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An Insiders View

William Henry Corkhill clearly had a self-appointed mission in life—to photograph all the residents of the small town of Tilba Tilba in southern New South Wales. Over a 20-year period he made nearly 900 portraits of his own community, the glass plate negatives for which were eventually donated to the National Library. What distinguishes Corkhill’s images is their intensity. His subjects address him as one of their own; they approach the occasion of being photographed with full solemnity and, in return, are depicted with great dignity.

Corkhill’s project was not as unusual as one might expect. Similarly ambitious projects were undertaken in Tumut by R.C. Strangman, and in Gundagai by Dr. C.L Gabriel, a doctor and a keen amateur Photographer of scenes at the Gundagai hospital and in the township. His photographs of patients become disturbing when seen in a public context: made for medical purposes, they are clinically detached.

 

Introduction
1860s and 1870s
A love of order
Panoramas
Photography & war
Communities
A people's history