31 Facts About Frank Hurley

James Francis "Frank" Hurley was an Australian photographer and adventurer.

Frank Hurley participated in a number of expeditions to Antarctica and served as an official photographer with Australian forces during both world wars.

Frank Hurley was the third of five children to parents Edward and Margaret Hurley and was raised in Glebe, a suburb of Sydney, Australia.

Frank Hurley ran away from home at 13 to work on the Lithgow steel mill, returning home two years later to study at the local technical school and attend science lectures at the University of Sydney.

Frank Hurley taught himself photography and set himself up in the postcard business, where he gained a reputation for putting himself in danger to produce stunning images, including placing himself in front of an oncoming train to capture it on film.

At the age of 23, in 1908, Frank Hurley learned that Australian explorer Douglas Mawson was planning an expedition to Antarctica.

Frank Hurley asserts in his biography that he then cornered Mawson as he was making his way to their interview on a train, using the advantage to talk his way into the job.

Mawson was persuaded, while Mallard, who was the manager of Harringtons, a local Kodak franchise, to which Frank Hurley was in debt, provided photographic equipment.

The expedition departed in 1911 and Frank Hurley returned with most of the party in 1913.

However Mawson was left behind as he was late returning from his sledging party, after the death of Xavier Mertz, and as a result Frank Hurley made a second trip at the end of 1913 to pick up remaining party.

Frank Hurley was the official photographer on Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition which set out in 1914 and was marooned until August 1916.

Frank Hurley kept only a hand-held Vest Pocket Kodak camera and three rolls of film and for the rest of the expedition, he shot just 38 images.

Frank Hurley selected and saved 120 of his glass-plate negatives smashing about 400 remaining ones.

Frank Hurley produced many pioneering colour images of the expedition using the then-popular Paget process of colour photography.

Frank Hurley later compiled his records into the documentary film South in 1919.

Frank Hurley's footage was used in the 2001 IMAX film Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure.

Frank Hurley then returned to the Antarctic in 1929 and 1931, on Mawson's British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition.

In 1917, Frank Hurley joined the Australian Imperial Force as an honorary captain, and captured many stunning battlefield scenes during the Third Battle of Ypres.

Frank Hurley kept a diary from 1917 to 1918, chronicling his time as a war photographer.

Frank Hurley argued with superiors over the ethics of compositing photos, arguing that war was conducted on such a vast scale that it was impossible to capture the essence of it in a single negative.

Frank Hurley wrote that he would dress in civilian clothes and eavesdrop on soldiers who were visiting his exhibitions; he concluded that the composites were justified by the favourable comments they attracted.

Frank Hurley again worked as an official photographer during the Second World War.

Frank Hurley was employed by the Australian Department of Information as head of the Photographic Unit from September 1940 until early 1943, based in Cairo.

Frank Hurley took the only film of the initial victory against the Italians at Sidi Barrani in December 1940, which was given to Cinesound and Movietone News for global release.

Frank Hurley covered the battle of Bardia and the Siege of Tobruk in 1941, and both of the battles at El Alamein in 1942.

Frank Hurley resigned his position, but remained in the Middle East, and accepted the position of Middle East Director of Army Features and Propaganda Films with the British Ministry of Information.

Frank Hurley photographed two conferences of leaders at Cairo and Teheran in 1943.

Frank Hurley used a film camera to record a range of experiences including the Antarctic expeditions, the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and war in the Middle East during World War II.

Frank Hurley made several documentaries throughout his career, most notably Pearls and Savages.

Frank Hurley wrote and directed several dramatic feature films, including Jungle Woman and The Hound of the Deep.

Frank Hurley worked as cinematographer for Cinesound Productions where his best known film credits include The Squatter's Daughter, The Silence of Dean Maitland and Grandad Rudd.