Story of the fishing flake

If this "fishing flake" could talk, it would tell us that "a little girl was asked by her mother to go down to the gully to get water ....".  I have looked at this archival photo many times and used it in different presentations, and I have never noticed there was a person standing under the flake until yesterday when Bob forwarded this email to me.

This is very fascinating to see how the stories unfold.... across the ocean...


This is also the power of photograph.  The photograph evokes memories in people I do not know.  The memories of the image bring back to those who live(d) in Pouch Cove are very different from my own.  Mine is constructed and is imagined.  For the people in Pouch Cove, they can identify boats, stages, flakes, houses, people, and how they have changed over time.  

From: Sharon Lewison
Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 3:37 PM
To: info@pouchcoveheritage.org
Subject: identification of a photo

To Whom It May Concern:

I have looked with interest in the photos on your site.  

The last photograph is of a fish flake.  If you look really closely you will see that underneath there is a little girl aged 7 or 8 carrying a metal jug. 

She is Veronica Shea; she was told by her mother Julia Shea (nee Constantine), to go and fetch some water in the gully or creek.  Julia was married to John Shea whose family has been in Pouch Cove since the 1790s.

When Veronica got to the road-bridge over the gully she looked up she saw a man with a camera.  He was a stranger and she wondered what he was doing there.

Veronica was born in Pouch Cove in February 1929 in the Shea house near the gully.  

The photograph was taken by a professional photographer whose name I cannot remember, sorry.  It appeared in an encyclopaedia which I think was entitled “Lands and Peoples”.  If I can find my reference to the photographer I will pass it on to you.

Veronica Shea is no longer alive; I am her daughter and I thank your for putting such interesting photos on your site,

Sharon Lewison

London England