New photo exhibit detailing life in 1930’s to 1990’s opens
Eighty years ago, the Federal Government hired photographers to document everyday life in Australia. A taste of what they captured is now on display at the national archives of Australia. The exhibition features the work of pioneering photographers who snapped everything from the horror of natural disasters to magic moments in every-day life.
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00:00 A colourful view of Australian life in the 20th century, picked from the 11 million photos
00:07 stored at the National Archives of Australia.
00:10 The exhibition starts with the Department of Information that was formed in 1939 in
00:14 response to World War II. And their job was really to tell the world about what Australia
00:18 was doing and tell Australians about what Australia was doing.
00:22 The department did its own publications and exhibitions, handling all sorts of requests
00:27 along the way.
00:28 We even have a letter from a student in California that came to the Information Bureau in the
00:32 1950s and she was asking if someone in Australia would be interested in exchanging a koala
00:37 for a classroom pet.
00:39 The exhibition features major moments in Australian history such as Cyclone Tracy, but mainly
00:44 covers day-to-day Australian life. From the snowy hydro through to the Macquarie Pool
00:49 slides. It features the work of photographers like Tim Acker, who learnt his craft at Narrabundah
00:55 College in the 70s and 80s. And trailblazers like the government's first Indigenous photographer,
01:01 Mervyn Bishop.
01:02 They were quite amazed, I think, a lot of the times that me being a black fella taking
01:09 photos, you know, and he can do it. He's a pretty smart, this lad.
01:14 As well as fellow pioneer Jocelyn Burt, who because of her gender could only get freelance
01:19 work but balanced that with her other career.
01:22 We've got great photographs that she took in the Torres Strait, so she would go up there
01:25 do nursing and take these photographs.
01:27 The exhibition will run in Canberra until June before touring the country, highlighting
01:32 Australia's unique way of life and its ever-changing culture.
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