Queensland Soldier Portraits, 1914-1918

In September 1914, Talma Studios set up a tent in the soldier’s camp at Enoggera, Queensland. Talma Studios were there to take a photograph of each soldier in the camp for publication in the newspaper. Such was the demand, Fegan Studios also set up a tent for the same purpose. The kit was provided for those who had not yet been fitted out so that every man’s portrait would appear in uniform. They could not have imagined in 1914 that the portraits would continue to be published in The Queenslander newspaper until the end of the war in 1918 and that there would eventually be nearly 30,000 photographs of young men, off to war. This was also only around half of the number of Queenslanders who served, as not every soldier was photographed before embarkation.