New Canberra suburb Whitlam will posthumously commemorate people for significant contributions to Australian cultural life. Three newly approved road names in Whitlam commemorate significant photographers. There are about a dozen previous recognitions of photographers, including Ashworth Lane (also in Whitlam) - but these three additions are most welcome.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Point of view is a common term in photography, so it seems most appropriate to use "view" for a road, especially if it has one. Olive Cotton is commemorated with a road called Olive Cotton View. She was a pioneering Australian modernist photographer in the 1930s and '40s.
Cotton worked as the assistant to her childhood friend Max Dupain in his photographic studio. After hours, she experimented with closeups and lighting effects and produced works exhibited at the London Salon of Photography. Later managing the studio, while Dupain was on military service, she pursued a variety of assignments, including theatre, advertising, and a large-scale photographic mural.
She moved to country NSW in 1946, quietly continuing her photography around family life. In 1964 she opened a small commercial studio in Cowra, focusing on portraiture, wedding photography and landscapes.
1980 saw Cotton reintroduced to public view through the Australian Women Photographers 1890-1950 Research Project and became a national "name" with a retrospective and touring exhibition in 1985.
Views are often seen from a crest, so it is again appropriate that Charles Kerry is remembered with Kerry Crest. Interested in the new art of photography, he joined a small studio in Sydney circa 1874. He became the sole owner around 1890, changing its name to Kerry and Co. He was technically innovative and pioneered the use of magnesium flash.
Kerry's studio was favoured by the Sydney press and received photographic commissions from the government. They mass-produced postcards; and recorded Australia's cultural heritage in the late 19th and early 20th century - urban expansion, natural landscapes, sport and leisure activities, farming practices, family life, portraiture, labour scenes, and transportation.
Olive Cotton worked as the assistant to her childhood friend Max Dupain in his photographic studio.
Henri Mallard is best known for photographs of the construction of Sydney Harbour Bridge and for encouraging amateurs and professionals to pursue the art of photography. He is commemorated with Mallard Street. He joined the photographic retailing firm of Harrington's in George Street, Sydney in 1900 as junior boy and remained with the business (later Kodak Pty Ltd) until his retirement in 1952.
By 1917 he was contributing to the Sydney Camera Circle and assisting the Photographic Society of NSW with technical lectures. In 1921, he exhibited with other Australians at the London Salon of Photography.
Mallard served as vice-president of the NSW Photographic Society and was a frequent judge of photographic competitions, including for the Canberra Photographic Society (as reported in The Canberra Times on September 1 and 3, 1953).
The inaugural meeting of the Executive Committee of the Australian Photographic Society, on May 13, 1962, chose Mallard as one of three people awarded Honorary Life Membership.
It would be great if future residents of Whitlam celebrated arts and culture with their own special photographic event.
