Historical information

The 1971 was a huge flood, a record for the Snowy River at Orbost, causing massive damage to farmland, railway and road connections. Orbost was isolated for at least a week. This photo is one of many taken of this momentous event, a humorous one of a cow who has wandered into an abandoned house during or after the flood. The Nixon family were well-known farmers of the Orbost district. This photo is a copy of one that was published in THE SUN in Melbourne.

Significance

This photo is significant because of its everyday humour, showing a cow in a residence. It is also an important record of one of the effects of the significant 1971 Snowy River flood at Orbost.

Physical description

A b/w photograph showing a cow peering from behind an open door in a bedroom of a house. An iron framed bed can be seen to the right-hand-side of the photograph. Written in black ink at the bottom of the photo are these words:
71 FLOOD TOBY NIXON'S COW JIM NIXON'S HOUSE

Inscriptions & markings

71 FLOOD TOBY NIXON'S COW JIM NIXON'S HOUSE is written in ink below the photo.