Second-hand stores and deceased estates are a place where all sorts of items can be found. It’s hard to walk away from a pile of photographs and not wonder about them.
Canberra speech pathologist Jes is on a mission to reunite lost photographs with their families, not just in Australia but around the globe.
For 20 years, with support from her husband, Jes has been collecting old photographs from rubbish tips and deceased estates. The first old photograph Jes felt compelled to purchase was of a woman with a beautiful smile holding a bunch of flowers.
“I loved looking at the photos and would wonder who these people were, what lives they’d led, and what stories they’d held,” Jes told The Greek Herald.
“I couldn’t bear thinking these photos could be lost to history, so I’d purchase them with the intent of one day returning them to their families.”
Many years ago, while in Yass, New South Wales, Jes came across a large photo album containing many photographs of a Greek wedding in Sydney.
“The Greek wedding photos are part of a large photo album I found many years ago,” she explained.
“The album has photos from Sydney, Cooma, Narooma, Leeton, Ingham in Queensland, and even a postcard from Italy.
“Some of the photos have Greek written on the back. There is even a photograph of a man who migrated from Romania to Australia.
“The owner of the album remains a mystery, but there seems to be a connection between migrants to Australia – I wonder if the album belonged to someone in the Canberra / Yass region who themselves was a new migrant, or perhaps helped new migrants settle into Australia.”
In May 2024, Jes posted the Greek wedding photographs on her new Instagram and Facebook page – The Lost Portrait Archive – in the hope the happy couple would be identified.
The photographs were taken in 1958 at a Greek Orthodox church in Surry Hills, Sydney.
In November 2024, people began to comment on the social media post with someone identifying a couple who were guests at the wedding. Before long, the bride and groom were identified as Jim and Koula.
Jes was excited to find out that the couple’s grandson had identified a great uncle in the photograph and thought the bride and groom in the photograph could be his grandparents.
The grandson visited his yiayia and asked to see her wedding photo and sure enough – his grandparents were the unidentified couple.
“I was so excited when the couple was identified,” Jes said.
“The couple is so beautiful – they are so in love. I’d looked at them (the photos) for many years and had always hoped they’d be identified one day.”
This labour of love not only stems from wanting to return photos to loved ones, but the meaning a photograph can have to a person.
“My husband and I have had a difficult couple of years, birthing stillborn twins followed by a pregnancy ending in miscarriage,” Jes said.
“For us, the photographs that the midwives took of our twins are all we have left of them. The photos hold such meaning.
“We felt the old photographs I’d collected might hold that same importance to family members and that it was time to finally start to identify and reunite them with their families.”
Jes checks the social media pages daily to answer comments and sometimes to follow a lead that could lead her to a potential family.
“It’s such an honour to be able to return these photos to loved ones,” she said.
“In some cases, families had never seen the photos before. It’s a very special feeling knowing they’re back where they belong.
“I’d be most appreciative if readers could join my Facebook and/or Instagram account and have a look through the photos to see if they recognise anyone. Any help is much appreciated.”
*If any reader recognises in one photo above the lady in the background who is behind the groom as he is getting in the car, please contact Jes via her Facebook page The Lost Portrait Archive. The mystery lady was once the owner of the album that Jes had found.
