Album containing 106 photographs relating to James Pitkeathly in Malaya and Australia during the 1920s

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Type: Photograph albums
Place: Malaysia
Materials: Card, Ink, Paper, Photographic emulsion
Collection: James Pitkeathly collection no. 1
Accession number: 2013.0022.0033

Description

A photograph album with a black card cover featuring the word 'ALBUM' in embossed gold coloured lettering, containing 106 numbered photographs with accompanying typed annotations, and a loose newspaper page. Typed text inside the front cover begins 'These pictures are of my Great Grand parents and their friends, family and / work mates. They would have been 20-30 years old in the 1920's. / These photos were primarily taken in Batu Arang in Malaya...'. The newspaper page is a 1968 supplement to 'THE SUN' reproducing a 1918 paper.

106 numbered photographs and accompanying typed annotations by James Pitkeathly. The collection relates primarily to the Pitkeathly's life in Batu Arang and Kuala Lumpur during the 1920s but also includes photographs of life in Cessnock before moving abroad and the family's return trips to Australia. In addition to the photographs of Malayan and Australian (Cessnock) mines in operation, family life and social occasions, this album also includes photographs (No. 74 & 84) of the eight Chinese contractors who presented Pitkeathly with the mantel clock as a farewell gift

About the collection

This collection consists of approximately 58 items relating to the life of James Pitkeathly (1895 - 1997), a Scottish migrant who worked as a mine manager and surveyor in the Hunter Valley, central Queensland and South East Asia. Pitkeathly also served in the Australian Infantry Force on the Western Front from 1916 - 1919. When James Pitkeathly migrated to Australia the 'White Australia Policy' had been in place for over a decade. Potential British migrants were encouraged to come to Australia and offered assisted passages to do so. Pitkeathly brought with him much sought after coal mining skills and throughout his career worked in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales and Bowen Basin, Queensland, two regions significant in the expansion of Australia's coal mining industry. During the 1920s Pitkeathly was employed by the Malayan Collieries Ltd and he worked in Borneo and British Malaya. This collection offers insight into the economic significance of the Australian coal industry and the development of major towns such as Newcastle as well as the experiences of a skilled Australian working and living in South East Asia. This collection also explores the life of Australian soldier embroiled in trench warfare on the Western Front during the First World War.

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 5:44:38 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2025-02-23. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.