Western Front 1914-1918 [photograph album] / includes photographs by Frank Hurley and Alfieri [Picture Service]

PXE 1699

fonds

1914-1918

Graphic Materials, Photographs

1001649

78 photographic prints (1 album), includes 1 loose clipping

James Francis (Frank) Hurley (1885-1962) joined the Australian Imperial Force in August 1917 as official photographer, with the rank of honorary captain. His images of war, taken in France, Belgium and Palestine, reflect his horror at the carnage and destruction he witnessed.

The Alfieri Picture Service was a London firm run by photographer Bernard Alfieri (1860-1939).

References:
Australian Dictionary of Biography. http://adb.anu.edu.au (accessed 21 July 2017)
Science Museum Group Collection. http://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk (accessed 9 August 2017)

Photograph album, covered in black morocco with gilt lettering ‘Western Front. 1914-1918’, containing 75 gelatin silver photographs, nearly all with contemporary manuscript captions in ink. Although the photographs are predominantly of the Western Front, the content also includes images of Australian troops in the Dardanelles campaign (by the Alfieri Agency) and Palestine, as well as key events such as the Allies meeting in Versailles and Anzac Day in London. The photographs loosely follow the Australian 2nd Division, which had been formed in Egypt in July 1915.
At least 14 of the photographs in the album are by Frank Hurley and 6 photographs are signed ‘Alfieri’. The compiler of the album is unknown.
Also included are a loose photograph and a newspaper clipping.

