Fit to Print: Exhibition themes | National Library of Australia (NLA)

Fit to Print: Exhibition themes

Learn about the themes explored in the Fit to Print: Defining Moments from the Fairfax Photo Archive exhibition, open from 27 February to 20 July 2025.

Picturing the news

By the 1890s developments in photography allowed photographers to purchase negative plates in advance and develop them days or even weeks after they were exposed. Photographers such as George Bell and Herbert Fishwick took to the streets and the countryside, hauling unwieldy cameras and heavy glass-plate negatives around with them.

Early photojournalists understood the ability of a photograph to tell a story. They knew that subjects and props could be carefully arranged to make a good image great. While staging or intervention is largely avoided by photojournalists now, for those working in the early twentieth century the ability to manipulate a scene was essential. 

Black and white image of dozens of colliers, or coal miners, in uniform

Fairfax Corporation, Group of colliers at the Lithgow Vale Colliery, New South Wales, 21 December 1932, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-157885780

Fairfax Corporation, Group of colliers at the Lithgow Vale Colliery, New South Wales, 21 December 1932, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-157885780

People

Whether it's politicians on the campaign trail, underworld crime bosses, visiting celebrities, sports stars or children playing in the street, the people that newspaper photographers choose to capture, and the images that editors choose to publish, offer us insights into Australian society and identity.

The photographs in the Fairfax Archive reflect the changes in newspaper audiences that occurred in the early twentieth century. In the 1920s newspapers began to market themselves for women, using sections such as The Sydney Morning Herald’s Women’s Supplement, which contained photographs of women engaged in work, housekeeping and social activities. 

Black and white photo of a man in a suit and hat sitting and reading a newspaper on the handrail of an out-of-order escalator

Fairfax Corporation, Man sitting on an out of order escalator reading a newspaper, Sydney, ca. 1920s, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-163365935

Fairfax Corporation, Man sitting on an out of order escalator reading a newspaper, Sydney, ca. 1920s, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-163365935

Bridges, boats and beaches

For photojournalists working in a coastal city, the beaches and harbours were spaces where people congregated, and thus where news could be gathered. Since ships were still the most efficient form of interstate and international travel in the first decades of the twentieth century, photographers at the harbour were in prime position to capture images of arriving dignitaries and celebrities from other parts of Australia and beyond.

Photojournalists also documented Sydney’s changing cityscape, and one construction project of the 1920s overshadowed all others. In 1923 work began on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the various stages of its construction over the next 10 years feature prominently in the Fairfax Archive. 

Black and white photo of five construction workers, two working to tighten bolts on a large piece of metal

Fairfax Corporation, Construction workers tightening the bolts on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney, ca. 1931, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-16021958

Fairfax Corporation, Construction workers tightening the bolts on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney, ca. 1931, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-16021958

Australian life

By the 1930s photographs had become a mainstay of newspapers. Some publications, such as The Sun News-Pictorial, embraced them so completely that they sometimes took up the whole front page. The Sydney Morning Herald had more than half a dozen photographers on staff.

Australians were becoming increasingly familiar with the visual vocabulary that we associate with modern photojournalism. Eye-level portraits to evoke empathy. Low-angle photographs to inspire awe. Movement to simulate drama, and stillness to elicit calm. For a photograph to be fit to print, it needed to match the reality the photographer was trying to convey. 

Black and white photo of a farmer using a needle and thread to sew up a sack of wheat

Herbert H. Fishwick & Fairfax Corporation, Man sewing up a sack of wheat during the harvest at Cudmore's Property, Tamworth, New South Wales, 1933, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-163303133

Herbert H. Fishwick & Fairfax Corporation, Man sewing up a sack of wheat during the harvest at Cudmore's Property, Tamworth, New South Wales, 1933, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-163303133

Page published: 28 Jan 2025

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