Your KS #69 – A rediscovered photo of Katharine Susannah Prichard and son, Ric.

By Nathan Hobby

The National Library of Australia’s digitised newspapers on Trove (www.trove.nla.gov.au) have revealed photos of Katharine Susannah Prichard which haven’t been seen for decades, including this lovely picture of Katharine and her son Ric Throssell on the steps outside their house in Greenmount. It appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 5 November 1936.

Ric is in his Wesley College uniform and showing the awkwardness of a 14 year-old boy forced to pose with his mum. Katharine’s dress is rather stylish; if only we could see it in colour.

The picture was taken three years after the death of Ric’s father, Hugo. Katharine was at her busiest for the Communist Party, involved in a myriad of organisations linked to the party which were trying to draw in new members.

Unfortunately, the quality of these photos can only be as good—at best—as the printing in the original newspaper. But even if they don’t give us high quality pictures of Katharine, they leave us feeling we’ve got to know her a little better in the different phases of her life.

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