HERITAGE NOOSA
HERITAGE NOOSA
O. M. Proll
DETAILS
Also Known AsOtto Max ProllAdditional InformationO. M. Proll or O.M.P. is annotated as the photographer on a number of postcards of the Noosa area produced in the early 1900s. His work as a photographer is not widely documented and there are only a handful of examples that have come to light to date. However, those that have been found are significant images from the era.
Otto Maxwell Proll was born in Germany in 1859 and emigrated to Australia in 1881. He went first to Taree, New South Wales, where he married and then settled in Kempsey for some years. His primary profession was as a jeweller, however, he did also advertise as a photographer in newspapers in northern New South Wales in the early 1900s.
Proll’s photos of the Governor General’s visit to the Northern Rivers district of New South Wales were published in a pictorial feature in the Australian Town and Country Journal in 1906. His images of a significant fire in Murwillumbah were published in the Brisbane Courier in 1907. Other general views of Murwillumbah appeared in the Australian Town and Country Journal in 1907 and 1908. The fire photos appear also to have been made into postcards.
Around 1908, Proll moves to Cooroy, where he selected a 131 acre parcel of land in the Cooroy Estate (Dinsey Group), near Mt. Cooroy (Portion 84 Tewantin) and takes up dairy farming. For the next decade, electoral rolls list him as a farmer in Cooroy.
Proll appears to have integrated into the community, becoming secretary of the Cooroy Progress Association and hosting meetings of the association at his home. Mrs Proll is reported to have “regaled those present with an excellent libation from the cup that cheers, but does not intoxicate, accompanied with choice viands” at one such meeting. As secretary of the Progress Association, Proll regularly lobbied the local council for road improvements in the vicinity of his property.
Proll was also nominated by the Association and appointed by Council as co-caretaker of the Cooroy Mountain Reserve in 1913. The four honorary trustees (two from Noosa and two from Maroochy shire) were entrusted to look after the Mt. Cooroy Reserve, to carry out any necessary improvements and prevent vandalism by visitors of the beauty spots. He was also a member of the Cooroy Butter Factory committee.
During this time there is no evidence of him working as a jeweler and he does not advertise as a photographer. However, he clearly continued taking photographs, mostly of local scenes, which were printed and distributed as postcards (several of which are held by the Noosa Heritage Library). He is also reported as having taken the photos at a local wedding, although he is described as “our local artist” rather than as a photographer.
One other photo postcard of an incident involving a bogged bullock wagon on the Cooroy Road appears in a Flickr album (https://www.flickr.com/photos/hwmobs/41156398094/in/photostream/)
In mid-1918 it is reported that Proll had left the district and electoral rolls in 1917 list him as living in Fisherman’s Pocket, northwest of Gympie.
By the early 1920s, the Prolls are living in Atherton, once again integrated into community activities. Otto Proll returned to his profession as a jeweler.
There is no evidence to date that he continued his photographic pursuits after he moved to north Queensland. An advertisement that appeared in the Brisbane Courier in 1916 listing his camera for sale (or swap for a pocket camera) perhaps sheds light on that.
His postcards are rare but those of the Noosa district make a valuable addition to the photographic record. His postcards are also interesting in the broader historical context for the use of the Empire logo on the reverse side.
[See pdf version of this article for example newspaper ads]
Otto Maxwell Proll was born in Germany in 1859 and emigrated to Australia in 1881. He went first to Taree, New South Wales, where he married and then settled in Kempsey for some years. His primary profession was as a jeweller, however, he did also advertise as a photographer in newspapers in northern New South Wales in the early 1900s.
Proll’s photos of the Governor General’s visit to the Northern Rivers district of New South Wales were published in a pictorial feature in the Australian Town and Country Journal in 1906. His images of a significant fire in Murwillumbah were published in the Brisbane Courier in 1907. Other general views of Murwillumbah appeared in the Australian Town and Country Journal in 1907 and 1908. The fire photos appear also to have been made into postcards.
Around 1908, Proll moves to Cooroy, where he selected a 131 acre parcel of land in the Cooroy Estate (Dinsey Group), near Mt. Cooroy (Portion 84 Tewantin) and takes up dairy farming. For the next decade, electoral rolls list him as a farmer in Cooroy.
Proll appears to have integrated into the community, becoming secretary of the Cooroy Progress Association and hosting meetings of the association at his home. Mrs Proll is reported to have “regaled those present with an excellent libation from the cup that cheers, but does not intoxicate, accompanied with choice viands” at one such meeting. As secretary of the Progress Association, Proll regularly lobbied the local council for road improvements in the vicinity of his property.
Proll was also nominated by the Association and appointed by Council as co-caretaker of the Cooroy Mountain Reserve in 1913. The four honorary trustees (two from Noosa and two from Maroochy shire) were entrusted to look after the Mt. Cooroy Reserve, to carry out any necessary improvements and prevent vandalism by visitors of the beauty spots. He was also a member of the Cooroy Butter Factory committee.
During this time there is no evidence of him working as a jeweler and he does not advertise as a photographer. However, he clearly continued taking photographs, mostly of local scenes, which were printed and distributed as postcards (several of which are held by the Noosa Heritage Library). He is also reported as having taken the photos at a local wedding, although he is described as “our local artist” rather than as a photographer.
One other photo postcard of an incident involving a bogged bullock wagon on the Cooroy Road appears in a Flickr album (https://www.flickr.com/photos/hwmobs/41156398094/in/photostream/)
In mid-1918 it is reported that Proll had left the district and electoral rolls in 1917 list him as living in Fisherman’s Pocket, northwest of Gympie.
By the early 1920s, the Prolls are living in Atherton, once again integrated into community activities. Otto Proll returned to his profession as a jeweler.
There is no evidence to date that he continued his photographic pursuits after he moved to north Queensland. An advertisement that appeared in the Brisbane Courier in 1916 listing his camera for sale (or swap for a pocket camera) perhaps sheds light on that.
His postcards are rare but those of the Noosa district make a valuable addition to the photographic record. His postcards are also interesting in the broader historical context for the use of the Empire logo on the reverse side.
[See pdf version of this article for example newspaper ads]
Postcard
Article & Manuscript
O. M. Proll. Heritage Noosa, accessed 13/02/2025, https://heritage.noosa.qld.gov.au/nodes/view/4495