ABSTRACT
The legacies of colonialism continue to shape culture and politics around the world, with especial power in former settler colonies such as Australia. This chapter explores Australian photographic histories in the context of the sociopolitical tensions that linger in the wake of imperialism. Photography mapped the uneven development of photographic technology and cross-cultural exchange across the continent, recording new peoples and places in order to satisfy curiosity at home; as evolutionism became scientific orthodoxy, ideas of essential biological difference were supported through visual ‘data’ such as cartes de visite that were circulated globally. Nonetheless humanitarian uses of the medium asserted a common humanity and argued for the equality of Indigenous peoples. The gradual take-up of the medium by Aboriginal people over the twentieth century have now become a means to assert political claims and record family.
