TitleFreak of Nature - Front View, 1898Date Created1898PhotographerBenjamin Hurst Taylor (1857-1916)Laura Jane Taylor (nee Harris) (1857- )StudioI.X.L. Studio
DescriptionIpswich photographer Benjamin Taylor organised a fundraising event for the Ipswich Hospital in July 1898. Curios included a three-legged cat, belonging to a Constable Fagg, of Lowood, and the “Freak of Nature” depicted in this image.
The freak was first found in 1856, at South Head, Sydney. Mr. W. Leftwitch, an hotelier, found the freak in a load of wood.
Attracted by its resemblance to a headless man, Leftwitch saved the freak from the fire and put it on display in his hotel, where it became ‘an object of great attention’, with Leftwitch claiming that the ‘man-tree’ was worth £50 a year to his business.
The freak was part of the trunk and branches of a stunted honey-suckle tree, and had been ‘in no way “improved” by the hand of man’.
By 1898, the honey-suckle wood was with Mr. Leftwich’s daughter, Mrs. Thompson of Mount Crosby.
The images of the freak of nature were published in ‘The Queenslander’ and were available for purchase at the exhibition, with all proceeds going to the hospital. The evening ended with a magic-lantern display by Mr. J. Hermann.
In total, £5 7s. 6d. were raised on the day, with the three-legged cat and the “man tree” proving ‘a source of great amusement to the juveniles’. References (offline)‘An Exhibition of Curios’, The Queensland Times, Saturday 9 July 1898, p.4‘Exhibition of Curios’, The Queensland Times, Tuesday 12 July 1898, p.4‘A Freak of Nature’, The Queenslander, Saturday 16 July 1898, p. 120‘The Ipswich Hospital: Meeting of the Board of Management’, The Queensland Times, Saturday 23 July 1898, p.3
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Asset Details
Reference IDqips-2018-09-18-0022Asset TypeImages - JpegColour or Black & White ImageBlack & WhiteOrientationPortraitGenreAbstractPhysical DescriptionGlass PlateHigher Resolution Available (contact Picture Ipswich)YesCopyrightPicture Ipswich Copyright Information