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 75–76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK and 244 Madison Ave. #116, New York, NY 10016, USA 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