Royal penguins sunning themselves, Nuggets Beach, Macquarie Island

Antarctica: five responses from the collection, 2020-2021

Frank Hurley accompanied Douglas Mawson on Australia’s first expedition to Antarctica in 1911–14. His documentation in photography and film was critical to the mission, providing evidence for scientific discoveries, as well as enabling access for an eager public to the dramatic landscape and conditions prevailing there. Hurley’s photograph The blizzard, 1912, became emblematic of the extreme conditions experienced by the men. It shows two figures ‘hurricane walking’ or ‘wind walking’, whereby in order to move forward they would lean and ‘lie on the wind’. In stark contrast, Hurley’s A glacial fairyland, 1912, was taken at a moment of calm. These works, and his film Home of the blizzard (on loan from the National Sound and Film Archive), had a remarkable impact on the public on Mawson’s return – magnified by the fact that the environment could be experienced by so few.

Maria Zagala, Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs