Jan 12, 2022
Frank Hurley is an icon of Australian documentary photography and Antarctic exploration.
In 1911, Hurley began his Antarctic career by persuading Douglas Mawson to employ him as official photographer on the 1911–14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE). Hurley’s famous motion picture images of expeditioners being driven backwards by the strength of the katabatic winds at Cape Denison captured the day-to-day hardships and heroism of life in the Antarctic. He used a hand-crank movie camera, the Debrie Parvo L 35mm, to document expedition activities. Hurley took part in a record-breaking sledging journey to the South Magnetic Pole (averaging 66km per day) and filmed key events along the way.