PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE MOVING IMAGE IN BATTLE

TAKE HOME STORIES floor list EXHIBITIONS ACROSS MAITLAND

Maitland’s Own MAITLAND REGIONAL MUSEUM

BROUGH HOUSE 29 September – 28 November 2017

Passchendaele: photography and the moving image in battle MAITLAND REGIONAL ART GALLERY

14 October 2017 – 28 January 2018

Walls that talk MAITLAND CITY LIBRARY

16 October – 13 November 2017 UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN OFFICIAL It was designed for outdoor use and PHOTOGRAPHER was made from high quality wood Hubert Wilkins and William with brass fittings in order to make Joyce (left) standing with it robust. The camera could also be tripod and camera on a British folded and packed away into a carrying Mark V tank, 4 October 1918 case. However, it was still a very heavy

digital reproduction, AWM E03915 and cumbersome piece of equipment to carry, especially when accompanied Wilkins used tanks to provide height by the wooden tripod, glass plates and and perspective for his photographs. First floor all the other accessories. It was even According to Bean, in September more challenging when used in the 1917, Wilkins was standing on a tank circumstances that photographers faced in order to photograph a shell bursting on the First World War battlefields. during the Battle of Polygon Wood. Wilkins was knocked off the tank when UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER a shell burst beneath it, losing ‘two fine Robert Wilson, 1916 [photographic glass] plates’. START HERE digital reproduction, AWM P01920.005 This photograph and the replica Robert Wilson (1884 – 1917) was born camera on display hint at the in Scotland. In 1916, he was working challenges facing the official war as a miner and living in Abermain photographers. Their equipment was when he enlisted. He was killed bulky and awkward. Being at the in action at Passchendaele on front was challenging, frightening and 13 . dangerous. Finding suitable sites from which to photograph – safely and not His portrait is from an honour so safely – required inventiveness. board with images of twenty-five servicemen from Abermain who lost Front of building A replica Thornton-Pickard their lives during the First World War. 1.2 plate camera and tripod Women of the Abermain Comforts Fund presented the honour board to on loan from the Australian War the Abermain RSL. Memorial, PROP03103.001 Camera, PROP03103.003 Tripod

