Photographer, filmmaker, writer, adventurer. Controversial, passionate,
audacious. Frank Hurley was an extraordinary Australian, possibly most famous
for his Antarctic photographs captured alongside expeditioners Sir Douglas
Mawson and Sir Ernest Shackleton. From the early twentieth century until his
death in 1962 Hurley created a stunning visual archive that chronicled the
major events of the twentieth century, and Australia's achievements both home
and overseas. This book and the Hurley Collection in the National Library of
Australia make clear this outstanding contribution and the lengths to which the
man would go in order to convey the gravity of events.
For Hurley, image-making and exploration went hand-in-hand and he sought
out experiences as a pioneer documentary film-maker, official photographer in
two world wars, early aviator, and adventure and story-seeker in both the
natural environment and in rapidly disappearing non-western worlds. In his
compulsion to bring the reality of the world to audiences, he clashed with many
regarding his techniques. In particular, Sir Charles Bean, Australia's official
war historian, objected to the use of "composite" pictures. The image Dawn of Passchendaele features an added
cloudburst which adds a "melancholic religiosity and passion of a
Flemish masterpiece".
In his later years, Hurley
travelled throughout the country on a mission to capture Australia for
Australians: taking images of landscape, modern cities, industry and
agriculture. Among other works, he made a film of the building of the Sydney
Harbour Bridge and he also became involved with ABC radio as a frequent
contributor to the children's programme The
Argonauts.
Hurley was an enigmatic character, dedicated to the 'perfect' picture,
sometimes forsaking family and work commitments to take up another offer for
overseas documentary and photographic opportunities. He saw little of the
development of his four children as he travelled the world capturing the exotic
for others.
In this readable, definitive and wonderfully illustrated re-issued
biography, Alasdair McGregor describes Hurley's life and character in all its
richness. Hurley kept diaries throughout his life and McGregor uses these
insights to give a picture of a truly complex and driven man.
After Frank Hurley's death, his personal collection of negatives,
lantern slides, transparencies, prints, diaries scrapbooks and papers was
acquired by the National Library of Australia and has been used widely in the
evocative images of this book.
Hurley believed in his work and was pleased with his vocation, summing
up his life in the following way:
I
have lived a life that suited me best
I
took risks and never regretted them
If I could start
again, I would so everything in the same way