Photography, Early Cinema and Colonial Modernity: Frank Hurley's Synchronized Lecture Entertainments

289 Pages·2012·12.348 MB·English

by  Robert Dixon

Photography, Early Cinema
and Colonial Modernity
Frontispiece. Unknown photographer. Spencer’s Pictures at the Lyceum. ML a4816001.
Photography, Early Cinema
and Colonial Modernity
Frank Hurley’s Synchronized
Lecture Entertainments
Robert Dixon
Anthem Press
An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company
www.anthempress.com
This edition first published in UK and USA 2013
by ANTHEM PRESS
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or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK
and
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First published in hardback by Anthem Press in 2011
Copyright © Robert Dixon (1954– ) 2013
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above,
no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise),
without the prior written permission of both the copyright
owner and the above publisher of this book.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Dixon, Robert, 1954–
Photography, early cinema, and colonial modernity : Frank Hurley’s synchronized
lecture entertainments / Robert Dixon.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-85728-795-3 (hardback)
1. Hurley, Frank, 1885–1962. 2. Photographers–Australia–Biography.
3. Photography–History–20th century. 4. Cinematography–History–20th century.
5. Photography–Social aspects. 6. Civilization, Modern. I. Title.
TR140.H8D59 2011
770.92–dc23
2011035640
ISBN-13: 978 1 78308 063 2 (Pbk)
ISBN-10: 1 78308 063 9 (Pbk)
This title is also available as an ebook.
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations vii
List of Abbreviations xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction
Australia’s Embrace of Colonial Modernity xv
Chapter One
The Home of the Blizzard: Douglas Mawson’s Synchronized
Lecture Entertainment 1
Chapter Two
Guided Spectatorship: Exhibiting the Great War 39
Chapter Three
Touring the Nation: Shackleton’s ‘Marvellous Moving Pictures’
and the Australian Season of In the Grip of the Polar Pack-Ice 109
Chapter Four
Entr’acte: Sir Ross Smith’s Flight, Aerial Vision and Colonial
Modernity 147
Chapter Five
Colonial Modernity and Its Others: Pearls and Savages
as a Multimedia Project 165
Conclusion 209
Notes 219
Bibliography 239
Index 247

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Front cover Frank Hurley. Bioto (Man with camera). nla.pic-vn3301430.
Frontispiece Unknown photographer. Spencer’s Pictures
at the Lyceum. ML a4816001.
1.1 Herbert G. Ponting. Kinematographing in the Pack.
Photographic illustration from Herbert G. Ponting,
The Great White South, or with Scott in the Antarctic
(1921; London: Duckworth 1923). 79
1.2 Herbert G. Ponting. Lantern Slide Projector.
Photographic illustration from Herbert G. Ponting,
The Great White South, or with Scott in the Antarctic
(1921; London: Duckworth 1923). 80
1.3a–c Herbert G. Ponting. With Captain Scott in the Antarctic.
Handbill, MAC 7DM. 81
1.4 Andrew Watson (photographer). Crevasse with
lid fallen in. MAC P178. 83
2.1 Unknown photographer. Ivor Castle and Raines & Co.
Dreadnaughts of the Battlefield, 1918. IWM Q28580. 84
2.2 Unknown photographer. Australian room of the
Imperial War Exhibition, Royal Academy,
London, 1918. IWM Q30499. 85
2.3 Unknown photographer. Exterior of the entry
to the Australian War Museum, Exhibition Building,
Prince Alfred Park, Sydney. AWM P01936.001. 86
2.4 Unknown photographer. Part of the aeroplane display
in the Melbourne Exhibition Building. AWM J01239. 87
viii PHOTOGRAPHY, EARLY CINEMA AND COLONIAL MODERNITY
2.5a Frank Hurley. View of the gateway to the battlefield
of Ypres through Chateau Wood, in the Ypres Salient.
Original glass negative. AWM E01237. 88
2.5b Frank Hurley. Death’s Highway. Re-shot glass
negative. nla.pic-an23478305. 89
2.5c Frank Hurley. Death’s Highway. Catalogue of an
Exhibition of War Photographs by Capt. Fr.
Hurley…at the Kodak Salon, Sydney (March 1919). 90
2.6 Frank Hurley. Death the Reaper. Black and white
composite print. AWM P02514.001. 91
2.7 Frank Hurley. Ruins of the Cloth Hall, Ypres.
Re-shot glass negative. nla.pic-an23816566. 92
2.8 Frank Hurley. Battle of Passchendaele. Re-shot
glass negative. nla.pic-an23478227. 93
2.9 Frank Hurley. An Episode after the Battle of
Zonnebeke. Composite enlargement photographed
leaning against a wall in London, May 1918.
AWM P01438.001. 94
3.1 Sir Ernest Shackleton… Marvellous Moving Pictures.
Handbill, Philharmonic Hall, London, 26 December
1919. BFI, Sir William Jury Collection, Item 36. 95
3.2 Frank Hurley. In the Grip of the Polar Pack-Ice.
Cinema poster, New Olympia, Sydney, 29 November
1919. NLA MS883, Series 2, Item 33. 96
3.3 Unknown illustrator. View of interior of hut on
Elephant Island. nla.pic-an24039583. 97
3.4 Frank Hurley. In the Grip of the Polar Pack-Ice. Handbill,
King’s Cross Theatre, Sydney, 1 December 1919.
NLA MS883, Series 2, Item 33. 98
3.5 Frank Hurley. In the Grip of the Polar Pack-Ice. Sydney
Sun, 23 November 1919. NLA MS883,
Series 2, Item 33. 99
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix
4.1 Unknown photographer. A Close View of ‘Augustus
Wood’ near Passchendaele Ridge (Ypres), Showing
the Shell-torn Ground, 17 October, 1917. Photographic
illustration from F. M. Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps
in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War 1914–1918,
volume VIII of the Offi cial History of Australia in the War of
1914–1918. (Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1923)
(St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press in
association with the Australian War Memorial, 1984). 100
4.2 Unknown photographer. Section of a typical artillery
map, showing method of ranging by reference to
‘clock face’. Photographic illustration from F. M. Cutlack,
The Australian Flying Corps in the Western and Eastern Theatres
of War 1914–1918, volume VIII of the Offi cial History of
Australia in the War of 1914–1918 (Canberra: Australian
War Memorial, 1923) (St Lucia, Qld: University of
Queensland Press in association with the Australian
War Memorial, 1984). 101
4.3 Frank Hurley. Sir Ross Smith’s Flight. Handbill for the
London season. NLA MS883, Series 2, Item 33. 102
5.1 Frank Hurley. Pearls and Savages. Glass lantern
slide, composite print. nla.pic-an23381987-v. 103
5.2 Frank Hurley. The Lost Tribe. Cinema poster for
US tour. NLA MS883, Series 2, Item 35. 104
5.3 Frank Hurley. The Lost Tribe. Handbill, Carnegie
Hall, New York, February 1924. NFSA, 353710. 105
5.4 Frank Hurley. McClure’s Magazine. Cover.
NLA MS883, Series 2, Item 35. 106