By Australian Museum
Australian Museum
'It seems incredible that within a few hundred miles of
Australian shores we dwell on the outskirts of the unknown – we are as ignorant
of this enchanting and productive country as fools.' Frank Hurley, 23 April 1921
Frank Hurley Collection
Frank Hurley is among the greatest Australian photographers of the twentieth century. Invited to photograph the activities of Anglican missions in Papua in the early 1920s, Hurley saw an opportunity to photograph and film what he viewed as an exotic and savage land – and advance an already successful career.
A western and traditional reflection.
Hurley’s photos reflect both an Australian-controlled Papua – a place where government and missionaries exerted a strong influence in the areas they occupied – and a more traditional Papua. These images, together with his diaries, artefacts and film, form a significant archive of Papua’s history.
Allan McCulloch operating the two-way radio on the Eureka during the journey up the Fly River to Lake Murray Western Province, November 1922 (1922) by Frank HurleyAustralian Museum
An exhibition produced by the Australian Museum.
