Photographing Sea Lake

Sea Lake is the name of the small frontier town where the heroine of my novel pitches up after evading her erstwhile lover at the harbour in Melbourne in 1910.  At that point, the town was the last stop on the Kulwin railway line, a relatively primitive settlement, but becoming something of a boom town.

Bill Boyd photographed it extensively with basic equipment and self-taught.  The results are remarkable and hugely evocative of the environment into which Chrissie and her three children were thrust.

You can view a gallery of his photos here: https://jobaileywriting.com/#gallery

This is the setting for my novel’s Part Four: Harvest and Boyd’s depiction illuminates what I tried to bring to life in my writing.

Bill Boyd (1901-1998) grew up in the Wimmera and Mallee districts of north-western Victoria. His father was a bullock driver carting wheat through the districts to the rail lines, who in 1912 purchased a 640-acre allotment, Block 60 in Bimbourie Parish, north of Sea Lake. The 14 year old Bill moved with his family to the allotment in 1915, and became responsible for running the farm, while his father continued work as a bullocky.

It was a harsh life trying to create a viable wheat farm. The land had to be cleared of tough Mallee scrub, which kept reshooting and had to be cut back. Water had to be sent in open channels from the ranges in the southern Wimmera, and rainfall was unpredictable and often inadequate. The roads were sandy tracks, and the closest rail lines 20 kilometres away. Plagues of mice could destroy a year's work.

At the age of 19 Bill Boyd purchased a Kodak No 1 Autographic camera by mail order, film and a developing kit, and began to document life on the farm and in the local community. The barrel of the family's grain stripper became his darkroom, with superphosphate bags creating the lightproofing. By 1922 he had a larger folding camera with a faster shutter. Bill's photos are a remarkable record of the struggles of smallholder settlers in the wheat growing districts of the Mallee.

He photographed land clearing, ploughing, harvesting, the creation of irrigation ditches, bullock teams and loading wheat. But he also documented family life on the farm, neighbours, and the social life of the community, including sports day, the tennis club, and the Sea Lake agricultural show.

With thanks to Dr Michelle Stevenson, Head of History & Technology, Museums Victoria

November 2025