Alan Hession introduced Alasdair McGregor as a fellow architect who spent most of his life as a painter and historian. He is a regular writer for Australian Geographic.
Frank Hurley achieved much in his 76 years (1886 – 1962). He found his love for photography when living in Lithgow and was involved in the Ashfield Camera Club. Hurley bought his first camera for 15 shillings, a Kodak Box Brownie, when he was 17.
Alasdair showed us the many photos that Hurley produced and with each photo he gave us a description and explanation.
Antarctica Adventurer
Frank Hurley spent 4 years in total in Antarctica. At the age of 23 in 1912, he was part of the expedition on the Aurora with Douglas Mawson and on the ship Endurance in 1915 with the Shackleton expedition. He also spent time New Guinea in 1920, and attempted to fly to England in 1921.
From Passchendaele to El Alamein
In 1917 Hurley joined the Australian Imperial Force and captured many stunning battlefield scenes during the Battle of Ypres. He took considerable risks to photograph his subjects and produced many rare panoramic and colour photographs of the conflict. He was ordered not to produce composite images, a practice that was especially popular among professional photographs of the time, and one that he believed could portray the disgust and horror that he felt about the war.
In a 1918 London exhibition of Australian War Pictures and Photographs he employed composites and photomurals to convey the drama of the war. The exhibition was the “Dawn of Passchendaele”. This brought him into conflict with the AIF. Charles Bean, the official war historian, labelled Hurley’s composite images as “fake”.
During War War 2 and from 1940-1946 Frank Hurley was employed with the Department Information Unit. From 1941 he was involved in the Middle East including the bombardment of Tobruk where he staged the photos of an explosion of a German tank. He also took many photos of Egypt and the battle of El Alamein.
After his return home from WW2, in 1946-47 Frank travelled extensively around Australia with his wife, Antoinette Theriault-Leighton whom he married in 1918, documenting the country. He loved gardening and lived at Collaroy Plateau with his four children.
Alan thanked Alasdair for the wonderful photos and his explanations, and for his informative talk.
