Historical information

Born in 1893, Anthony Bolam was the Station Master at Ooldea Siding on the Trans-Australian Railway from 1920 to 1925. Bolam was very interested in Aboriginal culture and was a careful and sympathetic recorder of their lifestyle, customs and ceremonies. A keen photographer, he took many photographs of the Aboriginal people who congregated at Ooldea Siding in the early 1920s. Many of these photographs were included in this book. He died in 1966.

Significance

This item is a useful research tool as it contains a contemporary description and photographsof the Aboriginal people of Ooldea, a tiny settlement in South Australia, on the eastern edge of the Nullarbor Plain.

Physical description

A small 134 pp book with a red and white cover which has a photograph of an Aboriginal holding a spear. The book has some full-page b/w plates and a folding map at the end.

Inscriptions & markings

inside on front page - No. 58