This is a replica of the type of camera and tripod used by the official Australian war photographers. GALLOWAY STUDIOS appear as cut-outs moving through GALLOWAY STUDIOS His correspondence home includes Percy Roland Mears, 1916 trees full of foliage. The pictorial Rupert Milton Cross, 1916 letters of sympathy to local families narrative veers away from the horrors whose men had ‘made the digital reproduction, AWM P04700.002 digital reproduction, AWM P04709.001 of war and the aesthetics of the supreme sacrifice’. A number of the young men and Rupert Cross (1898 – 1917) was one image take over. women from the extended Mears of nineteen recruits accepted into Brown was killed at Morlancourt, France family served on the Western Front. UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN the Australian army at Maitland on on 8 May 1918. He has no known Among them were Percy Mears OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER 1 February 1916. He was an 18-year-old grave. He was 30 years of age. (1896 – 1917) and three of his Looking across flooded shell labourer from Sparkes Creek, CHARLESTON STUDIOS brothers, Edgar, Stanley and William. craters to Menin Road through via Scone. Clarence Smith Jeffries, 1916 Percy was a cleaner living at Branxton the desolated area beyond He died at Passchendaele on digital reproduction, AWM P09373.001 when he enlisted in July 1916. In April , 28 September 1917 12 October 1917. As with so many of 1917, he met up with Edgar at the front. digital reproduction, AWM E00844 the men killed at Passchendaele, there Clarence Jeffries (1894 – 1917) was Edgar wrote, ‘Percy knows what war is are different accounts of his death: an only child. He was educated in Horse and motor transport are taking like by now, but he looks well.’ ‘he was killed by a shell’, he ‘was shot Newcastle and was then apprenticed supplies to the fighting troops along through the eye’, ‘he was missing’. as a mining surveyor at the Abermain Percy died of wounds received at the Menin Road. Silhouettes, especially Collieries, where his father was the Passchendaele. He was 21 years of the naked and reflected trees, evoke The battle was such a mess that it general manager. age. Stanley was killed in 1918; Edgar the devastation of the Ypres landscape. was almost impossible to know or and William returned to Australia. The flooded shell craters in the see what was happening. In 1912, he joined the 14th (Hunter foreground capture the wet and mud River) Infantry Regiment, Citizens Further details about the Mears that marked these battlefields. CAMERON STUDIO Military Force. He joined the 34th family are at Brough House until Russell Stanley Brown, 1916 Battalion in July 1916. 28 November 2017. Hurley described scenes like this with their ‘incessant rains and wind, and digital reproduction, AWM P06497.001 Jeffries served at the Battle of UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN the roadways quagmires with the Messines, and then at Passchendaele. OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER Russell Brown (1888 – 1918) was grinding of the continuous procession He died on 12 October 1917. He was a shipping clerk at the Hunter Australian artillery limbers of transport lorries and troops.’ River Steamship Company wharf 23 years of age. For his actions at loaded with ammunition at Morpeth. He was also an active Passchendaele, Jeffries was awarded proceeding along Ypres Road, member of the Maitland Musical a posthumous . 25 September 1917 Society and, after enlistment in March Jeffries is memorialised through digital reproduction, AWM E00829 1916 and while still in Maitland, sang at photographs, a park named in his Silhouettes are a signature feature entertainment evenings for the military. honour, the Abermain Roll of Honour, of a number of iconic photographs He served at Passchendaele and was a library, a memorial wall and of the battles in Flanders. In this subsequently promoted to Lieutenant. much more. example, the men and their horses UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER FRANK HURLEY In 1918 Wand’s sister, Mary, was sent Sawyer recovered sufficiently to his personal effects. They included: return to the trenches. He was Jack Bowden Pryor, 1916 Preparing a duckboard track recorded as missing in action on over the muddy waste near letters, silk lace handkerchief, digital reproduction, AWM P11384.001 7 May 1918 at Morlancourt in France. Zonnebeke, 5 October 1917 1 fountain pen, 1 hair brush, Jack Pryor (1890 – 1917), like all the men 1 prayer book, 1 German buckle, It was later confirmed that he digital reproduction, AWM E00837 and women who enlisted, left family, buttons, 2 pairs of gloves, 1 pencil had been killed in action. friends and a career. This studio Taken the day after the Australian case and pencils, 1 belt, 1 razor portrait of Pryor in civilian clothes is a attack on Broodseinde Ridge, the strop, 1 Sam Browne belt, 1 collar, UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER reminder of the lives left behind. image focuses on the muddy sludge 1 tie, 1 balaclava cap, 4 pairs of David Baker Cooper, 1916 and the need to create walkways Jack Pryor was newly married when socks, 2 towels, 1 singlet, 1 pair digital reproduction, AWM P11014.001 across the ground. The two horses he enlisted in September 1916. At the of underpants, 3 handkerchiefs, in the foreground anchor the David Cooper’s (1890 – 1917) time, he was working as a plasterer 2 shirts, 1 S.D. tunic. composition: they face towards the father and grandfather, both named with the family firm of Pryor and In late 1920, the Australian military men. The silhouettes of men Thomas Cooper, were building Pender in Maitland. He had trained