Trove Tuesday – Happy New Year, the Australian Women’s Weekly, 1949.

As we head into 2014 I would like to showcase one of my favourite images.

it is the cover page of the December 31. 1949 issue of the Australian Women’s Weekly.

What I really I love about this image are the sparkling, clear eyes of the baby looking directly at his grandfather’s fob watch. In every sense the baby is ready to seize ‘time’ from his grandfather.

His grandfather would have lived through a turbulent time of real change – from the early years of the 20th century and then through the horrors of the Great War. He would have shared the hopes and successes of the 20s and suffered through the depression of the 1930s. By the time this wonderful image was taken in 1949 he would also have lived through World War 2 and the following austerity.

As the grandfather shows his watch he knows that his grandchild will be living in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond in a future full of hope.

Of one thing that the grandfather is certain – his young, innocent grandchild will be living in an unknown, unimaginable world.

An image that is full of joy, pride and hope – great feelings to have on New Year’s Eve!