On July 31, 1954, freelance photographer Rosemary Gilliat and her girlfriends, Anna Brown, Audrey James and Helen Salkeld, packed up Helen’s Plymouth station wagon and began their 12,391-kilometre road trip across Canada. During the next 38 days, they crossed five provinces and four states, travelling through Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Washington, Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota, and returning to Ottawa on September 6.
Helen Salkeld, Audrey James, Anna Brown and Rosemary Gilliat (left to right)
getting ready to leave Ottawa, Ontario for their Trans-Canada Highway trip, July 31, 1954
Anna Brown, Helen Salkeld and Audrey James stopping at
Deep River (Ottawa River), Ontario. July 31, 1954
Audrey James in a tent, possibly near Temagami, Ontario, July 31, 1954
Where do we go from here? Audrey James standing at a large road sign on
the Trans-Canada Highway near Kirkland Lake, Ontario, August 1, 1954
Audrey James, Anna Brown and Helen Salkeld erecting
tents, Moonbeam, Ontario, August 1, 1954
Anna Brown half asleep in a tent, Moonbeam, Ontario, August 1, 1954
Downtown street in Hearst, Ontario, August 2, 1954
Supper by deserted gold mine buildings, possibly
near Geraldton, Ontario, August 2, 1954
Anna Brown cooking outdoors, possibly in the vicinity of
Klotz Lake near Geraldton, Ontario, August 2, 1954
Anna Brown getting out of a lake in Northern Ontario, August 2, 1954
Anna Brown and Helen Salkeld on a lakeshore, Nipigon, Ontario, August 3, 1954
Supper beside English River, Ontario, August 3, 1954
Anna Brown and Helen Salkeld erecting tents,
English River, Ontario, August 3, 1954