JJ McCue Poultry expert and wife' written on back of print.

A fairly ambiguous sentence but this seems to show, L-R, JJ McCue, Charles Musson and Ada Musson. McCue started at HAC in 1897 and left for Broken Hill Technical College in 1901, so this image must have been taken during this period. Volume XII, Pt 1 of the Agricultural Gazette of NSW, 1901 has photos of nine HAC Staff (opp. page 157) amongst which are depicted McCue and Musson. The photo of McCue compares favourably with this image except that in the 1901 image his face seems considerably thinner. The above photo seems to have been taken on the eastern side of the Masters Residence ... I would suggest from the seating arrangements and the body language that the woman depicted is Mussons’ wife rather than McCues’ wife (if McCue had one. There is a marriage record for a James J McCue and a Clara A Rowsell in Port Macquarie, 1890). Musson appears to have his left hand resting upon the arm of the woman’s chair.

[Ref: Biography of Charles Tucker Musson by Peter Lister, Sep 2009, p.18, TRIM Ref. D11/468235]

Charles Tucker Musson, aged 34, was appointed Science Master at the newly formed Hawkesbury Agricultural College (HAC), commencing his duties as “registrar and lecturer on botany” on Monday 23rd March 1891 and delivering his first lecture the very next day 19. He served until he retired in December 1919, aged 63.

Musson not only taught during his first year but also acted as Registrar 7 after which Mr GP Lush took over that role 20. His titles and roles varied, especially in his early years. The 1892 & 1893 HAC Annual Reports list him as Examiner in subjects such as ‘Elementary Botany’, ‘Book-keeping’, ‘English and Arithmetic’. At this time he was the ‘English Master’ and he had his students studying Shakespeare’s ‘Merchant of Venice’; the 1893 exam he set for them required them to write an outline of the play. By the turn of the century Wood had departed (1899) and Musson’s title changed to ‘Lecturer in Botany and Entomology’ and thence to ‘Science Master’ in 1909. A new English Master (Gilder) was appointed in 1907 (HAC Annual Reports 1891-1909). Musson was also Acting Principal as required, such as during December 1907 when Principal Potts was away (HAC Journal 1907, page 8).

[Ref: Biography of Charles Tucker Musson by Peter Lister, Sep 2009, p.6, TRIM Ref. D11/468235]