The National Library of Australia's latest exhibition, "In Print: Decisive Moments from the Fairfax Photography Archive," opened today in Canberra. The exhibition features a selection of 150 photographs from the history of Australian newspapers, allowing viewers to glimpse life in the early 20th century, captured through the lenses of news photographers.
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03-03, 2025These photographs cover a variety of scenes, from parades and celebrations to gold rushes, sea cruises, and bonfires, taken in locations such as Gerringong, Kurnell, Sydney Harbour, and Bondi Beach. The photos were selected from 18,000 glass plate negatives by Mike Bowers, host of the ABC TV program "Talking Pictures" and a photojournalist himself.
Daniel Gleeson of the National Library of Australia stated, "Mike has selected 150 photographs from the Fairfax photography archive that was donated to the Library. It’s a huge collection of 18,000 glass plate negatives dating from 1890 right through to 1948."
Bowers believes that being able to comprehensively browse the National Library of Australia's glass plate negative collection was a "fantastic opportunity." He stated, "I did a book in 2008 about a century of photography, so I was reasonably familiar with a lot of the material. But at that stage I was just dipping into these collections because they hadn’t been digitised. I was just randomly picking glass plates and seeing whether we needed to scan them and use them." He added, "This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to go through the entire glass plate negative collection, and it’s just incredibly rich and a real record of the birth of news photography in this country."
The exhibited photographs were once published in publications such as *The Sydney Morning Herald*, *The Sun*, and *The Sydney Mail*, and were donated to the National Library of Australia in the form of glass plate negatives. Mr. Gleeson explained, "A glass plate negative is a very old photographic technique. The cameras at the time were very cumbersome, huge wooden boxes. You'd put the glass plate in, and you'd only have one shot. Once you took the shot, you had to take the glass plate out and replace it." He also mentioned that due to their inconvenient size and slow shutter speeds, photographers needed their subjects to remain still.
To develop the images, photographers would immerse the glass plates in an emulsion. "When it was exposed to light, the image would appear," Mr. Gleeson said, adding that some of the images were in "very poor" condition when they arrived at the Library. "Some of them were broken. Fortunately, we have a fantastic collection care team, and they've restored all of these photographs." He emphasized, "One of the things that really struck me about this exhibition is that it really shows the evolution of photographic techniques during that period."
These collections not only showcase the development of photographic technology but also serve as an authentic record of the past. Bowers recalled, "When I was going through the glass plate negative collection in 2008, sometimes I would take them out of their sleeves, and I’d also take out the job docket – the original job docket that the photographer attached to the glass plate when they took the photograph. It’s a real connection to the past, and I felt like I was making a real, tactile connection with those photographers who came before me, feeling like I was standing on their shoulders."
Bowers also stated that these collections can be seen as the "first rough draft" of journalism. "The great Katharine Graham, who was the first woman publisher of a major American newspaper, *The Washington Post*, in the '70s, she quoted her husband Philip Graham as saying that newspapers are the first rough draft of journalism." He added, "I think these early photographic works are the receipts of the first rough draft, they're the physical evidence that goes along with the words, that shows us what was happening at the time. We can trace our nation’s history and significant events through this very valuable collection, and it’s now in the hands of the Library for generations to use and interpret."
Curating an exhibition from 18,000 glass plate negatives was no easy task. Bowers said it took countless hours of work. "I wanted to create a rhythm in the exhibition, so I chose the photographs that appealed to me and that I liked." He said. "We chose about 500, and then we whittled it down to about 150, and now they’re blown up and hanging on the wall for the exhibition. It was entirely based on my interests and what I liked, and what we thought, in discussion with the other curators, was appropriate to blow up and hang on the wall."
When asked about his favorite photograph, Bowers admitted that he does have one. "There’s a beautiful photograph from 1930, taken on Cockatoo Island, of two men working on a giant propeller." He said. "It was the HMAS *Australia*, of the Royal Australian Navy, and they were working on it while the ship was in dry dock. The juxtaposition of the two men with this giant piece of man-made machinery is just wonderful. It’s beautifully exposed and beautifully printed, and it’s just a work of art. I really love that photograph, and it’s really stuck in my head."
To appreciate this photograph and many more, you can visit the "In Print: Decisive Moments from the Fairfax Photography Archive" exhibition at the National Library of Australia from February 27 to July 20. If you are unable to travel to Canberra in person, you can also browse the collections online via Trove.
