Reviewed by Donna Paichl



Max Dupain’s famous photograph Sunbaker depicts an Australia we are all familiar with: sun, beach and sand, a relaxed image that encapsulates the way we like to see ourselves.  However, photographs and photographers have represented Australia and Australians in a whole range of ways, both familiar and new, from the first century of white settlement. Helen Ennis provides an interesting insight into this topic in her recent book Photography and Australia.

Photography and Australia is a ‘conversation’ about the way images have captured Australia as a nation, and the way they reflect our colonial and imperialist roots. Ennis is well qualified to conduct such a study, as she is Senior Lecturer in Art Theory and Associate Head at the Australian National University School of Art in Canberra, and has curated exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery of Australia, the National Library of Australia and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Little work has been done on the history of photography in Australia, particularly in the area of colonial photography. Therefore, this text is a valuable look at the way Australian photographers have documented their country’s life and culture, and provides a valuable insight into Australian history and the way colonial origins have permeated the culture. As Ennis states: ‘photography in Australia is not simply the product of the modern era, but is tied inextricably to the imperialist and colonialist underpinnings of modernity.’(8)

The book’s content is not presented chronologically, but rather thematically; as Ennis points out in her introduction, the chapters are ‘self-contained essays that discuss particular themes, issues, styles and ideas.’ (9) As a result, they can be read as stand-alone sections, each analysing a different aspect of photography in this country.

Ennis begins her history with First Photographs, an analysis of photography in the colonial era. Few photographs from this very early period survive, despite the fact that a great many were taken: for example, photographers such as George Baron Goodman (usually regarded as Australia’s first professional in the field) produced thousands in the 1840s. However, it is likely that the bulk of these photographs were sent ‘home’ to Britain, making them more difficult to access.

A photograph featured in this chapter that stands out is the work called A Loving Couple, by an unknown photographer. In an era where Aborigines and their culture were consistently represented as inferior to Europeans, this photograph’s depiction of the Indigenous couple, naked and entwined, stands out. Their pose and expressions do not suggest obsequiousness, nor are they idealised as noble savages, as implied by many other photographs from the period.  This is just one example of the variety of images featured in the text.

Another interesting photograph from the period is that of the dead bushranger Joe Byrne, member of the Kelly gang, by J.W. Lindt. Taken in 1880, this photograph is regarded as Australia’s first press photograph, and tells a clear and stark tale. As Ennis remarks, here is the victory of law and order over disorder. Both of these photographs are examples of what Ennis regards as the prevailing trend of Australian photography throughout our history: the tendency towards realism; as she states in her introduction, a preoccupation with the ‘physical, material aspects of life rather than its metaphysical or spiritual dimensions.’ (9)

Other chapters in the book deal with representations of Aborigines, the natural landscape and modernist photography. Photographs reflecting the relationships between Indigenous and settler Australians feature throughout the text, and indeed are some of its most compelling images. They reveal a great deal about this relationship and the way it has changed over time.  Another section, called Made in Australia, looks at the place of documentary photography, and what it has had to say about Australian identity. This form of photography had it origins in the 1930s, but really came into its own during World War two, when photographers such as Max Dupain and Geoffrey Powell were employed by the Department of Information to capture images on the home front.

The photographs that illustrate this chapter capture all kinds of Australians, from the Jim Patrick’s returning soldier in his photograph Private Wallace Tratford to Jeff Carter’s The Drover’s Wife, featuring a rural couple and their baby. In contrast, the work of Carol Jerrems is also featured here; her iconic photograph Vale Street remains one of the most potent images of 1970s feminism.

There are many familiar images in the book, from the infamous ‘children overboard’ photograph that featured in The Sydney Morning Herald in October 2001, to iconic images of Uluru and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Ennis compares the ‘children overboard’ photograph to a post-mortem image of bushranger Joe Governor by A.F. Saunders in 1900.  Both photographs, she argues, highlight the way such images can ‘transcend their original contexts’ (140) and be used and misused by authority to send the desired message. 

This book is interesting to flick through for the images alone, and the text provides an accessible and valuable introduction to the history of Australian photography and the way its reveal the various tensions in our history. Each chapter features end notes providing valuable additional information and the book concludes with a comprehensive index.

Photography in Australia is part of the Exposures series of books on different aspects of photography, published by Reaktion Books and distributed in Australia by Footprint Books.  It is a valuable addition to this series, and provides a comprehensive overview for anyone with an interest in the topic.


Photography and Australia
(2007)

by Helen Ennis
Reaktion Books (distributed in Australia through Footprint Books)
ISBN: 9781861893239
158pp AUD$47.95