sent Wand’s father photographs of his carrying the duckboards convey contractors in Maitland. David chose at Maitland Technical College. son’s grave in Belgium. an impression of movement and a different career. He was a shop He was also a staunch Methodist. assistant when he enlisted in constant toil. CAMERON STUDIO In one of his letters home, Jack Pryor January 1916. wrote, ‘I’m still looking to be back UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER Thomas Ernest Sawyer, 1916 Cooper, like so many other Australian home again some day.’ digital reproduction, AWM P11631.001 William Wand, 1916 soldiers, went absent without leave Jack Pryor was killed at digital reproduction, AWM P10080.001 Thomas Sawyer (1892 – 1918) came for a short while. This happened Passchendaele. He was 27 years old. from Bishops Bridge near Maitland. when he was training in England. William Wand (1897 – 1917) enlisted His widow eventually remarried, to At the time of his enlistment in July On reaching the Western Front in at Maitland in March 1916. He was a another war veteran. 1916, he was working as a shop early 1917, his ‘excellent observation labourer from Singleton. Wand’s paternal assistant and was 24 years of age. work’ attracted praise from his Jack Pryor’s personal papers are grandfather had settled at Wallarobba in commanding officer. on display at Brough House until the mid-nineteenth century. He was wounded at Passchendaele, 28 November 2017. and spent the next six months Cooper was killed at Passchendaele During his military service Wand recovering in England. He returned to on 12 October 1917. He was rose through the ranks from private the front line in March 1918. Very soon 27 years old. His brother, Reginald, to . He was at afterwards, he was admitted to hospital was killed at Bullecourt, France, the Western Front from November with bronchitis. Respiratory diseases, in September 1918. 1916, and was wounded in action trench foot and infectious illnesses three times. The third time was at were a part of life in the trenches. It was Passchendaele on 13 October 1917. a body and soul destroying experience. He died four days later. He was at Passchendaele where, as UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER reported in the diary of the 34th Battalion: The swamps of Zonnebeke on A working party making their Laying down a mule track, … the machine guns and the day of the First Battle of way along duckboard tracks, 15 October 1917 rifles were in a very bad state. Passchendaele, 12 October 1917 12 October 1917 digital reproduction, AWM E00979 The whole place was a sea digital reproduction, AWM E01200 digital reproduction, AWM E01201 of mud which had gradually A mule track is being laid over ground worked into the parts. Frank Hurley described the land These duckboard tracks near captured by the Australians during around Zonnebeke as ‘a succession Zonnebeke led to a place called the First . Loder was awarded the Military of miniature ponds – pitfalls for the ‘Tokio Farm’. The photograph highlights the mud, Medal for bravery. He returned to unwary, as they are as treacherous the pools of filthy water, and the Australia in June 1919. |as quicksand.’ HUBERT WILKINS futile attempts to make the ground UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN Laying a mule track along the passable. Hurley wrote: OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER The focus on the water pooling in railway embankment near shell craters and the stark remains The entire country is Brigade headquarters, Zonnebeke, 15 October 1917 of trees extending to the far horizon ploughed into waves of Zonnebeke railway is a powerful visual statement of the digital reproduction, AWM E00982 pulverised muddy earth, embankment, October 1917 impossible terrain. For the construction of this road, debris craters being filled with digital reproduction, AWM E01213 from demolished houses was carried in water, so that it is extremely In the background on the right are the sandbags and used for ballasting and difficult to move about. The duckboard track across ruins of the Zonnebeke Church. timber was obtained from an waterlogged ground leads to a huge old German dump. UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER fortress-like concrete dugout in the UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER The sandbags dominate the Robert Roy Loder, 1916 background. This construction was foreground of the photograph. built by the Germans and used as Stretcher-bearers with digital reproduction, AWM H06232 The men and the skeletal trees a field hospital. It was then used as wounded and other troops stretch either side of the sandbags Robert Loder (1896 – 1964) was a Brigade Headquarters by the Australian moving along a duckboard disappearing towards a bleak 19-year-old machinist from West troops during the fighting towards track to the front line, horizon and cloudless sky. Maitland when he enlisted in Passchendaele and was ironically 10 October 1917 December 1915. He spent most of his known as ‘Ideal House’. Notice the digital reproduction, AWM E01123P military service working with machine men lined up outside the building. guns from behind the lines. Even here This digitally combined composite the gunners were still at great risk. panorama is made from two separate images that were taken just before Loder was wounded and hospitalised the First Battle of Passchendaele. a total of five times while on the Western Front. Frank Hurley commented on the difficulties of taking photographs in FRANK HURLEY UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN these conditions: The stark tree silhouettes, damaged Motor and horse OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER