This is an online exhibition of historical photographers of South Australia and about South Australia. The exhibition is a work-in-progress
The first six photos in the photographic history exhibition are those by Charles Percy Mountford. They were made between 1935 and 1940 in Central Australia.
The first line of 3 photos were made by C.P. Mountford when he was secretary of a board of inquiry to investigate allegations of ill-treatment of Aborigines in the Northern Territory, at Hermannsburg and Ayers Rock in 1935. Later that year he joined Tindale, C. J. Hackett, a physical anthropologist, and E. O. Stocker, a cine-photographer, on an expedition (under the auspices of the University of Adelaide’s Board for Anthropological Research) to the Warburton Range, Western Australia.
The second line of 3 photos were made by C.P. Mountford whilst on a 4 month camel expedition in 1940 under the auspises of the Board of Anthropology of the University of Adelaide, from Ernabella to Ayers Rock. The purpose of the trip was collect information about Aboriginal art and legends, to carry out scientific research, to study and record the lifestyles and customs of the Aboriginal people of the western desert of Central Australia and to examine the art of the Pitjantjatjara and Yankuntjatjara.
Mountford used Ernabella Mission Station as his base for his outward trips to the north and west to the Musgrave and Mann Ranges, then later to Mount Connor (Atila), Ayers Rock (Uluru) and Mount Olga (Kata Tjuta). Mountfort travelled with Lauri E. Sheard, Bessie Mountford and the cameleer Tommy Dodd. The trip formed the basis for Mountford’s book and film Brown Men and Red Sand
In 1942 Mountford led another University of Adelaide expedition to Central Australia, which included the areas of Jay Creek, Haasts Bluff and Hermannsburg Mission.