Photo ID: 42 Mile Camp - is it in Australia?

[Daniels-mum]

I'm not sure if I've done this correctly but I've tried to copy the link to another thread I started in the common room. I wonder if anyone can identify where or when this photo might have been taken? It was suggested that someone is Australia might be able to help! The sign in the photo says 42 mile camp, and I believe there's a place called 42 Mile Crossing in South Australia, so I don't know if there might be a connection.

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,345027.0.html

Any suggestions gratefully received!!

Thanks.

Helen

[cando]

Gum trees in the background?  Yes.

Wouldn't be 42 Mile Crossing in SA -  actually been there

42-Mile Crossing
Information ~ camp sites ~ walking trail ~ picnic shelter ~ toilet ~ surf fishing

So named because of its distance from Kingston, this is the closest point for conventional vehicles to the beach. A pleasant 20 minute walk along the easily accessible trail from the camp ground and through the sand dunes brings you to the crashing waves of the Southern Ocean.

The ocean beach and the five vehicle (4WD only) entry points to the beach can be extremely treacherous during and following storm conditions. To protect the hooded plover the ocean beach is closed to vehicles from 24 October to 24 December each year. This closure applies to the beach from Tea Tree Crossing to the Murray Mouth.

Camps were named in a similar fashion when railways were built but this looks quite a 'permanent' camp.  Early farm settlers?  Note what appears to be  limestone base for the galvanised water tank...very Australian.

This photo is very reminiscent of my grandparents' first 'home' in the north west of Victoria when it was opened for settlement in 1909-1912, however this photo would be in an earlier period.   I would say they are in their best clothes...certainly not working clothes.   My 98 year old father tells me that he and his parents lived in tents with wooden floors...usually two tents, one for daily living and one for sleeping.  Cooking was usually done outside on a wood stove.  They lived this way while their new home was being erected.  A little aside..he remembers sitting on the scaffolding while the stone mason slowly built the home....he adds he probably drove the poor bloke mad with his chatter. 

It looks like a fence or some similar structure behind the tent...probably a yard to keep in stock. 

I could be wrong and often am but I would say definitely in Australia and perhaps a farm settlement in the 1890's. 

Cheers
Cando

[Janice M]

Could it be Sacramento California? (Looks like mountains in the back)

http://www.trailbikesportsmen.org/campgrounds/packsaddlepass.htm

http://www.calwild.org/resources/pubs/rs2477.pdf

http://www.calwild.org/press/release_030404.php

Janice

[Janice M]

Sacramento History:
http://www.sacramentohistory.org/


Sacramento Gold Rush
http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/The-West/Sacramento-History.html

Janice

[cando]

I think you will find that the 'mountains' are actually the tops of mallee trees - eucalyptus, also known as gum trees.

http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/biosphere/riverland/images/mallee-tree-stand.jpg

Cheers
Cando

[Janice M]

I think you're right.  (Where's my glasses?  )

[cando]

Probably where mine are Janice ....always looking for them    

Cheers
Cando

[PrueM]

I would say definitely Australia    The gum trees give it away!

As for the name 42 Mile Camp...it could mean anything, and probably bears no relation to any modern place names.  Perhaps the family were given their selection and it was 42 miles out of wherever they started from?  That was the usual way that "x-Mile" places got their names    Just look at the number of 6-Mile Creeks there are in Australia today!

I think the trees are too tall to be mallee (not an expert though), but they are definitely eucalypts of some kind.  I don't think there's much chance of ID-ing exactly where this place is, unless Helen has some idea of who in the family came to Australia, and when?  We might be able to track them down 

Cheers
Prue

[cando]

Oh Prue some mallee [eucalypt] trees are quite tall..    

As I sit at my computer I can see four different species of mallee that are much taller than our machinery shed which is 22 ft high.  These mallee trees are part of remnant scrubland.

Now we need some names Helen

Cheers
Cando