building, sandbags, men in waiting …the mud! Trudge, trudge – transport passing through View of the road behind and ambulance in the foreground sometimes to the knee in sucking, Vlamertinghe, 2 October 1917 battalion headquarters, tenacious slime – a fair hell of a offer a narrative about the destruction 15 October 1917 digital reproduction, AWM E00872 job under ordinary conditions, but and exhaustion caused by this battle. digital reproduction, AWM E01043 with a heavy camera up and being This cobbled road from Poperinghe FRANK HURLEY shelled… I hardly thought ‘the game to Ypres was used continuously by This is the road behind the worth the candle’. Soldiers, mules and carts motor transport. The photograph headquarters of the 33rd, 34th, stopped on a street in the illustrates the rule laid down for all 35th and 36th Battalions during the UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN ruined village of roads: the slower vehicles in a single First Battle of Passchendaele. The OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER Voormezeele, August 1917 column close to the kerb and the 33rd Battalion suffered very heavy Remains of the Zonnebeke digital reproduction, AWM E02061 centre free for faster traffic. casualties along this road on the church, September 1917 morning of the battle. The sadness of Hurley frames the scene by what looks Every soldier is looking at the camera, the location is captured through the digital reproduction, AWM E00834 like the remains of a damaged building. suggesting that Hurley asked them to low and brooding sky, the singular He also captures the dust and pollution This composition of a ruined church in stop and pose. The crumbled village and bedraggled signpost (like a created by the trucks and, evocatively, a decimated landscape and anchored buildings provide a graphic setting. cross), and the waterlogged road. by low clouds offers, in the words of the Fighting in Flanders invariably meant places the village buildings as vague Australian War Memorial, ‘a memorial the destruction of villages, towns, shadows in the distance. UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN of the great battles fought in this portion forests and landscape. OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER CHARLES BEAN of the .’ Making a road near In this image Hurley uses a shallow Shell-strafed transport wagons depth of field, with elements in both Zonnebeke Station UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN littering the roadside near the foreground and background out 15 October 1917 OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER Zonnebeke, 15 October 1917 The headquarters of the 3rd of focus. This has the peculiar effect digital reproduction, AWM E01045 of making the figures appear as if digital reproduction, AWM E00984 Australian Division at Ypres, Bleak, wet, impossible, impassable, they are miniature scale models. 21 October 1917 Charles Bean’s passion was to record and men of the 3rd Australian Division are collect experiences of the First World War digital reproduction, AWM E01183 working on the almost impossible for posterity. He wanted documentary task of creating a road across the The photograph was taken the day photographs. In this image, his focus is on sucking mud. The horizon chops before the Canadians relieved the a road used for moving troops to and from the image in half, the blank sky Australian troops. It was from these the front. Fatigue parties were continually reinforcing the hopelessness headquarters that the operations of employed to keep this road clear. It sits as of their endeavours. the Australians at Broodseinde and a more flattened, but still muddy surface Passchendaele were directed. edged by ruined transport wagons, pools of water and mounds of mud. Military medals awarded to GALLOWAY STUDIOS UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER George Sanderson Soldiers in front of a tent, OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER George Sanderson, 1916 Menin Road and the mounted on board with ribbons, Rutherford Camp, Maitland, digital reproduction, Jan Merrick devastated Chateau Wood unidentified alloys, ribbon (not original), September – October 1916 (granddaughter of George Sanderson) 15 × 15 cm approx. and Bellewaarde Lake, digital reproduction (original in display 25 October 1917 George Sanderson (1892 – 1963), a 1914 - 1918 War Medal, Victory Medal, table), AWM PR05502.010 labourer from Thornton, was awarded and Belgian Croix de Guerre. George Simmons is standing on the digital reproduction, AWM E01238 the Belgian Croix de Guerre for his Unofficial Victory far left, marked with a cross. Destroyed trees, churned ground, work as a runner at the First Battle of Medal ribbon of 1919 broken transport, a bleak landscape Passchendaele. The citation reads: Stamped on the back of the textile, 1 × 10 cm approx. original print: and, on the thin strip of the Menin During the operations Acquired by soldiers prior to the Road, soldiers dragging artillery and against Passchendaele A handsome enlargement of official Victory Medal becoming making their way. As Hurley wrote: on 12th October, 1917, this picture will cost very little available after 1921. … once this must have been Pte. Sanderson acted if procured from the Galloway a glorious spot in summer. as Company runner. He UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER Studios, Kurri Kurri and Cessnock. Death alone now dwells here. repeatedly carried messages George Sanderson, 1915 UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER backwards and forward under very heavy machine vintage photographic paper, 15 × 10 cm George Simmons with fellow

