The Eric Douglas Antarctic Collection at Museums Victoria consists of objects and images relating to Antarctic exploration. Within the collection there are 328 images in various formats including artworks, photographs, glass negatives and lantern slides. There are 201 images relating to the British Australian New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (known also as the BANZARE and the BANZ Antarctic Research Expedition). BANZARE comprised two summer voyages to the Antarctic in 1929- 1930 and 1930-1931 on the 'Discovery' - sailing steamship and known as the 'RRS Discovery' and the 'SY Discovery' - under the leadership of Sir Douglas Mawson. The BANZARE component of images consists of 165 lantern slides, 17 glass plate negatives, 7 coloured advertisement lantern slides and 12 photographs. Most of the images were the photography of RAAF pilot Eric Douglas (Pilot Officer on Voyage 1 and Flying Officer on Voyage 2) and Captain Frank Hurley the official photographer and cinematographer for BANZARE. Also included in the collection are 5 Frank Hurley images from the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) of 1911-1914 on the 'Aurora' under the leadership of Dr Douglas Mawson. Within this collection too is a Frank Hurley photograph called 'The Crystal Canoe' taken in South Georgia in 1916-1917 when he was on the Endurance Expedition 1914-1917, under the leadership of Sir Ernest Shackleton. The last component consists of 121 images relating to the Ellsworth Relief Expedition of 1935-1936. The breakdown of the 121 images is of 100 lantern slides, 18 glass plate negatives, 1 photograph and 2 paintings by two different members of the crew of the Discovery II. Photography of these images was by Eric Douglas and the official photographer for the steamship RRS Discovery II, Mr Alfred Saunders and by Press photographers in Melbourne. The collection at Museums Victoria also includes artefacts, and among those items is Eric Douglas' Zeiss Ikon Icarette camera used to take images attributed to him in this collection.
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Keywords
Antarctic Expeditions, Antarctic Exploration, Antarctic Research, Antarctica, Photography, Australian Military Forces, Aircraft
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