Halt for a Refreshment Circa  1895

This image shows a teamster stopping for a drink from his canvass water bag. A team of draft horses can be seen in the background. By the late 19th century roads were improving across Australia and horse teams were replacing bullock teams as the main means of heavy haulage. Horses could travel much faster than bullocks although bullocks required less feed and could handle rougher road sand heavy mud better than horses.
This photographic negative was probably taken by George Bell who worked for the Sydney based company of Charles Kerry and Co. George Bell was employed by the Sydney firm of Kerry and Co. in 1890, and the work he produced over the following ten years, stands amongst the best of this period. Bell's pictures transcended hackneyed journalistic records of people and places, and his best photos, contain a lyrical quality, at odds with the demands of journalistic realism. Between 1890 and 1900 Bell, not only honed his craft, he produced many of his most memorable images. Among the best of these are 'Pioneers', 'On the Road to Dorrigo', 'The Farmers
Daughter', 'Rounding Up', and perhaps his best known, 'The Waterbag' or 'Halt for refreshment'. In 1900 he left Kerry's studio,

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Below is a copy of the original photo