Minnie May Rises from the Ashes
Rare Photograph Find
This battered photograph is considered to be a unique find and thought to have come from the family collection of Sabina Fontaine nee McNamara who died in Proserpine, Queensland in 1969.
It is the only known surviving image of the family members of James
McNamara Senior and Mary Ann Fuller. Miraculously it was saved from destruction in an
incinerator following a family clean up around 1980.
Divided Opinion
Opinion is divided as to the names of the children depicted with parents James and Mary Ann McNamara. Some believe the oldest female, back left, is Sabina (b 1873) with Mary Annē (b 1885) sitting beside her mother.
Some believe the young female in the front row is
Minnie May (b 1890)
with Mary Annē in the back row beside her father James Senior. The three young males are
believed to be Charlie front left with William beside him and Jack back right.
When interviewed in 2001, Ivy Kuridala Rose Lee, the youngest child and only living member
of Sabina and Gus Fontaine's family was unable to identify any of the children.
Walter E. Perroux
The photograph itself provides and excellent clue
to its vintage. The embossed lettering on the frame, Walter E. Perroux, Toowoomba, Queensland, provides
solid evidence that the photograph could have only been taken after 1895.
At that time, Perroux, a well known prolific and popular photographer of
that era opened a studio in Toowoomba. Perroux, who began business in
Mackay travelled widely
throughout Queensland and was a regular photographic contributor to
local newspapers including The Queenslander in the early
twentieth century.
Walter Estuace Perroux
died at Bowen Hospital, 15 November 1921 following a short illness. He was aged 63 years 3 months.
Walter was survived by his wife
Catherine Elizabeth Gaffney who died in
Sydney, 18 August 1951 aged 91 years.
In what appears to be an
embarrassing bureaucratic bungle a Brisbane City Summons Court fined Perroux £2 plus 3 shillings
costs for failing to lodge an income tax return - a week
after his death.
Oddly, the man who had taken a countless number of
portraits failed to leave in the public domain a likeness of himself.
Note: In February 1903
Perroux advertised in the Northern Star (Lismore, New South Wales) -
"Walter E. Perroux of the New Studio, has photographed over two
thousand five hundred people since he commenced business in Lismore
and he has pleased them all. A lovely enlargement given with every
dozen photos".
Sifting for Clues
This family portrait was miraculously saved from
destruction in 1969. The only confirmed identities are parents
James McNamara
Senior and Mary Ann Fuller.
Portrait Puzzle
The identity of the woman in the photograph is unknown. Some believe it to be a studio portrait of Minnie May McNamara taken around 1910.
Finding Minnie May
It is highly unlikely that the young female in the
back row is Sabina as she
married
Gus Fontaine at Dalby in 1892 and following a family disagreement moved from the area
shortly after. Sabina could not have been in Jandowae or Toowoomba in
1895
By process of elimination the young girl in the front row must be Minnie May
McNamara.
As no other image of Minnie has ever been found it makes the group photograph a unique
piece of McNamara Family history.
Family Secret
When Minnie May was committed to Willowburn Special Hospital in 1922 the family was acutely embarrassed by the social stigma of having their youngest member confined to a mental institution.
They went to extraordinary measures to conceal the family secret which
included removal of all her photographs.
So effective was the cover-up many mourners at her
father's
funeral in 1942 believed that she had passed away some years before.
Minnie May was destined to spend the next sixty five years of her life
confined to State mental institutions. She
died alone and almost
unnoticed at Prince
Charles Hospital, Brisbane, 20 January 1978.
Lifting the Veil
In 2002, an old photograph (bottom left) was discovered at "Strathgyle", Bell,
Queensland which has a striking resemblance to Sabina Fontaine nee McNamara.
Ivy Lee nee Fontaine was certain that this picture of a twenty to twenty five year old
woman with obvious McNamara family features was not her mother Sabina. She strongly
believed it could be a portrait of the seldom seen Minnie May McNamara.
The only surviving description of Minnie is from her Willowburn hospital
admission file - thin build, 5 feet 5 inches tall, blue eyes, brown hair, deeply tanned
and weighing 121 pounds.
If the photo proves to be that of
Minnie May recognition would be some justice for a woman whose name was all but
erased from the family memory.
The cruel irony
is that it may have been taken for the man who jilted her, causing her
catastrophic mental breakdown from which she never recovered.
She would take
his name and that family secret to her grave.
