Photographs rediscovered: Olympic Games, Melbourne, 1956

In my post for last Saturday (10 January) I mentioned discovering, among a box of photographs, two pictures of the opening or closing ceremonies at the 16th Olympic Games in Melbourne (taken either on 22 November or 8 December, 1956). Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing for certain that my father was the photographer, however, as I mentioned in the earlier post I have a vague childhood memory of him telling me once that he did go to the games.

The first picture shows the South African team, while the second shows another team passing in front of a police or military marching band; in the second shot the clock on the stand opposite gives the time as 3:55 pm. The two shots partially overlap indicating that they were taken from the same position in the stadium.

The original black and white pictures are 3 x 5 inches (7.7 x 12.7 cm) in size and are un-inscribed; click on the images to see enlarged versions.

Photographs rediscovered

While attempting to find some photographs for my mother I found a small box containing around 200 photos (and two postcards) of my dad and others, taken between about 1947 and the mid 1960's. There were also a few photographs taken from the early 1900's through to the 1970's of people, who must be Serbian relatives; many of earliest prints in this group are badly damaged. All the photographs are interesting, the ones in Greece are the first definite visual evidence of his time in Greece and appear to show him in the Greek army. Most of these are inscribed in Serbian and have dates; several have hand stamps with Greek text in red or blue ink.

Other photographs in the box where taken in Italy, and in Australia (Cooma and Lithgow?, New South Wales; Adelaide, South Australia). Some may have been shot in the Department of Immigration Reception and Training Centre, Bathurst. One of the most amazing finds is two photos of what may be the opening or closing ceremonies of the 1956 summer Olympiad in Melbourne. One of these shows the march past of the South African team. I have a very faint memory of my dad telling me that he did go to the Olympics.

Constant Reader its great to have re-discovered the photographs. Over time its my intention to scan all of the photos and find someone to translate the inscriptions. The selection of two photographs presented here are typical of the pre-Australian images. The first illustrated is of dad between two colleagues in what may be Greek army uniform, the photo is inscribed in Serbian and dated 10-II-47 (i.e. 10 February, 1947); the second is again of dad and a friend posing with a studio prop (dad is at the controls of the "plane"), inscribed and dated 10-IV-47 (i.e. 10 April 47).