On my last circuit around Australia it was mid summer and bloody hot. A lot of the country was alight, and I was constantly on guard for bushfires coming through camp in the night.
Here I’ve climbed in the cool of the dawn to the top of a slatey hill to look down on that huge expanse of plain and the distant Hamersley Range hovering in the smoke. That little tree’s bark is peeling from the heat. I was feeling a bit that way myself
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Dawn In Hamersley Range, WA
Snow in the Labyrinth, Tasmania - AUD$1500
I camped with a mate up here overnight, and the snow came in heavy just before dawn, and it was threatening to snow again, by the look of the sky. So, no time to waste, get to work and get out of there fast before the track out of there disappears!
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Snow in the Labyrinth, Tasmania
Sandhills, Windorah, Queensland - AUD$1500
I only got this picture because my truck was broken down, a fuse blown, she wouldn’t start. So I got on the radio and asked for help and a mechanic in the nearby settlement of Windorah came out to help me fix the problem. I took this shot while I was waiting for him.
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Sandhills, Windorah, Queensland
Two Myrtles, Pine Valley, Tasmania - AUD$1500
I met the girl of my dreams here in Pine Valley. Fell for her, head over heels. She travelled with me for a while, but I lost her to another because I had to stay out there, on the road. Like these two trees, she still dances with me in my memory.
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Two Myrtles, Pine Valley, Tasmania
The Promised Land, Gleniffer, NSW - AUD$1500
An early panorama from 1982, and one of those pictures that you get if you get out of bed sufficiently early of a winter’s morning, before the fog lifts and the sun shines through.
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The Promised Land, Gleniffer, NSW
Snowgums, Perisher, NSW - AUD$1500
Another picture taken while I wrestled with cross-country skis, eventually throwing them away because, with heavy a camera bag on my back, I kept falling over. So, on hands and knees I crept into this grove of snowgums, and, happy with what I got, crawled back out again.
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Snowgums, Perisher, NSW
Treefern, Millaa Milla Falls, Queensland - AUD$1500
This picture seemed to take forever. I had to stop down so far on the lens to get everything sharp that the exposure was bound to be several seconds. My nephew was holding back a branch with a rope attached out of the way of the falls. We had to wait over an hour before the breeze fell and all was still at last.
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Treefern, Millaa Milla Falls, Queensland
The Line of Fire, Manangoora, NT - AUD$1500
I was camped with an old Aboriginal man near Borraloola, in the Gulf. He wanted to clean up his country by lighting some fires, and I went along with him. We had to keep our wits about us as the wind kept changing. He kept me on my toes, that old feller.
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The Line of Fire, Manangoora, NT
The Devils Marbles, NT - AUD$1500
One of my earliest pictures, taken while shooting ‘Outback’ with Thomas Keneally. I had arrived here on my own the night before, a windy night, the car headlights passing over a sinister sign that said ‘The Devil’s Marbles.’ I thought, ‘there’s no way I’m camping out here.’
So I drove to a roadhouse a few miles back and had too many beers with some truckies. I got back here somewhat the worse for wear, and went into sleep in the back of the car. On waking, this is what I saw out of the windscreen. All I had to do was get out of the car and shoot it.
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The Devils Marbles, NT
Yin Yang Tree, Lake Hindmarsh, Victoria - AUD$1500
I was camped with my girlfriend on the bank of this lake. We loved this redgum tree because it seemed to have both male and female halves to it, so we christened it ‘The Yin-Yang Tree.’ and would sleep on the swag beneath.
THE GALLERY
