Article

RUTH CHARGOIS

Photography – a family affair

by Raffaele Caputo

Ruth Marie Chargois was born on 5 March, 1901, in the outback town of Croydon, located in far north Queensland. She was the daughter of Alphonse Chargois and Ruth Baptiste Marius and the third of four siblings born in Croydon. Her siblings included Victor Herbert, born in 1897; Frederick Arthur, who tragically died shortly after birth in 1899; and Catherine Alice, born in 1907. Additionally, Ruth Marie had two half-siblings from her father’s previous marriage to Winifred Frances Murren.

By the time Ruth Marie was born, Alphonse Chargois had already established himself as a highly-skilled photographer of outback life. He had opened studios in Townsville and Normanton before moving to Croydon, from where he travelled to the Gulf of Carpentaria and Cape York regions, capturing images of indigenous peoples and natural history subjects.

Around 1919, or possibly earlier, the Chargois family moved to Cairns, where they eventually settled. There, they established Chargois Studios. By 1921, their son Victor was working behind the camera, and in 1922, Ruth Marie took her place in the studio, working as a photographer’s assistant.

After Alphonse Chargois passed away in 1936, Ruth and Victor managed the studio until its sale in 1946. Early in 1947, Victor with his wife Mabel, relocated to Maroubra in New South Wales. Ruth, along with her mother and younger sister, Catherine, soon joined them, settling in the inner Sydney suburb of Dulwich Hill, where they remained for the rest of their lives. According to New South Wales electoral rolls from 1949 to 1980, Ruth continued working as a photographer’s assistant, likely alongside her older brother.

Ruth Chargois passed away on 8 May, 1981, at Parklands Nursing Home in Marrackville. She was 80 years old.

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