National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN ISSN 1443-0568 | no. 65 | October 2003


Remember the Sixties and Seventies?

Self portrait of photographer John Mulligan [196-?]
Mulligan, J. A. (John Aloysius), 1927–1996
Self portrait of photographer John Mulligan [196-?]
Pictures Collection,
nla.pic-an24830320
US President Lyndon Baines Johnson greets the crowd during his visit to Australia, 20–22 October 1966 by John Aloysius Mulligan
Mulligan, J. A. (John Aloysius), 1927–1996
US President Lyndon Baines Johnson greets the crowd during his visit to Australia, 20–22 October 1966
Pictures Collection, nla.pic-an24830216

If you recall the 1960s and 1970s you will find much of interest in the photographic collection of freelance press photographer John Mulligan (1927–1996). This collection, recently acquired from the photographer’s widow Toti, is now being digitised. Over 700 of Mulligan’s images are now available via the Pictures Catalogue.

The sixties saw the arrival of new technology and Mulligan was there to capture the wonders of the three-minute car wash, shopping trolleys when they were a cause for marvel, the rise and rise of Laminex, fire sprinklers newly installed at the New South Wales Fire Brigade headquarters, the gleaming interior of the new Cahill Expressway tunnel, and the even more gleaming interior of the loo of the new TAA Lockheed Elektra Mark II (decorously subject-catalogued as ‘aircraft cabin’). He documented the last years of the pre-computer age in Australia: from schoolgirls being taught to use manual typewriters and adding machines, to the bright new control room at Mascot airport in 1962, with its pristine card files and a display board regularly updated by a young woman on a ladder.

Johnny O’Keefe bathing his children, Victoria and Johnny Jnr, in a promotional shoot for his television comeback, Castlecrag, Sydney, 6 November, 1962 by John Aloysius Mulligan
Mulligan, J. A. (John Aloysius), 1927–1996
Johnny O’Keefe bathing his children, Victoria and Johnny Jnr, in a promotional shoot for his television comeback, Castlecrag, Sydney, 6 November, 1962
Pictures Collection, nla.pic-an24552819
Young Australian Nazis at the arrival of Eric Ray Wenberg, self-styled Australian Nazi leader, at Mascot Airport, 17 January, 1968 by John Aloysius Milligan
Mulligan, J. A. (John Aloysius), 1927–1996
Young Australian Nazis at the arrival of Eric Ray Wenberg, self-styled Australian Nazi leader, at Mascot Airport, 17 January, 1968
Pictures Collection, nla.pic-an24722458

As a freelancer, Mulligan juggled contracts with TAA, the Catholic Weekly, Hoyts Theatres, manufacturing companies such as Repco and other employers. In between contracts he often waited at Mascot airport in the hope of catching a VIP. On one of these occasions he shot a rare photograph of young Australian Nazis, complete with arm-bands, awaiting the arrival of Eric Ray Wenberg, self-styled Australian Nazi leader, in 1968.

Mulligan also photographed those for whom publicity was a way of life—the media stars who often seemed to come in pairs: Bob and Dolly Dyer, Dawn Lake and Bobby Limb, Smokey Dawson and his horse Flash. Mulligan was often invited to the homes of stars for publicity shots, and one result of this is a delightful photograph of Johnny O’Keefe bathing his toddlers, in 1962.

These photographs are being digitised just in time. They are on the acetate film base commonly used in the sixties and seventies, and are showing signs of imminent deterioration. The digital copies will preserve Mulligan’s work for those of us who still remember IBM electric typewriters, Housewife of the Year competitions and the crowds mobbing LBJ, and for the future generations for whom the sixties and seventies will be beyond memory.

The digitised images can be seen on the Pictures Catalogue <Catalogue> by using the search term: John Mulligan.
—Linda Groom, Pictures Librarian

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Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: mbrooks@nla.gov.au