Public lecture examines the life of Frank Hurley

An illustrated free public lecture exploring the career of Frank Hurley will be held at The University of Queensland on August 5, at 5.30pm, The Mayne Centre, St Lucia campus.

Entitled Travelling mass-media circus: the spectacular career of Frank Hurley, the lecture will be presented by Professor Robert Dixon from the University’s School of English, Media Studies and Art History and the Australian Studies Centre. The lecture will outline the theme of Professor Dixon’s forthcoming book on Hurley.

Best known as the photographer for both the Mawson and Shackleton expeditions to Antarctica, and the Ross Smith Flight from London to Sydney, Frank Hurley was one of Australia’s first multimedia figures.

He was a photographer, cinematographer, writer, journalist and radio-broadcaster who learned how to maximise the impact of his work by promoting it globally through various types of media.

The lecture will not be a biography but will reflect the way Hurley learned to stage what is now known as a mass-media event. His shows or spectacles drew partly on 19th century traditions of live popular entertainment and more modern forms of documentary reporting.

Hurley’s events usually involved photographic exhibitions, the presence of a celebrity, and cinema screenings accompanied by live music. They often took place simultaneously in Australia, Britain, Europe and the United States, and were performances recognised for their own entertainment value and not necessarily the events they were supposed to promote.

The lecture will tell Hurley’s story using samples of his photographs.

Professor Dixon is a researcher who specialises in Australian literature, history and culture. He plans to publish a book about Hurley and colonial modernity and an illustrated edition of Hurley’s diaries.

The lecture is presented by the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies at UQ.

For further information, contact Professor Dixon (telephone 07 3365 3137 or 07 3278 0195, email: rob.dixon@uq.edu.au), Lisa Gunders at The Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies (telephone 07 3346 9764, email: admin.cccs@uq.edu.au) or Elizabeth Kerr at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2339 or email: e.kerr@uq.edu.au).