gun and artillery fire through soldiers, winter 1916/1917 UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER All items on loan from Jan Merrick George Sanderson, 1915 very swampy and shell-torn (granddaughter of George Sanderson digital reproduction (original in display ground. When food and table), AWM PR05502.011 digital reproduction, original (on shelf ammunition was short, and UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER below) on loan from Jan Merrick George Simmons is standing on the difficult to carry forward, he (granddaughter of George Sanderson) Unidentified soldier right.Handwritten on the reverse: volunteered to take it up, and in snow, winter 1916/1917 made several trips through With best wishes from all, digital reproduction (original in display Con Driscoll, W. Cheetham, extremely heavy artillery, table), AWM PR05502.012 machine gun and rifle fire. Ted Hodges, George. George Simmons sent this His gallantry, initiative and Like Simmons, Cornelius (Con) photograph to his wife, Nell. cheerfulness greatly inspired Driscoll from West Maitland and He wrote on the back: the men of his battalion. William Cheetham from Adelong Dear Nell, this is one of our chaps George Sanderson survived the war were members of the 35th Battalion, 5th taken in the snow. You will see we and returned to Australia. His daughter Reinforcement. Driscoll and Cheetham get a bit of it here sometimes. Often has kept his photograph and medal in returned to Australia after the war. dummy men are made from snow. pride of place on her living room wall. George. CAMERON STUDIO George Simmons’ family, George Simmons, 1916 September 1917 hand-highlighted black and white digital reproduction (original in display photograph,on loan from the Australian table), AWM P11668.002 War Memorial, P11668.001 From left to right: Joyce, George, Nellie, This hand-highlighted head-and-shoulders Jack. Handwritten on the reverse: portrait is taken from the full-length studio To dear Daddy, from Joyce, portrait of George Simmons (see left). Jack, Georgie and Mum. First floor Hand colouring of photographs was With heaps of love and good very popular prior to the invention wishes for a bright and happy of colour photography. Watercolour birthday. Baby is 7 months old. or dyes such as oil and chalk pastel were applied to heighten the realism of the image. Sometimes, as with this photograph, the image was simply retouched with graphite or black ink. START HERE

