Ile Nou

I was able to identify the location of this Hughan photograph by comparing it with others in O'Reilly's book.It matched with other views taken of "Ile Nou", a small island just west of the settlement of Noumea. New Caledonia was founded initially as a penal colony and the first shiploads of convicts arrived in May 1864 at Port-de-France (present-day Noumea). The voyage took four months to sail from France to New Caledonia around the Cape of Good Hope, and the survivors were kept in large huts on Ile Nou, off Noumea harbour, and carried out the colony's public works, including building Noumea's Cathedrale St Joseph and most of Grande Terre's roads.

In the middle of the photograph is a young girl. One would imagine that it is one of Allan's daughters, as it would not be a suitable place for any other child to be posing. In Patrick O'Reilly's book, there is a map of New Caledonia that shows the years in which Allan Hughan visited and photographed certain areas. It states that he visited Ile Nou in 1877- if this is correct, his daughters would be aged about 16 (Ruth), 10 (Minnie) and 6 (Aline). It is difficult to judge the age of the child in the photo, but if pressed I would guess her age to be closer to Minnie's age than either of her sisters.