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Overview
When Father Browne stepped off ship at Melbourne in 1924, few could have imagined that this Irish Jesuit priest with his Plaubel Makina camera would turn out to be a world class photographer. Sent to Australia for health reasons having suffered gassing in World War I, Father Browne had already been acclaimed for his Titanic photographs which illustrated newspaper reports of the tragedy at the time. However, most of his massive Collection - including the 900 pictures taken in the southern continent - were to await first publication in the 1980s and 1990s following the re-discovery of the negatives in the 1980s by fellow Jesuit, E. E. O'Donnell. (The story of this discovery is told in A Life in Pictures (1994), E. E. O'Donnell's biography of the photographer.). This volume presents Father Browne's astonishing portrait of post-war Australia. Feel the palpable optimism in the developing cities of Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth and the sweat and toil in the Outback with its primitive shops and canvas settlements. Here are the narrow-gauge railways, the sugar-train, the gold-mines, the sheep-shearers at work; view the splendid panoramas of the Blue Mountains and the (then) peaceful shores of Narrabeen Beach; listen to a family 'berry-singing'; follow the harvest coming home at Molong and the ploughing of Mudgee pineapple fields; throughout, enjoy wonderful portraits and observations of people, adults and children, at work and at play. Father Browne's Australia captures the human endeavour that shaped the continent anew. Printed in duotone to reflect the quality of the originals, these photographs are a pleasure to return to again and again. Held by the photographer's timeless eye, these superb pictures will give hours of delight and pleasure. Australians and also visitors to their dramatic landscapes will cherish these powerful images from the 1920s - and, of course, for lovers of good photography everywhere, Father Browne's Australia is a treasure-trove.Editorials
Booknews
A collection of black and white photographs taken between 1924 and 1925 in Australia are as interesting for their craft and beauty, as for their historical documentation of a post-war boom continent. The pictures were found along with 42,000 other negatives after the photographer's death, who was perhaps most famous for his journalistic photos of the Titanic. A brief introduction gives biographical background, but the collection itself tells the best story. Distributed by Dufour. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)Book Details
Published
June 1, 1995
Publisher
Merlin Publishing
Pages
128
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780863274435