A rare collection of photographs that captured life in Wagga Wagga through the 1950s and 1960s will be discussed during a free public lecture by Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic and historian Dr Nancy Blacklow on Wednesday 15 October. The photos were taken by the first full-time photographer at The Daily Advertiser, Tom Lennon. The lecture, Beyond the Family Album: A Photographic Documentary of Wagga Wagga Life in the 1950s-60s will discuss the search for aspects of Lennon’s life and will endeavour to reconcile the eccentricities of Tom Lennon with his photographs of traditional conservatism of the 1950s and social changes of the 1960s. Dr Blacklow worked as a journalist for The Daily Advertiser before joining CSU. “The collection of 50 000 prints and 80 000 negatives is one of a kind,” said Mr Wayne Doubleday, the Manager of CSU Regional Archives. “It captures all aspects of life from social occasions to sporting events, local politicians to everyday street scenes and school children to performing animals.” The prints and negatives have been stored at the CSU Regional Archives.