WESTERN FRONT. 1914-1918. [PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM]
1. Anzac Day in London. The scene in Parliament Square as the men who fought at Gallipoli entered the Abbey.
2. [Group of soldiers on track].
3. President Wilson, accompanied by King George and The Duke of Connaught, drive in state from Charing Cross Station to Buckingham Palace - thus creating a record in the history of America, but cementing the friendship of the two great English speaking nations of the World for ever.
4. [Group of soldiers on horseback riding through a ruined town].
5. [Group of soldiers on track in snow-covered landscape].
6. [Group of soldiers in trenches].
7. [Group of soldiers with camouflaged field gun].
8. [Troops of the 108th Howitzer Battery in action at Bray-sur-Somme, France, 26 August 1918 / Frank Hurley].
9. [A linesman of the Australian Corps Signal Company working on the telegraph line on the Bray-Corbie Road, France, 25 August 1918 / Frank Hurley]
10. [Observation balloon in sky].
11. [Limbers carrying up ammunition at sunset / Frank Hurley].
12. [A tired Battalion marching out of line / Frank Hurley].
13. [Waterway, possibly the Somme Canal].
14. Australian Battery going into action Somme Canal – near Veaux sur Somme / [Frank Hurley].
15. The Tower and the Tree. The leaning Madonna of Albert / [Frank Hurley].
16. Albert. Ruined church at end of Jany 1917 / [Frank Hurley].
17. Mo[u]quet Farm Octr 1916.
18. Exploding a Mine. Our Miners with the Armies on the Western Front gave Fritz many a surprise by mine explosion, with which he and his belongings left their well prepared trenches. The one that opened the attack on Vimy Ridge was a case in point. Such a one is here shown at the moment of explosion.
19. The Shell-holes of Pozières in the snow Feby 1917.
20. German retirement on the Somme. An Australian in Hun front line Feby. 28th 1917.
21. The Meuse Battlefield east of Verdun, over which the Americans fought to Victory.
22. The Calvary at Crapeaumesnil on the Oise, as the Huns left it.
23. [Ruins in waterlogged landscape].
24. [Soldiers marching past windmill].
25. A wooden road on the Battlefield Westhoek.
26. The desolation of a battle strafed Wood. Chateau Wood. / [Frank Hurley]
27. "Bussing" up. Australian Troops. 2nd Division / [Frank Hurley].
28. A mud covered corduroy track enables the men to pass over the Zonnebeke Marshes.
29. Hun prisoners bringing in wounded. Sept. 20th 1917. Hooge Castle.
30. After the battle scene. On the Menin Road. Wounded waiting to be taken into the Dressing Station. Sept. 20th 1917 / [Frank Hurley].
31. A captured strong point. Note the thickness of the concrete above the entrance.
32. Aspects of the scenes of great battles. General view of Ypres.
33. A winters evening by the famous Cloth Hall of Ypres. 1917.
34. To be preserved as a Monument of German war methods. The famous Cloth Hall and the Cathedral (to the extreme right) at Ypres, to be preserved as a Monument of the methods, employed in War by Germany.
35. Aspects of the scenes of great battles. General view of Menin Road Battlefield looking towards La Bassee.
36. [1889. Hell Fire Corner].
37. [Red Chateau, Villers-Bretonneux].
38. [Tanks].
39. [Aeroplane].
40. [Crashed aeroplane].
41. [Wooden cross grave marker inscribed ‘In loving memory of Lieut. C. Healy. 6523 Pte C. F. Bentin. 3732 Pte C. Cravino. 1669 Pte W. Vaughan. 19th Batn A.I.F. Killed in action 29.8.18. R.I.P.].
42. [Bodies of soldiers in battlefield] / [Frank Hurley].
43. [Bodies of soldiers in battlefield] / [Frank Hurley].
44. The pride of the German nation. A Zeppelin passing over Berlin.
45. The 14th of July in Paris. 1917. Paris' great Fete Day. British troops passing down the Champs Elysees.
46. The British retirement from Mons. South of Noyon. The Fusiliers retiring in excellent order.
47. Advancing means much extra digging. A party of Australians busy on such work.
48. A buttress of much Shell Fire. The Village Church & Graveyard at Ploegsteert.
49. A pretty scene in the picturesque country. French Dragoons advancing past an English outpost.
50. [Group of soldiers, some wounded, possibly outside a dressing station].
51. A Zeppelin in her floating dock. Lake Constance.
52. A Sea Scout. One of the French Seaplanes that have terrorised Enemy Submarines.
53. Australia House opened by the King. The troops present arms as His Majesty arrives.
54. [Cathedral and ruined town].
55. Shot at his Post. A German Officer shot at his Post where he was found making observation of the French Lines.
56. Xmas with the Grand Fleet. Rough weather in the North Sea. Taken from the Flagship / Alfieri [Alfieri Picture Service].
57. British activity amidst a Belt of utter devastation. This picture in the region of Bullecourt graphically describes a small section of the whole Battlefront.
58. The "Pet" and the "Mascot" of a Belgian Cavalry Regiment / Alfieri [Alfieri Picture Service].
59. Versailles. The Allies discussing the Armistice terms. From left to right: - General Bolin, Marshal Foch, M. Pichon, M. Clemenceau, Mr. Lloyd George, Mr. Bonar Law, Lord Milner.
60. The Dardanelles. Turkish prisoners on W. Beach / Alfieri [Alfieri Picture Service].
61. A historic occasion. The scene at the opening of the Great Peace Conference Paris. 20th Jany 1919.
62. The Dardanelles. Australian troops in "Le Gully Ravine aux Dardanelles".
63. The Dardanelles. Australians landing north of Gaba Tepe / Alfieri [Alfieri Picture Service].
64. The Allied Fleet ten miles up the Dardanelles. The Forts of Sed-el-Bahr.
65. The Turkish Fleet at anchor at the minor entrance to the Bosphorus.
66. French Men of War & Australian Troopships in Suez Canal / Alfieri [Alfieri Picture Service].
67. The Dardanelles. Second Division leaving Mudros Bay / Alfieri [Alfieri Picture Service].
68. The last photograph taken of H.M.S. "Majestic", which was sunk off Gallipoli. With Destroyers in Mudros Bay / Alfieri [Alfieri Picture Service].
69. The Dardanelles. British troops in "Le Gully Ravine aux Dardanelles".
70. Jerusalem Wall Aloe. The Walls of Jerusalem.
71. "On Sentry". Looking out of a Shell Hole in an old tomb over-looking the Jordan Valley (Jericho in centre). "Aucklands" 1st March 1918.
72. Ahod (Desert Oasis). 3rd Bde Camp H.Qrs. Belah. Jany-Feby 1918.
73. Ludd. 26th Jany 1918.
74. 2nd Light Horse Brigade marching across the Desert at Esdud. Jany 11th 1918 / [Frank Hurley].
75. I.C.C. Troop. Troop Imperial Camel Corps / [Frank Hurley].
76. Turkish Defences. Jerusalem Lifta.
77. Turkish Defences of Jerusalem near Lifta. A bivouac.

PHOTOGRAPH
78. [Group portrait probably of the Australian Flying Corps photographed in front of aeroplane].

NEWSPAPER CLIPPING
79. [Newspaper clipping photograph of boxer Jack Dempsey titled 'Jack Dempsey. The Greatest Ring Magnet of all time' signed 'To my friend Charles Lucas Best Wishes Jack Dempsey'.

Out of copyright: Created before 1955 (applies to photographs)
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Titles taken from album captions or devised by cataloguer from content or from other known copies of the photograph