CAMERON STUDIO George Simmons, September – October 1916 digital reproduction (original in display table), AWM P07928.001

CAMERON STUDIO George and Nellie Simmons’ children, 1920 Front of building digital reproduction (original in display table), AWM P11668.003

From left to right: Jack, Joyce, George. FRANK HURLEY UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN FRANK HURLEY FRANK HURLEY A view of cloud effects above OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER The morning after the First Four Australian troops the countryside in France, Australian infantry wounded Battle of Passchendaele, walking over duckboards September 1917 at a first-aid post near 12 October 1917 in the waterlogged fields, Zonnebeke Railway Station, digital reproduction, AWM E05430C gelatin silver print, 54.2 × 48.6 cm, October 1917 12 October 1917 on loan from the National Library of digital reproduction, nla.obj-160182782 FRANK HURLEY digital reproduction, AWM E01202 Australia, PIC FH 10882 LOC H8/14 This is a composite photograph. A view of cloud effects above For an even more dramatic effect, for This image starkly portrays the It is typical of some of Hurley’s the countryside in France, this version of the composite, Hurley aftermath of Passchendaele: techniques. The foreground with the September 1917 added a startling dark cloud formation wounded soldiers, mud, stripped duckboard, men and muddy ground ringed by light and sending down strong digital reproduction, AWM E05430D trees, battle debris. It is used as the is taken from one negative (see foreground for several composite beams that evoke the rising sun emblem Hurley’s portfolio contains many album below). Hurley cropped the photographs (see right). of the Australian Imperial Forces. photographs of cloud formations, original image, changing its format from horizontal to vertical. Using other different views of light in the sky, and FRANK HURLEY UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER landscape and sky delineated by negatives, he added shell bursts and Australian infantry wounded Untitled, c1920 stark horizons. These are evocative, smoke to the sky, created a haze at a first-aid post near colour-toned black and white print; 79.7 across the landscape and highlighted artistic shots. He used and re-used × 66.4cm, on loan from the Australian Zonnebeke railway station, the stark lines of the dead trees. some of these images in composite War Memorial, P05464.001 12 October 1917 photographs. The shell burst at the top-right corner This hand-finished work, by an digital reproduction, AWM E01202A is also used in Hurley’s Over the top, The cloud formation and filtered light unknown artist, has similarities to as is a reverse image of the explosion in these two photographs anchor the There are at least four extant versions Hurley’s composites (see left). Its in the middle on the horizon. composite photograph Australian of this composite photograph. It is one history illustrates the role photographs infantry wounded at Zonnebeke of Hurley’s most complex composites. play in remembering the war. FRANK HURLEY Railway Station (see right). The main source image (see left) is Father Cecil Lonergan, who served World War 1914–1918 extended to create a vertical format: In the second version of A view of as an Australian Army Chaplain in campaigns in France and the horizon is lowered from near the cloud effects, Hurley has removed the France and Belgium, owned this Belgium, c1918 trees reaching up from the horizon. top of the image to half way down photograph. It is possible that Father photograph album, on loan from the (this also provided a clean line for Lonergan commissioned this work National Library of Australia, joining two negatives), and cloud as a commemoration for friend and PIC/14807/1-72 LOC Album 410 formations and sunrays are added. fellow priest, Father Michael Bergin, This album contains seventy-two who was killed on 12 October 1917, photographs taken on the Western the date Hurley’s original photograph Front. The photograph on the left-hand was taken (see far left). FRANK HURLEY page is the anchor image used in the FRANK HURLEY UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN composite image Four Australian troops Over the top, c1918 Two aircraft of the OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER walking over duckboards (see above). digital reproduction, AWM E05988B Australian Flying Corps Untitled, 17 October 1917 Hurley also used this image in the Over the top is also known as A hop in flight, Palestine, c1918 digital reproduction, AWM E00927 exhibition of war photographs held at over and A raid. It is a composite digital reproduction, AWM B01594 This is a close up view from a different the Kodak Salon in Sydney in 1919. image created from twelve separate perspective of the dead enemy soldier The catalogue for that exhibition has negatives, some taken in Flanders and FRANK HURLEY in a shell crater near Zonnebeke. the caption: some in Palestine. Three aircraft of the A reverse view of this image is used in Just as it was. A characteristic The foreground is constructed from Australian Flying Corps the composite photograph (see right). scene on the Flanders Front. two images of what were probably in flight, Palestine, c1918 During rains it was only by means pre-battle manoeuvres around digital reproduction, AWM B01597 FRANK HURLEY of the duckboards that this awful Zillebeke in September 1917. A composite image shell-torn quagmire could be UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN comprising a dead German crossed. In the foreground stands The plane formation itself is also a OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER soldier and an exploding a remnant of the old Boche composite. It was created from at The battlefield near least four negatives, some of which shell burst added to the front-line entanglements. Zonnebeke, 17 October 1917 were printed in reverse (see right). background, c1917 digital reproduction, AWM E00928 FRANK HURLEY The shell burst at the top right and a black and white photograph; 48.4cm × Four Australian soldiers reverse image of the shell burst under This gruesome image of unburied 34.3cm, on loan from the Australian War walking along duckboards near the planes are also used in Hurley’s dead enemy soldiers documents the Memorial, P02514.001 Zonnebeke, 22 October 1917 composite photograph of troops extreme cruelty suffered in this battlefield. Hurley exhibited a version of this walking on duckboards (see left wall). Wounded, dying and dead men were composite photograph in the Grafton digital reproduction, AWM E01236 A large print (4.7 × 6.1 metres) of the left for days out in open fields. Men Galleries in London in 1918. He titled Hurley took a number of photographs photograph was shown at the Grafton disappeared in the mud. Death and the photograph Death the Reaper. of men walking along the duckboards Galleries in London in late 1918. desolation frame the photograph. In the catalogue he wrote: laid to make pathways across the A different view of the lower half of The earth thrown up by the otherwise impassable mud. This image FRANK HURLEY this image is below. explosion assumed the form is of particular interest as it includes Australian aeroplanes in battle of a skeleton with the skull William Joyce, assistant Australian formation, Palestine 1918–1921 looking down towards the official photographer. He appears – digital reproduction, AWM E05989 battle-torn earth. and disappears – in another set of photographs in the Colarts selection on Also titled Off on a bombing raid, this The shell burst, horizon and sky the end wall (left) of this gallery space. is a composite photograph that uses are additions, and the image