Large funeral gathering at cemetery grave site, n.d.
Source: livinghistories.newcastle.edu.au/nodes/view/32832
Thomas James Rodoni was born in 1882 at Hotham East, Victoria, to
Swiss and Irish parents. While living in Sydney in August 1914 as a man of
31, Rodoni joined the first Australian Imperial Force that would engage in the
Great War: the Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Force. A week after
enlisting, Rodoni’s company embarked on the HMAS Berrima and sailed
to German New Guinea among a fleet with orders to seize two wireless
stations and to disable the German colonies there.
Rodoni’s unofficial photographs – many of them “candid” shots, captured
in the moment – are a rare glimpse of this pivotal moment in Australia’s
history. He has documented the energetic atmosphere of prewar Sydney
and its surrounds, from civilian and military marches to battleships docked
in Sydney Harbour, with accompanying crowds of people brought together
for these special events. His camera voyaged with him on the expedition to
the Pacific region, taking images both from the ship’s deck and then again
on dry land after disembarking.
Rodoni was stationed in New Guinea for five months with the AN&MEF
after the successful capture of territory from the German forces. His striking
images are testament to his ease with the camera, and the ease of his fellow
servicemen around this avid amateur photographer. He used his camera to
record daily events and significant moments in the expedition, and made
several group portraits of the officers and soldiers in his company. Yet his
images also suggest a genuine curiosity for the foreign people and places
where he was stationed, and a love of the photographic medium in which
he practiced during this early period of the war.
After leaving New Guinea with the AN&MEF and returning home to Australia
in January 1915, Rodoni left the force to work in a Small Arms Factory
manufacturing munitions for the war. He soon married and settled in
Newcastle with his wife, Catherine Annie Wilson, and had four children:
Thomas, Mary, Jim and William (Bill). The wider collection of glass plate
negatives – over 600 in total and with many views of Newcastle and its surrounds is an incredible legacy to Thomas Rodoni and his family.
Rodoni died in 1956 as a result of a car accident in Waratah, Newcastle.
The original negatives are held in Cultural Collections at the Auchmuty Library, University of Newcastle (Australia).
You are welcome to use the images for study and personal research purposes. Please acknowledge as Courtesy of the Rodoni Archive, University of Newcastle (Australia)" For commercial requests you must obtain permission by contacting Cultural Collections.
If you are the subject of the images, or know the subject of the images, and have cultural or other reservations about the images being displayed on this website and would like to discuss this with us please contact Cultural Collections.
If you have any further information on the photographs, please leave a comment.
These images are provided free of charge to the global community thanks to the generosity of the Bill Rodoni & Family and the Vera Deacon Regional History Fund. If you wish to donate to the Vera Deacon Fund please download a form here: dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21528529/veradeaconform.jpg
Large funeral gathering at cemetery grave site, n.d.
Source: livinghistories.newcastle.edu.au/nodes/view/32832
Thomas James Rodoni was born in 1882 at Hotham East, Victoria, to
Swiss and Irish parents. While living in Sydney in August 1914 as a man of
31, Rodoni joined the first Australian Imperial Force that would engage in the
Great War: the Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Force. A week after
enlisting, Rodoni’s company embarked on the HMAS Berrima and sailed
to German New Guinea among a fleet with orders to seize two wireless
stations and to disable the German colonies there.
Rodoni’s unofficial photographs – many of them “candid” shots, captured
in the moment – are a rare glimpse of this pivotal moment in Australia’s
history. He has documented the energetic atmosphere of prewar Sydney
and its surrounds, from civilian and military marches to battleships docked
in Sydney Harbour, with accompanying crowds of people brought together
for these special events. His camera voyaged with him on the expedition to
the Pacific region, taking images both from the ship’s deck and then again
on dry land after disembarking.
Rodoni was stationed in New Guinea for five months with the AN&MEF
after the successful capture of territory from the German forces. His striking
images are testament to his ease with the camera, and the ease of his fellow
servicemen around this avid amateur photographer. He used his camera to
record daily events and significant moments in the expedition, and made
several group portraits of the officers and soldiers in his company. Yet his
images also suggest a genuine curiosity for the foreign people and places
where he was stationed, and a love of the photographic medium in which
he practiced during this early period of the war.
After leaving New Guinea with the AN&MEF and returning home to Australia
in January 1915, Rodoni left the force to work in a Small Arms Factory
manufacturing munitions for the war. He soon married and settled in
Newcastle with his wife, Catherine Annie Wilson, and had four children:
Thomas, Mary, Jim and William (Bill). The wider collection of glass plate
negatives – over 600 in total and with many views of Newcastle and its surrounds is an incredible legacy to Thomas Rodoni and his family.
Rodoni died in 1956 as a result of a car accident in Waratah, Newcastle.
The original negatives are held in Cultural Collections at the Auchmuty Library, University of Newcastle (Australia).
You are welcome to use the images for study and personal research purposes. Please acknowledge as Courtesy of the Rodoni Archive, University of Newcastle (Australia)" For commercial requests you must obtain permission by contacting Cultural Collections.
If you are the subject of the images, or know the subject of the images, and have cultural or other reservations about the images being displayed on this website and would like to discuss this with us please contact Cultural Collections.
If you have any further information on the photographs, please leave a comment.
These images are provided free of charge to the global community thanks to the generosity of the Bill Rodoni & Family and the Vera Deacon Regional History Fund. If you wish to donate to the Vera Deacon Fund please download a form here: dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21528529/veradeaconform.jpg