Rare images capture pioneer life on WA's south coast in the early 1900s

Building the Denmark to Nornalup railway line. Bert Saw had a painter's eye for composition. (Supplied: Bert Saw)

The early days of settlement, young soldiers heading off to war and one of WA's first train lines being built are just some of the highly prized photos captured by one of Australia's earliest photographers.

At the turn of the 20th century, Albany-born Bert Saw documented, in incredibly rare and beautiful detail, the life and experience of those living on the state's rugged south coast.

Despite having no formal training, the keen-eyed photographer took hundreds of photos on a 12-kilogram glass plate camera believed to have been made in Cheapside, England in the 1890s.

Bert Saw documented the early white settlers, sometimes working, and sometimes out on the rivers in boats, in Denmark and Nornalup circa 1920s. (Supplied: Bert Saw)

Denmark Historical Society Treasurer Grant Peake said the camera, considered "portable and cutting-edge" at the time, required great skill to use, particularly in the rough and rugged southern landscape.

"He commenced, we believe, photographic work in about 1908 in the Nornalup area and did a lot of work around Denmark, Albany and further regions in the Great Southern," he said.

"It's not lightweight by any means, and if he was going through the bush, which he would have been, it would have been cumbersome."

Grant Peake with Bert Saw's glass plate camera. (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett)

Bert Saw at a road-building camp near Nornalup, loaded with his camera, tomahawk and rifle. Date unknown but most likely in the 1920s. (Supplied: Denmark Historical Society/Bert Saw)

Despite the limitations of the technology at the time, Mr Peake said the photos were of a high standard.

"Compared to modern cameras, the portable camera we talk of now is completely unique… but the work he produced from this camera is highly prized," he said.

Chair of the Denmark Historical Society Bev McGuiness said that if not for a stroke of providence, Saw's work may never have even existed.

Bev McGuinness with the album of Bert Saw's photographs. (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett)

"The story we've heard is he was watching the soldiers go onto the boat in Albany for the Boer War and was fascinated by the people taking photographs," she said.

"We suspect that maybe one of the photographers said, 'Here, you have a go at this,' and that got him hooked."

One of Bert Saw's earliest images circa 1900 as troops prepare to leave Albany for the Boer War. (Supplied: Denmark Historical Society/Bert Saw)

Over five decades, Saw captured more th