Raymond Morris - National Museum of Australia

Author: Ken Mansell and Michael Riley - Published At: 2014-03-13 19:25 - (5322 Reads)

Raymond Morris is a New Zealand artist and photographer who visited Australia in the late 1950's. We are delighted to have received permission to post some of his photos here. For more of Raymond's fine photos, please have a look at the National Museum of Australia's flicker page. This contains a wonderful collection of 226 of Morris’s photos taken during his Australian travels.

The Morris photos of Australia in the 1950’s should be of great interest to those trying to recall or imagine the era. The collection includes a number of sporting photos. There are photos of tennis and horse racing, and a few of Australian Rules football. The main interest is for those who are interested in understanding what Australia was like in the 1950’s.

1956 Geelong-Footscray semi-final at the MCG

1956 Geelong-Footscray semi-final at the MCG - Copyright Raymond Morris - Photos	1956 Geelong-Footscray semi-final at the MCG - Copyright Raymond Morris

Ken Mansell recollects ...

I was in attendance that day, as a ten-year-old, and still have one or two vague memories of the clash. (I'm somewhere in Bay 13 of the outer grandstand). The weather that day was wet, and the Geelong players seen in the first photo are all wearing long-sleeved jumpers.

Neither side kicked a goal in the last quarter and the Bulldogs scraped home by two points. Geelong's cause was not helped by a nasty collision involving Norm Sharp and Bob Davis. This was the last Geelong finals appearance until 1962.

With reference to the jumper numbers listed in The Football Record, I've identified three of the Geelong players - from left: Noel Rayson (No 27), Fred Wooller (No 3) and Bruce Ferrari (No 18).

The other Geelong player shown (facing the camera) is a mystery to me.

One of the Footscray players could be Wally Donald.

The quality of the colour photos is remarkable for 1956. These two football shots seem to have an immediacy that is missing from the run-of-the-mill football photos (even the colourised Argus photos) of that era.

Geelong's 1956 semi-final team:

B:	Ron Hovey	Bob Gazzard	Max Sutcliffe
HB:	Bernie Smith	Bob Davis	John Haygarth
C:	Clive Brown	Les Borrack	John O'Neill
HF:	Noel Rayson	Roger Bullen	Bruce Ferrari
F:	John O'Connell	Fred Wooller	Neil Trezise
Foll:Norm Sharp	Bruce Bartle	Peter Pianto
Res	Matt Goggin	Glen Bow
Emerg	Bob Wiltshire	Eric Nicholls

In - Max Sutcliffe, Bernie Smith, Bruce Bartle
Out - Geoff Williams (broken hand), Bob Wiltshire, Fred Le Deux.

(to be continued.......KM)

Other Examples by Raymond Morris

Woomera Football Oval - Copyright Raymond Morris	Aerial view of St Kilda Road and Flinders Street Station, Melbourne - Copyright Raymond Morris

Flicker Gallerys of Raymond Morris Photos

Please try and capture the feeling of the 1950's by having a look at the following collections:

National Library of Australia Collection of Raymond Morris	New Zealand Collection of Raymond Morris

Other photos can be found in the National Library of New Zealand.

The Collections are well worth the visit.