W
ITH ITS exposed roots and
hollowed-out trunk, ‘The
Cazneaux Tree’ embodies a
particularly Australian spirit of
endurance. It’s a kind of sylvan battler,
standing silent and strong against an
unforgiving climate and all attempts to
undermine it. Harold Cazneaux’s
famed photograph of this majestic but
embattled river red gum was taken in
the Flinders Ranges in 1937. It now
features in a major exhibition – The
Photograph and Australia – which is
currently on display at the Art Gallery
of New South Wales in Sydney, and
will move to the Queensland Art
Gallery in Brisbane on 4 July 2015.
Cazneaux was a leading exponent of
the pictorial movement that came out
of Europe towards the end of the 19th
century. “Harold wanted to develop an
artistic form of photography,” explains
Judy Annear, curator of the exhibition
and author of its accompanying book.
“But he knew that it needed to be a
uniquely Australian form of pictorialist
photography, which meant embracing
Australian light. European Pictorialism
was very dark and moody, but he wanted
something much brighter.”
Harold was among a cohort of
photographers who explored the creative
potential of the bush as well as the towns
and cities of the emerging nation and
established a markedly Australian
aesthetic. By the time he immortalised
the steadfast eucalypt, popular taste had
moved on and the movement he had
championed had fallen from fashion. He
was now working on The Home, the
upmarket social and art magazine that
was then a must-read in every stylishHarold Cazneaux’s famous tree is now part of a major
retrospective exhibition of Australian photography.
photogr aphic heritage
Spirit of Endurance
middle-class Australian home.
Harold had established a close
friendship with South Australian
painter Hans Heysen in the early
1930s and, through his work,
developed a deep appreciation for the
Flinders Ranges’ extraordinary beauty.
Harold made three journeys there from
his Sydney home and took the famous
photo on his final visit in May 1937.
The image was initially titled A Giant
Gum of the Flinders. That same year it was
exhibited in Adelaide and London and
appeared in the October edition of
The Home, to popular acclaim.
“This is one of the very few photo-
graphs that became an icon of Australian
photography in its own time, in the
1930s,” says Judy. “For example, Max
Dupain’s Sunbaker, taken the same year,
didn’t become an icon until the 1970s. So
this is a very important picture because
it’s Cazneaux, because of what it repre-
sented for him, and because people
recognise it as a uniquely Australian
brand of suffering and endurance in a
very dry environment.”
The photo was renamed Spirit of
Endurance after the death of Harold’s
only son, also named Harold, at Tobruk
during World War II, and continued to
be regularly exhibited throughout the
1950s. Today the tree is still standing,
and neither it nor its surroundings
have changed much since Harold – the
grandfather of AG’s founder Dick Smith- created his famous image. Wilpena
Station, on which it stands, is now part of
the Flinders Ranges National Park and
the site is a popular visitor attraction.
To see our red gum feature, turn to page 80.
CHRISSIE GOLDRICK
SNAPSHOT
28 Australian Geographic