Frank Hurley – The Man Who Made History is
a 2004 film suitable for secondary students of the story of Australian
photographer Frank Hurley. One of the last great imperial adventurers, Frank
Hurley captured some of the earliest images of the world’s most remote places.
His pictures are amongst the most valuable ever taken, though some of them have
now been challenged – are they ‘fakes’, or are they acceptable composites, often
combining elements from several negatives for dramatic effect?
Hurley is
best known as the cinematographer on Ernest Shackleton’s doomed Endurance
expedition to the Antarctic. He also photographed both World Wars, explored New
Guinea and enjoyed a long career as the visual chronicler of his homeland,
Australia. He was an early pioneer of colour photography, helped invent the
documentary film, and risked his life to bring back images from some of the
great events of the twentieth century. During Hurley’s expeditions to Papua he
took not only film and photographs, but cultural artefacts as well. The central
questions posed by the film focus on the composites and this issue as well, in
the historical and social context of the standards of the era Hurley lived
in.
The study guide provides an exploration of the themes and issues of
the film including war time photography, the elements of biography and whether
composite images are acceptable as history, or are they ‘fakes’? The film has
particular relevance in an age where digital manipulation of images is common
and often unchallenged. Many of Hurley’s most famous photographs are include in
the guide for students to analyse.
Curriculum Links:
Teachers will
find this a very useful and challenging resource in exploring some significant
questions and issues with secondary students in:
• English – Creating a
biography, Creating a narrative story
• Media Studies – Creating
representations, Constructing narrative
• Australian History –
Representations of the past
• Photography and Design – famous Australian
photographers
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