22 reasons why everyone is right but me …
Charlie is supposed to be 3″ taller than Roy but this doesn’t appear to be the case here and the reasons given for this anomaly are plentiful. The most common is that Roy is closer to the camera, however those that follow this line of thought might consider how far back Grandpa might have to stand to appear to be the same height as Grandma, seeing as he looks to be about 3″ taller than his wife.
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According to some this photo is wrong with regard to the apparent similarity between Charlie and Roy’s height because ….
1 Roy, being a short man, is wearing built-up shoes.
2 Charlie is standing in a hole.
3 Charlie is stooping. (That’s from Stuart Webb because his brother does, stoop; seriously Stu, that’s a bit weak old mate, particularly as Charlie in the pic isn’t stooping.)
4 Charlie has bent his knees to fit into the frame. (GuzzR)
5 Charlie has bent his knees so Roy doesn’t feel bad about being three inches shorter.
6 Both men have been playing tennis or cricket and only Charlie has taken off his sandshoes. (dude)
7 Charlie is standing well back and has very long arms.
8 Roy is much closer to the camera.
9 It’s the foreshortening effect.
10 Roy is standing on tip-toe.
11 Charlie isn’t.
12 They are standing on a slope that falls away where Charlie is standing.
13 They are standing on a slope that rises where Roy is standing.
14 The camera lens is a bit Basil (faulty)
15 Roy, being short, is standing on a photographer’s block to look taller. ( dude again)
16 Whoever measured the Somerton Man @ 5’11” got it wrong. (Milongal)
17 It’s the parallax effect (Jo)
18 Roy really isn’t 5’8” because his enlistment photo was altered. (John Sanders)
19 Charlie leaned over a bit to hug his parents. (Pat)
20 His shoulders are on a higher position than Roy’s. (Pat)
21 and Roy being closer to the photographer gives the impression to be taller. (Pat)
22 The height thing is a nonsense. David Morgan.
The Somerton Man .. 
Small spanner in the works which you did not allow for in that Richard Webb’s prison record of 1893, gives his height as 5′ 9″. So now we have the added inconsistency of Roy at 5′ 8″ (confirmed) not only looking taller than brother Charles at 5′ 11″ (not confirmed) but also appearing to be one or two inches taller than his dad Richard @ ‘Grandpa’. Is it something that thedude might have an opinion on in light of his earlier related comment on paralax.
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The objective here is to dissuade folks from believing the seemingly 5’8” blond Charlie is the 5’11” Somerton Man .. nothing more.
A quick Google has many articles about height loss as you age, Johnno, up to and over an inch.
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It strikes me that the Webb family photographs are actually quite well constructed in terms of how the groups are put together. I’m starting to consider the possibility that they were taken by a professional photographer.
Perhaps if it was a special occasion event as has been suggested and there may have been a professional photographer offering their services on the day to families.
This was a thing back in the day in fact “street photographers” used to work the city daily taking candid snap shots of people walking the streets of Sydney. You may be walking along when without warning someone would take a snap of you dressed up for town and give you a ticket whereby you could view and potentially purchase these images later when they were developed.
So what? well a pro would manage the head heights in such a way that they looked symmetrical (which they do in this image) and that can involve elevating and or lowering subjects to make the group look right. As a young buck I shot a million weddings and I would carry blocks to stand short asses on. es
Has that happened here? dunno just sayin !
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Dunno either, but I’ll make it number 15 …
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Another item of particular interest to some, that is not so much related to any height discrepency justification perse but has relevance nonetheless. It be that Richard August Webb our 1936 70th birthday celebrant (Lotte Martin too) is posed seated on a fancy bent-wood occasional chair, one more suited to residential use than at some picnic venue like Hampton Park, top pick for Stuart’s FB converts. A certain address in Werribee with a rural panorama that connects to Eliza Webb’s people comes to mind once more.
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Thedude747, I’m wondering just how many families had their own cameras in the 1920/30s? If a prof. Photographer took these Webb family photos, wouldn’t his business/name be printed on the back of the photos? Perhaps the photo albums come from the same source?
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#Clive you’ve picked up on what Im kind of what Im angling at. IF this was a professional then that may well be the case. Cameras were not out of reach to the average cost wise in those days but it wasn’t like every family owned a camera thats for sure. Having a professional photographer photograph your family was definitely a popular thing in that era. The chairs could well be part of his kit as well.
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When I pre posted on the upcoming Carl Webb Aust. Story on 19 or 20/11/22 I thought I’d got in first with my suspicions taken from a preview. Recently Gordon came out with his own first to post hoax claim, only difference being his was of course evidence based and mine mere supposition. I just took up his kind offer to visit the original BS post using the https: details given but it didn’t work. Anyone else try to put it up, hope they have better luck though, in all honesty I can’t recall it being on his site on or around my stated date. NB: Seems Gordon may now be part of the official investigation according to his new alter Veritas, though not confirmed or denied by him of course.
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Grandma and grandpa’s heights seem consistent in these two images, I zoomed in on the grandpa image infront of the shed and the reflection could be a camera on a table? I found that timers were invented really early so could be a camera with timer? The reflection doesn’t seem to be an irregular shape like a photographer?
https://quickshare.samsungcloud.com/sNdK524Y1S4q
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Shabby,
Reminds me of when, just for the memory I took a selfie up a gumtree at Tharbogang (Griffith) when that small town was big news. Apart from a mini 35mm cini., I had my old Yashika 35 that my big sister sent to me in Vietnam. Poseur that I am, I stuck the camera in a fork, set the timer and bingo, five seconds and I hear the click then had nearc heart failure as the camera fell thirty feet or more to the deck. Just then my target exited his front door and after lookin up (I’m in cam.) and getting the all clear got into his stolen Trans Am. decamped. A week later I developed the film and to my surprises timed shot came out flawless and I still have it as proof that I worked the ‘Grass Castle’ case that nearly got my arse grassed in Griffith.
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How tall was the grandfather, JohnS?
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Pretty sure they had Dick at 5′ 6″ or 7″ on his rap sheet for 1893 aged 27. First day one SM suspect, E.. C. Johnson was 5′ 9″ and a quarte, if that helps?
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Everything helps squire, this we know ..
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Older rudder Russell Richard, was 5’3″ or 4″ on his 1913 gazette entry for 1913 aged 20.
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So we have grandad at 5’6” 5’7” – Carl at 5’11” and Roy at 5’8”. Does that look likely?
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Could be if Carls mom was over six feet tall!
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If it be of any comfort to a dwindling body of Chuck Webb fans the 5′ 11″ height came from the Advertiser/News and was not necessarily part of an official police press release. Neither was it mentioned at the inquest, but for a non commital “the man was tallish” from patho. Dr. Dwyer and a “height to be advised” from a not so confident Prof. Cleland. Cramer suggests the body was measured at 6′ 2″ barefoot on the slab next day, from memory; so hold onto your hats we could be in for a rough landing.
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Only ‘Charlotte’ I’m hep to apropos ‘Charlie’, Steve H’s latex (sic) boast, be old Mrs. Lotte Martin, seated next to long dead Amy Webb? in the Dick Webb birthday pic. at Werribee. Perhaps she meant ‘Charlotte the harlot’ or Joe Blow; better known as Ms. Ann O @ Bob Dill-an, Nowak etc., false claimant to 105 Moseley St., home of the somewhat nondescript Nan? Sparrow’s family.
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