BY KEITH JACKSON
AN EXHIBITION featuring photographs taken by Frank Hurley in Papua 90 years ago has opened at the National Archives in Canberra.
Called Frank Hurley: Journeys into Papua, the exhibition comprises images held by the Australian Museum in Sydney which are now on tour around Australia. It will be at the National Archives of Australia in Canberra until 29 May.
Frank Hurley was a “renowned photographer, film-maker, adventurer, storyteller and opportunist”, says the National Archives, "and he took several thousand glass plate negatives during two journeys to Papua in the early 1920s".
In 1927, apparently needigng the money, he sold 700 images and many of the artefacts he’d collected to the Australian Museum in Sydney.
The exhibition from the Australian Museum highlights a remarkable collection and also reveals a part of Hurley's career in colonial Papua that is not so well known.
The photographs show Papua both as a place of strong government and mission influence and as a traditional land.
“The culture clash between the colonial settlers and the Papuan people is clearly captured in some of these mesmerising images.
"They provide an important historical record of our Pacific neighbour, as well as reveal an intriguing insight into Hurley.”
Picture - Woman of Fane village, Central Province, July 1921. The woman wears a headband of dogs' teeth. You can see more of Hurley’s photographs here
Spotter: Peter Kranz
Are there any old photos of Gabagaba village. I wish to view them.
Posted by: Richard Aria | 09 January 2013 at 02:26 PM
Rei, there are two early photos of Elevala in Frank Hurley's book which I mentioned below.
They are:-
-The latest Miracle of the Wonder-working White Man arrives at Elevala.
-The Boardwalk at Elevala Village from which the Sea-plane Made its start for the Interior.
If you have trouble getting these two photos you can contact me at cbshort@bigpond.com
Posted by: Mrs Barbara Short | 17 March 2012 at 02:05 PM
I am interested in some old photos of my village Elevala. Do I have to get permission to downnload? Could you advise please?
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Go right ahead and download them, Rei - KJ
Posted by: Rei Igua Frankd | 17 March 2012 at 12:39 PM
If you are really interested in Frank Hurley's experiences in Papua in the early 1920s you need to buy a copy of "Pearls and Savages - Adventures in the Air, on Land, and Sea - in New Guinea" by Captain Frank Hurley - with eighty illustrations, first published by G P Putman Sons, New York, London, 1924.
I have a copy of one of the excellent facsimile editions of 1,000 copies, produced by Jac Press, Hong Kong in 1981.
The 80 illustrations from this book should be placed online and school children in Papuan schools should be able to view them on a large classroom screen during their history lessons.
This is a job for the PNG government department which is working to get villages online.
There are wonderful photographs of many villages, including Mailu, Kerema, Aduru, Kaimari, Elevala, Urama, Goaribari, Aramia, the Sambio people of Lake Murray, Mekeo, Orokaiva, Wanigella, Coira, Hula, and Boga-Boga.
Posted by: Barbara Short | 20 March 2011 at 12:29 PM