The Pleasure of Small Things

My children roll their eyes at me, but I cannot help it. I find genealogy exciting. They have just been laughing at me because I was excitedly showing them a photo I was sent today.

Laurence O'Toole. From the Leichhardt Library digital image collection Aurora Gallery

This is Laurence O'Toole, my great great uncle, taken sometime between 1894 and 1901, when he was on Leichhardt Council. You can read about him on my post, "A Real Trick".

The photo comes from the Local History photograph collection at Leichhardt Library. This is a collection of about 10,000 images. It is entirely digitised and indexed. Go to the Library website, click on “Search the Catalogue” on the left hand side and then click on the “Photo” tab at the top of the page (fourth tab from the left). The collection covers Leichhardt, Balmain, Birchgrove, Annandale, Glebe, that sort of area. You can type into the search bar to find images of specific areas or places or events, but there can be some trial and error involved. That said, it is a great resource if you have an interest is this area of Sydney, and the Library staff are very helpful and quick to answer emails.

Finally I have a photo of Uncle Larry. And yes, those ears are a family trait. We could see it in my grandfather and his brothers.