Frederick William Thiel was born in Brisbane on the 3rd March 1896. Aged 18, in September 1914, he photographed SS Omrah, the first troopship to leave Brisbane, donating an enlargement for the benefit of The Wounded Soldiers Fund.
By 1916 he had a photographic studio in Edward Street. In 1919, he published two booklets of images; Brisbane’s War Pictorial 1914 to 1918, and Brisbane Illustrated. In early 1920, Frederick Thiel took to the air in a single engine bi-plane, as a passenger, with his camera, recording images of Brisbane and surrounds, again compiling the images into the publication Brisbane From The Air
The pictures were secured by F.W. Thiel piloted by Flight-Commander F.R. Smith. The ideal weather conditions enabled the photographer to obtain excellent negatives from a height of nearly 2,000 feet.
By 1925, he had a established a larger studio at Terrace House, 233 Adelaide Street. Frederick Thiel photographed many iconic Brisbane events and locations, including the first Brisbane City Council meeting, the arrival of Amy Johnson in 1930, and the building of the Grey Street Bridge. Many of his images appeared in The Queenslander. His studio in Terrace House, at 233 Adelaide Street, was destroyed by fire in June 1932, with the loss of 60,000 negatives. During World War 2 Thiel Studio relocated to 284 Queen Street.
F.W. Thiel flew over Redcliffe in 1925 and published a Redcliffe, Scarborough and Woody Point Illustrated booklet with 5 of his aerials featuring in a booklet along with photos of early Redcliffe in 1925. All photos in this original booklet were republished in the Pictorial History of Redcliffe book published in 2017 available to view and purchase at: https://www.redcliffebook.com/product-page/the-pictorial-history-of-redcliffe
Redcliffe Jetty 1925
Camping at Redcliffe 1925 , at the end of King St Margate.
Suttons Beach Redcliffe 1925
Woody Point 1925
Both Frederick William Thiel and his son John were long time committee members of the Photographer’s Association of Queensland. Frederick William Thiel died 9 December 1960, aged 64.
Thiel's photos of Redcliffe were republished in the Pictorial History Of Redcliffe 1824 to 1949 book available to view and purchase at: https://www.redcliffebook.com/product-page/the-pictorial-history-of-redcliffe
A downloadable ebook of the 1925 booklet is available to download at: