The photograph and Australia

Unknown photographer.
Australian scenery, Middle Harbour, Port Jackson c1865, carte de visite.
Art Gallery of New South Wales, gift of Josef & Jeanne Lebovic,
Sydney, 2014.

Bringing together hundreds of photographs from over 35 lenders, this major exhibition reflects an evolving image of Australia from the 1840s onwards. From mass media’s evolution in the 19th century to today’s digital revolution, the exhibition investigates how photography was harnessed to create the idea of a nation and reveals how our view of the world, ourselves and each other has been changed by the advent of photography.

Ernest B Docker, The Three Sisters Katoomba - Mrs Vivian, Muriel Vivian and Rosamund 7 Feb 1898, stereograph / Macleay Museum, The University of Sydney via Art Gallery of NSW.
Ernest B Docker, The Three Sisters Katoomba - Mrs Vivian, Muriel Vivian and Rosamund 7 Feb 1898, stereograph / Macleay Museum, The University of Sydney via Art Gallery of NSW.

Entry fees
$15 adult
$12 concession
$10 member
$8 child (5-17 years)

Charles Bayliss, Group of local Aboriginal people, Chowilla Station, Lower Murray River, South Australia 1886, albumen photograph / Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Charles Bayliss, Group of local Aboriginal people, Chowilla Station, Lower Murray River, South Australia 1886, albumen photograph / Art Gallery of New South Wales.
  • Organised by: Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Upcoming Events Submit an Event

February

Melbourne: 28 Nov 2025 – 26 May 2026. The exhibition celebrates the wide-ranging photographic practices of more than eighty women artists working between 1900 and 1975.

Sydney: Until 11 April. Unfinished Business brings together the voices of 30 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with disabilities from remote, regional, and urban communities across Australia.

Canberra: Until 6 Sept 2026. Trent Parke’s photographic series The Christmas tree bucket 2006–09 is a tender and darkly humorous portrayal of his extended family coming together to celebrate Christmas.

Melbourne: 11 Feb – 25 April 2026. Familial brings together six international artists whose work navigates the emotional and psychological terrain of family.

March

Sydney: Until 7 Feb 2027. From his archive of more than 200,000 images, Close Up celebrates the historic moments and pivotal people he famously captured.

Melbourne: 5 March – 7 August 2026. Between the mid-1970s and early 1990s, artist and social documentary photographer Viva Gibb (1945-2017) documented the suburbs of North and West Melbourne, where she lived.

Melbourne: 7 March – 24 May 2026. Photos of flowers from the NGA collection by prominent photographers drawn such as Robert Mapplethorpe and four groundbreaking Australian photographers.

Melbourne: 10 March – 5 May 2026. TOPshots is an annual celebration of emerging photo-media artists selected from a large pool of entries.

April

Sydney: 9 April event 6-9pm. Unfinished is a free event to show/see photo-based work in progress or recently completed personal projects run by photographers for photographers.

Sydney: 15 April – 9 May 2026. An exhibition of fine art photography celebrating the intersection of maritime history and the human form.