A Walk on the beach

On our beach walk this morning there were only two other people, and the kids managed to see a whale when they scaled the rocks. I missed it of course.

On this afternoon't walk the beach was also quite empty - much more than usual for the time of day.  I actually wondered if the beach was closed due to a shark or something  and we had just missed the notice, but there were  a few people swimming at the other end of the beach (if you look closely you can see a few people behind my family). I heard on the news when we got home that all beaches long the cost near Rockhampton and Bundaberg are closed because of debri from the recent storms and floods, so that may explain the lack of people - although the water looked pretty clear to us.

Lambert Beach, Mackay

Before the 1960's this area was cattle farms and sugar cane, with  small beach shacks. Samuel Lambert, Mayor of Mackay in 1899 and owner of Lambert's Department store, took his staff to the beach for Company picnics in the early part of the 20th Century - hence the name Lamberts Beach.  It's still popular for picnics, wedding photos and sea turtle and whale watching.  Swimming can be risky however, as we occasionally get sharks and crocodiles, and stingers are in the water from November until May.

Dead shark displayed on a beach, South Australia 1913

Here are some well used beaches, in scenes from 100 years ago.

Clarence Beach, UK 1913

Palm beach, US, 1913

Our local beach has never been crowded like those ones.  It's more like this beach in an autochrome by  Mervyn O'Gorman, taken in 1913. The model is Christina,his daughter.

Add Christina on the Beach, 1913, source

Isn't that a lovely photo.  Here's another wonderful  image by Mr O'Gorman taken in 1913. Many of his works were used on book covers.  

Christina by a boat, 1913

Off the track a bit, but I love those photos.  A beach really is the best place to be on a hot, humid Mackay afternoon!

Lambert's Beach

As usual more images on tumblr.

Deb xxx