An impressive large-format photograph of a group of Wangkangurru men of eastern Lake Eyre, taken not later than the early 1920s
The vintage gelatin silver photograph (visible image size 250 × 380 mm) is behind a window mat, gilt filet and glass, in a contemporary moulded wooden frame. The photograph is in fine condition; the frame has a couple of trifling blemishes, but is in excellent condition (and the label of the picture framer, Ernest W. Peet, 28 Gouger Street, New Adelaide, is still attached to the original backing paper).
A similar (but far less impressive) image, previously unpublished, appears in the 2009 augmented second edition of 'Savage Life in Central Australia' by George Aiston and George Horne, first published in 1924. From 1912 to 1923, George (Poddy) Aiston (1879-1943), policeman and ethnographer, 'was based at the Birdsville Track outpost of Mungeranie and was also a sub-protector of Aborigines. He distributed rations, levied bore fees, inspected stock, collected dingo scalps, registered births, deaths and marriages, processed mail and issued licences. In addition, he studied the customs, beliefs and technology of the local people, and was assigned the Red Ochre mura (Dreaming). An authority on Central Australian Aborigines, particularly the Wangkangurru of eastern Lake Eyre, he photographed secular and ceremonial activities, as well as Birdsville Track life and landscapes' (Dr Philip Jones in the 'Australian Dictionary of Biography'). Perhaps of greater significance is the introductory essay by Philip Jones on George Aiston in 'Images of the Interior. Seven Central Australian Photographers' (Wakefield Press, 2011). He quotes from a letter written by Aiston in July 1921 to a Melbourne correspondent, Walter Gill: 'I am very keen on photography and have about a thousand negatives from which I could easily pick about 100 perfect specimens of bush life, sunsets, blacks, flowers, camels, horses and cattle. I would like to get a book of them printed, and wrote to Adelaide for a price ... I would not like to sacrifice quality for cheapness though. There should be a good sale for them in other cities - but I cannot get anyone to take them up - I can sell more prints in Adelaide than I can print - if you think you can do anything for me I will send you along 50 or 100 prints ... and let you judge for yourself'. Although Jones notes that Aiston 'had some success in entering photographic compositions [sic]' and had a good sense of the worth of his photographs, there 'is no indication that Gill advanced this idea on Aiston's behalf'. After he retired from the police force in 1923, Aiston did very little photography, a fact made abundantly (and painfully) clear in Jones's essay. David Welch, the editor of the second edition of 'Savage Life in Central Australia', details the numerous important additions to the work in his introduction, noting that 'Twenty-nine previously unpublished photographs by George Aiston have been added to the 90 photographs in the original 1924 edition'. One of these new images appears on page 49, with the following detailed caption: 'Men wearing "kopi" (white gypsum) body paint, feather headdresses, "charpoo" (forehead bands), "dampera" (girdles) with "wilpoo" (hanging string decorations). The man at left also wears a cross-belt from over his right shoulder to under his left arm'. The image is credited to 'George Aiston Collection, National Museum of Australia'. The image reproduced in the book shows three men, decorated as above, standing easy; although the foreground has been cropped, the end of several spears may be seen at their feet. In the image on offer, the three men are heavily armed: they are holding pole-like spears ('piranburra'), shields and boomerangs, with other boomerangs stuck in the girdles. Anther significant difference is that they are now wearing what appear to be false beards fashioned from long tassels of white rabbit fur. Tassels of this nature are described and illustrated on pages 42-43; however, there they are attached to the headband. To the best of our knowledge, this image is unpublished. The photograph is offered with a copy of the 2009 edition of the book.
Item #114927
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