Hagen-Sepik Patrol 1937-1939

Component identifier:

Series 3

Content Summary:

This collection contains photographs Black took on the Hagen-Sepik Patrol, comprising 1938-39 prints, and 1938-39 single negatives and rolls of negatives from some of which prints were taken between 1939 and 1996. The last 28 prints (491-519) were taken by others.

At Wabag, in August 1938, Taylor told Walsh to develop and caption photographs that patrol members took and make sets for official purposes and personal records. Some of Black's prints therefore show Walsh's hand. Of the sets Walsh made, only Black's survived. Taylor's and the official sets were lost during World War II; Walsh's were lost in the 1974 Brisbane flood.

File 12 (photos 1-52): Conceivably, Walsh took these photographs. They show his format and print paper, their captions are by him, some of his photographs for the period are missing, Black appears in two prints, and Walsh's prints and these address similar subjects. Nonetheless, almost certainly Black took them: no gaps can be found for them in Walsh's print numbers (MS 9219/1), and comparing print 3 below with Walsh's roll 7/2 print shows the same moment by two differently placed cameras. Print numbers follow Walsh's where possible, even when not chronological. Where they exist, Walsh's numbers are in brackets, e.g.: 2 (A2).

Files 13-14 (photos 53-273). In 1998 Gammage attributed these photographs to Black, put them in approximate chronological order, and captioned them. Prints 237- 273, taken in Dufaycolor by Black between Feramin and Enga, may be the only colour photos ever taken at first contact. The colour negatives have not been found.

File 15 (photos 274-519) comprises 13 rolls of Black's negative film, 217 contact prints and 14 prints of these done in 1939-96, and 28 prints (491-519) Black possessed but did not take. In 1938-39 prints were taken from some of the negative rolls and appear in Black's diary, in files 12-14, and elsewhere. In 1987 Black could not recall who took prints 491-519. Possibly 491-495 are by Kevin Sheeky while on a Hoiyevia air drop; 496-504 and 507-519 by Mick Leahy; 505-506 by George Greathead.

Original captions are in quotation marks; other captions were added in 1998 by Bill Gammage, whose book, The sky travellers (MUP 1998), contains additional information.

Black's Hagen-Sepik diary contains some photographs not included here. Hagen- Sepik photographs are also in MS 8254 (Ian Downs), MS 9218 (Jim Taylor), MS 9219 (Pat Walsh) and MS 9220 (Bill Gammage). ScreenSound Australia holds movie film taken on the patrol.

Immediate source of acquisition:

MS 8346 was bequeathed to the Library by John Black in 1988. At the request of the family, to enable Robin Radford to complete her research, it remained in Adelaide until 1992. In 1999 Dr Bill Gammage added a substantial collection of photographs taken on the Hagen-Sepik Patrol of 1938-39. They have been placed in Series 3. Further papers were received in 2011.

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