professor Thomson said.

And television sets would often appear in photographs after they became desirable household items in the late 1950s.

"There's some lovely photos I've seen where British migrants in 1964 take photographs of their new television, but on the television are The Beatles touring Australia," he said.

Photo: The Hathaway family on holiday with their dog Scouter in the 1950s. (Supplied: Museums Victoria)

Photographs of dogs and cats swamp our modern-day social media feeds, but Professor Thomson said our history of including our furry friends in family portraits is well documented.

"In the old days when photographs were a bit more precious and you took them so selectively, the pets were always prominent."

And with the wide use of digital editing software, he cautioned people against heavily manipulating and cropping images for aesthetic purposes.

"Sometimes the inadvertent details in an image are sometimes the most historically revealing.

"For historians they're just magical."

Topics: photography, people, human-interest, family, history, sydney-2000, melbourne-3000