Life On The Job


Frank Hurley (1885 - 1962) - Famous Australian Photographer & Adventurer

Frank Hurley 1911
Frank Hurley, 1911
(Source: Photoweb)  

Introduction

"James Francis Hurley, was born on 15 October 1885 at Glebe, Sydney, second son of Edward Harrison Hurley, Lancashire-born printer and trade union official, and his wife Margaret Agnes, née Bouffier, of French descent." (Source: Australian Dictionary of Biography)

"James Francis "Frank" Hurley, OBE (15 October 1885 – 16 January 1962) was an Australian photographer and adventurer. He participated in a number of expeditions to Antarctica and served as an official photographer with Australian forces during both world wars...

Out in the blizzard
"Out in the blizzard at Cape Denison adjacent to winter quarters 1912"
Photography, Photograph, carbon photograph
image 35.5 h x 45.0 w cm
Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd fund
Accession No: NGA 92.1385

(Source: National Gallery of Australia)

"Every foot had to be won against a relentless and cruel wind with bowed backs and strained muscles." Frank Hurley

In uniform
Frank Hurley - In uniform

Experiences:

Hurley was also the official photographer on Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition which set out in 1914 and was marooned until August 1916; Hurley produced many pioneering colour images of the Expedition using the then-popular Paget process of colour photography. He later compiled his records into the documentary film South in 1919. His footage was also used in the 2001 IMAX film Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure." (Source: Wikipedia)

Education:

"At 13 Frank ran away from Glebe Public School and worked in the steel mill at Lithgow, returning home two years later. At night he studied at the local technical school and attended science lectures at the University of Sydney. He became interested in photography, buying his own Kodak box camera for 15 shillings. In 1905 he started a postcard business and in 1910 mounted the first exhibition of his work.

In 1911 Mawson invited Hurley to be official photographer on the Australasian Antarctic Expedition." (Source: Australian Dictionary of Biography)

At work
(Source: Darcy Moore)


Employment:

Hurley was much more than an Antarctic photographer, however. In addition to his incredible image-making activity in Australia, he was an official correspondent during the First and Second World Wars. In the 1920s, he also ventured into the Torres Strait and Papua New Guinea at a time when few people of European descent had ever been there.

Hurley was a self-confessed ‘showman’. He embellished images to maximise their visual impact, for example by using the technique of composite printing (combining the best elements of several shots into one). While such manipulation was common in pictorial photography, Hurley was criticised for using it to enhance documentary images.

As expedition photographer, Hurley's images were not only important in documenting an unknown continent, but they also generated funds for future exploration. Hurley's expedition film, Home of the Blizzard (1913) was an astonishing first effort at cinematography. It reaped popular and financial success, and secured him a place on the Ernest Shackleton Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914-1916. 
(Source: Australian Government)


Training:

When he [Frank]  bought his first camera at the age of 17, he could not have imagined that his collection of striking photographs would become such a significant part of the historic record.

Frank Hurley’s interest in photography was consolidated in his post card business. His first pictures earned him a reputation for exciting and dramatic images.

Hurley’s interest in Antarctica was probably stimulated by the news of previous Antarctic expeditions and by his meetings with Antarctic expeditioners in 1909, when the Nimrod of Shackleton’s first expedition visited Sydney.

(Source: State Library, NSW)

Links:

bullet.gif (981 bytes)Australian Dictionary of Biography

Australian Dictionary of Biography
  
bullet.gif (981 bytes) Wikipedia

Wikipedia
bullet.gif (981 bytes) National Library of Australia - Hurley Collection

Hurley Collection NLA
bullet.gif (981 bytes) Frank Hurley's Antarctic photographs - National Library of Australia

Antarctic Photographs
bullet.gif (981 bytes)Australian Government: Frank Hurley

Local Copy: Word doc
Australian Government
bullet.gif (981 bytes) NSW State Library - Hurley's Antarctica

Local Copy: Word doc


NSW State Library
bullet.gif (981 bytes)ABC Australian Story: Out of the Blizzard (Transcript): 2001

Local copy: Word doc [13 pages]

Australian Story
bullet.gif (981 bytes)ABC: RN: Remembrance Day: Frank Hurley (Audio) - A reading from his diary

ABC RN


bullet.gif (981 bytes)National Library of Australia - Search Results for Frank Hurley