in the some of the same images that are in foreground is in reverse to the Over the top. original image (see left). FRANK HURLEY ALBERT VICTOR COOKE FRANK HURLEY FRANK HURLEY Remaining portion of a A view through a window of The gateway to the Hubert Wilkins inspecting the wall of the ruined Cloth Hall the ruined Cloth Hall at Ypres, battlefield of Ypres, Menin crosses in the military section at Ypres, 5 November 1917 November 1918 Road, 5 November 1917 of the graveyard in the village digital reproduction, AWM E01230 photograph; 20.2 × 15.3cm, on loan from of Vlamertinghe, 3 October 1917 the Australian War Memorial, P10330.005 digital reproduction, AWM E01237 Hurley and Wilkins photographed and digital reproduction, AWM E00848 Menin Road passed through and filmed the ruins of the medieval Cloth Albert Cooke served with the 12th between the sites of many battles. The In this portrait of his fellow Hall at Ypres regularly. In Hurley’s words, Field Ambulance. He carried a private brutalised trees mark the devastation of photographer, Hurley offers a the ruins were ‘an emblem of what camera with him, against regulations, war and the soldier peering down the contemplative and emotive response happens when war collides with art’. and took photographs of his unit and of damaged buildings. Several road from behind a tree stump heralds to the impact of war. This contrasts Hurley frames the image with an of his photographs, like the vintage impending danger. This is clearly a with his graphic images of the mud arched window. It is a technique print presented here, mirror the staged photograph. and horror of the battlefield. The he uses in other photographs. compositional techniques of official photograph perhaps marks the FRANK HURLEY Australian war photographers. need to remember and mourn that FRANK HURLEY Death’s Highway, an exposed emerged from the experiences of the The photograph documents changes The ruins of the Cloth Hall road in the battlefield near First World War. It is also a reminder to the building and surrounds since through a cloister window, Ypres, 1917 that war photography, from early Hurley’s photograph of the same 1917 – 1919 gelatin silver print; 34.8 × 27.0 cm, on loan on, became more than a simple scene twelve months earlier (see left). from the National Library of Australia, documentary record. sepia-toned and mounted photograph; Much of the wall in the foreground PIC FH 10919 LOC Drawer H7/6 64.8 × 45.8cm, on loan from the State has collapsed with the remainder FRANK HURLEY Library of NSW, PXD 23/46 In order to increase the dramatic shored up. Grass and trees have Hurley’s assistant, This photograph was part of impact of his original photograph begun to regrow, and civilians William Joyce, making his way an exhibition of Hurley’s war (see left), Hurley added a shell burst replace the military traffic. across the Westhoek Ridge photography held at the Kodak Salon to the road and darkened the sky with near Zonnebeke, in Sydney in 1919. Hurley added the foreboding clouds and smoke. 29 October 1917 cloud formation and highlighted the Bean and the Australian War Memorial ruined buildings in the background. titled the original photograph The digital reproduction, AWM E01265 gateway to Ypres battlefield. Hurley, by contrast, used the more dramatic Death’s Highway and, on another occasion, A hit on the road. COLARTS STUDIO/FRANK HURLEY FRANK HURLEY happen in clear, bright conditions At Hellfire Corner on Australians on the way to and at approved locations. This Menin Road, Third Battle take up a front-line position meant training exercises often take of Ypres, c1920 with the ruins of Ypres, the place of actual action in the film including the Cloth Hall, hand-coloured photograph, on loan from and it explains why most of the battle the State Library of NSW, PXD 481/38 in the background, footage is of the artillery, situated far START HERE This is a composite image based on 25 October 1917 back from the front line. The film is Hurley’s photograph (above). Joyce digital reproduction, AWM E04612 also, for many of the soldiers, the first has disappeared and is replaced Another of Hurley’s iconic time they were captured on film. by shell bursts. The title for this photographs, its composition and It was primarily shot by Hurley in photograph is taken from the Colarts framing illustrate Hurley’s strong September and October 1917, and Studio exhibition catalogue Front of building interest in the aesthetics of ruins. was titled – and most likely edited – by from the early 1920s. He said of Ypres: FRANK HURLEY AND Wilkins in December of the same year. GEORGE WILKINS UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN for my part, Ypres as it is now, While watching the film look for the Fighting in Flanders, OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER has a curious fascination soldiers who look towards and wave A battery of four 8-inch and aesthetically is far more October 1917 at the camera hoping to be seen by Howitzers near Birr interesting than the Ypres 35mm black and white silent film, someone back home. See how the Crossroads supporting that was. digital reproduction, AWM F00056 narrative is created through careful the Australians fighting As part of their duties, Hurley and edits: men walk toward the front line COLARTS STUDIO / FRANK HURLEY in the Ypres sector, Wilkins were provided with a hand- along the edge of a trench, and walk 31 October 1917 All that is left of the wound wooden Debrie Parvo model the same path back some time later long wall of the with stretchers in their arms. Pick out digital reproduction, AWM E01218 cinecamera to capture moving Cloth Hall, c1920 footage of the Australian forces the moments where scenes captured COLARTS STUDIO / UNKNOWN hand-coloured photograph, on loan from in Flanders in addition to their still as still photographs become moving AUSTRALIAN OFFICIAL the State Library of NSW, PXD 481/f.124 photographic record. This film is images. See in close-up as the artillery PHOTOGRAPHER the result of their efforts. recoils from firing another barrage or A battery of 8-inch observe in the far distance tiny figures Only a few minutes of footage could Howitzers in action near running toward their fate. Watch the be filmed at a time before the reel Birr Crossroads, c1920 fighting in Flanders as it had never had to be changed in a dark bag. been seen before – in motion. hand-coloured photograph; 52.8 × The camera and tripod had to be 68.1cm, on loan from the Australian War Memorial, P05380.007 operated at the same time, which BY DANIEL EISENBERG restricted shooting. Shots were either Curator, Photographs, Film and This is a reverse image of the static or very simple pans across the Sound, Australian War Memorial original print (see left). landscape, and filming could only UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER Soldiers from the 28th Members of the 2nd TEXT Battalion engaged in Australian Pioneer Battalion Passchendaele: photography and the moving image in battle and associated programs were made possible Janis Wilton physical exercises behind making a wagon track from through the generosity and support of the families of CURATORS the lines at Renescure, planks of wood at Chateau the men and women who are represented Kim Blunt in the exhibition; France, 8 September 1917 Wood, 26 September 1917 Joe Eisenberg digital reproduction, AWM E00800 through support and contributions from Janis Wilton digital reproduction, AWM E00685 CURATORIAL ASSISTANT On the right-hand side of the Australian War Memorial; Burtons Visual Designs; Nikolas Orr UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN photograph you can see the wooden Maitland City Library; Maitland and District Historical

OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER Debrie Parvo cinecamera, used by Society; Maitland Visitors Information Centre; EDITING Officers of the 11th Brigade Hurley and Wilkins to shoot the film. National Library of Australia; Newcastle Museum; Joe Eisenberg State Library of NSW, Cheryl Farrell Australian Field Artillery It was almost certainly left in the Nikolas Orr inspecting a battery of frame on purpose. and also from DESIGN 18-pounders during a brief Peter Bogan, Christine Bramble, Daniel Eisenberg, FRANK HURLEY Clare Hodgins rest near Bailleul, France, Ashley Grant, David Harrower, Shannon Hutchinson, 2 September 1917 Members of the 1st Michael Kelly, Janece McDonald, Anne McLaughlin, Kate Morschel, Judy Nicholson, Nikolas Orr, digital reproduction, AWM E00662 Australian Tunnelling Company excavating Linden Pomaré, Susie Raymond, Jane Robertson, Jennifer Selby, Ruth Trappel. UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN dugouts at Hooge, OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER Belgium, September 1917

Field Marshal Sir Douglas digital reproduction, AWM E01396 Haig, Commander-in-Chief, leaving the parade after UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER MRAG is a proud service Maitland Regional Art Gallery is supported by reviewing the 2nd Australian of Maitland City Council. the NSW Government through Create NSW. Division, Campagne, Hellfire Corner on Menin France, 29 August 1917 Road, 27 September 1917 digital reproduction, AWM E00678 digital reproduction, AWM E01889 Maitland Regional Art Gallery