Mushroom image

Undergoing review -  March 2023.
bullet.gif (981 bytes)National Library of Australia: Frank Hurley Diaries 

Local Copy: Word doc

National Library of Australia
bullet.gif (981 bytes)Australian Screen - A Nation is built (1938)

A Nation is Built
  
bullet.gif (981 bytes) National Gallery of Australia

NGA
bullet.gif (981 bytes)Australian Screen - Home of the Blizzard (1913)

Australian Screen
 
bullet.gif (981 bytes)Australian Screen - Siege of the South (1931)

Siege of the South
 

bullet.gif (981 bytes)YouTube: Australian Photography: Frank Hurley
https://youtu.be/p3o0co2AmiM

 

bullet.gif (981 bytes)YouTube: Masters of Photography - Frank Hurley
https://youtu.be/8Uz08u5KRec

 

bullet.gif (981 bytes)YouTube: ABC Stateline (2010): Frank Hurley
https://youtu.be/xUb3JVORTis

 
bullet.gif (981 bytes)YouTube: Frank Hurley's Antarctica: State Library of NSW
https://youtu.be/iA4jVrPncjA





bullet.gif (981 bytes)YouTube: Documentary on the Endurance
https://youtu.be/PAvbeahy80Q

 

Did You Know?

This website looks at the work of Frank Hurley during Ernest Shackleton's fabled Endurance expedition to Antarctica, 1914 - 1917 

Have a look at this animation: Shackleton: A Voyage of Endurance 

BBC Shackleton A Voyage of Endurance

While recuperating, Sir Douglas Mawson began writing his account of the expedition. The Home of the Blizzard (London, 1915)[free ebook], profusely illustrated by the magnificent photographs of Frank Hurley, is a classic of polar literature and described the first major scientific exploring venture by Australians beyond their shores.
(Source:
Australian Dictionary of Biography)

Hurley served alongside George Hubert Wilkins as the first official photographer to the Australian Imperial Forces in the First World War. The troops dubbed him the ‘mad photographer’ because of his derring-do to get pictures. He took some of the only known colour photos of the war.


During his 60-year career, Hurley took thousands of photographs, worked on more than 60 films and wrote more than 20 books.

He enjoyed popular acclaim, commercial success and official recognition with a Polar Medal in 1919 and an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1941.
(Source: Australian Government)

To recruit the participants in his epic failure at crossing Antarctica on foot, Ernest Shackleton posted an ad in the British press that read:

Men wanted for hazardous journey, low wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, not assured return alive, honor and recognition in case of success

More than 4,000 people applied.
(Source: The Conversation)

 

Frank Hurley - The Man Who Made History: Documentary Script


Activities

bullet.gif (981 bytes)Using Pinterest, create a collection of images about a topic that interests you.

PrimaryPrimary MiddleMiddle  High SchoolSecondary

ICT Capability Australian Curriculum General Capability: ICT Capability

Critical & Creative ThinkingAustralian Curriculum General Capability: Critical & Creative Thinking

LiteracyAustralian Curriculum General Capability: Literacy

 

1. Select a topic that interests you.

2. Work out how you are going to photograph it - pinhole camera, borrow a camera, use an iphone or table

3. Set up a timetable - when will you photograph? Different times? Different days? Different seasons?

4. Photograph your subject

5. Put your collection of photographs onto Pinterest

 

Pinterest

 

 

 

bullet.gif (981 bytes)Are Hurley's composites "Fake" or a true representation?

High SchoolSecondary  

Critical & Creative ThinkingAustralian Curriculum General Capability: Critical & Creative Thinking

LiteracyAustralian Curriculum General Capability: Literacy

Cooperative LearningCooperative Learning Activity

 

 

1. With a partner, you are to investigate whether Frank Hurley's composites are fake or a true representation of what Hurley saw.

Look at the following very short video:

YouTube: Frank Hurley - composite photos, First World War
https://youtu.be/-a9PAm4_2Cg

You need to click on "accept".



2. Read /listen to the following articles: Reading

State Library of NSW: Truth and Photography

State Library NSW
The Guardian 29 May 2017: audio

The Guardian
Darcy Moore: Representation, Composites and Frank Hurley

Darcy Moore

3. After reading and listening to these opinions, what do you think?

Are Hurley's photos of WWI fakes or a true representation? Why? Why not?

 

 

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