Credit:Header photograph for this page © Peter Leiss. This 1970 image was for one of the first assignments; ‘Family’. L to R; Johann Krix, unknown (printmaking), Tom Karakis (printmaking), Richard Eastwood, Ross Powell, John Wynn Tweg, Philip Ingamells, unknown, Murray Johnston,
Meryl Greaves, George Volakos, Vaughn Southerland, Miklos Bertok, Larry Metzler, Ross Chandler, unknown, Craig Iskoff, Robert Ashton, Duncan Frost.
The Prahran Legacy: an exhibition
Good news!: This exhibition is now scheduled to open at the Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh) in 2025.
Background
The 1970s, right around the globe, was a period of a re-awakening to the artistic potential of photography.
Instamatic, Polaroid, point-and-shoot and 35mm reflex cameras made photography a folk art. For some, who were prepared to delve more deeply into its chemistry and photometry and to bend it to their vision, it was a medium of personal expression they shared with a growing community of practitioners and audiences.
This was the case in Australia too.
Prahran College
Unique to Melbourne was a tiny art school where the inspiration of a handful of lecturers focussed and radiated the phenomenon of art photography through that decade.
The Lecturers
A constellation of Prahran College of Advanced Education diploma students found themselves in the orbit of:
- Athol Shmith (1914–1990), a celebrated portraitist who at the end of a glittering career spanning Pictorialism and modernism, quite humbly and generously dispensed his wisdom to a younger generation.
- Paul Cox (1940–2016) who applied a transcendental chiaroscuro in both his fine photographic prints and his cinematography.
- John Cato (1926–2011) who, moving on from commercial work, had released a genie from the landscape and conferred a panoramic view of the history of Australian photography.
- Bryan Gracey who taught 1970-1980 as was responsible for introducing colour processing
- Derrick Lee whose tenure spanned almost the entire period of Photography at Prahran from the 1960s
None had a teaching qualification. All employed ingenious, novel, often collaborative means of discovering and igniting each student’s talent and originality, where a friendly competitiveness and joie de vivre prevailed.
Additional staff at various stages in the 1960s and 1970s were;
Technicians: Andrew (Andy) P. Lyell, who retired at the end of 1974 and was replaced by Murray White.
Ian McKenzie (1939-2014) from 1966 commenced a four-year program designing and overseeing the construction of educational facilities for photography in the Diploma stream of Prahran College of Technology. He was department head for two years until he resigned at the beginning of 1969 and Derrick Lee replaced him as full time staff member in March, followed by Gordon de Lisle as lecturer-in-charge in October appointed in 1969
Gordon De’Lisle (1923–2002), hired by the vocationally-oriented graphic designer Principal Alan Warren in October 1969, followed Ian McKenzie as Senior Lecturer, Photography. During his short tenure he researched and instituted videotape and electronic education. After suffering a severe heart attack, he was replaced in 1971 by Athol Shmith who was appointed by the incoming College Principal Dr David Armstrong, .
Norbert Loeffler began teaching Art History (covering contemporary art) at Prahran in 1975, and by 1977 was incorporating photography in his classes, which students from the Photography department began attending. He contributed unpaid sessions of 2 hours per week in teh department from 1983.
1970s mileu (See: Prahran Environs for pictures)
Teachers and students revelled in the rich subject-matter of working-class Prahran, amongst diverse demographies of St Kilda, Toorak, South Yarra and Elwood. Nearby were Australia’s first independent photography galleries; Brummels (showing Australians); and Photographers‘ (exhibiting famous American photographers), and both showing Prahran graduates. Around the corner was the National Gallery of Victoria, with the first department of photography in any Australian state gallery, only a tram-ride away.
The Zeitgeist
Simultaneously a new wave of feminism, sexual freedoms, ever-louder anti-war rhetoric, a thwarted swing to the left in politics, new music, conceptual and performance art (which in the following decade was to become ‘post-modernism’) whet students’ passions and coursed through their imagery that they produced on threadbare budgets.
A Tribute from the Students of the 1960s and 1970s
This exhibition pays tribute to those lecturers, their imagery, and their pedagogy, and observes the burgeoning careers and diverse influence of those talented students, big names now, whom they nurtured.
The Students [links lead to biographies on this site]
The students who emerged from this rich training ground included Australia’s best known— Bill Henson and Carol Jerrems—alongside other alumni of the 1960s and 1970s who have carved fine careers in the medium;
Colin Abbott, Robert Ashton, Chris Atkins, Miklos Bertok, Ross Bird, Peter Bowes, John Brash, Peter Burgess, Nanette Carter (Köller), Brenda Caruthers, Peter Champion, Andrew Chapman, Jon Conte, Kim Corbel, Domenico (Mimmo) Cozzolino, Michael Cullin, Meredith Davis, Christina de Water, Duncan Frost, Jill Gocher, Sandra Irvine (Graham), Janina Green, Morris Hambur, Brendan Hennessy, Julie E. Higginbotham, John Hollingshead, Graham Howe, Clive Hutchison, Philip Ingamells, Leonie Johnson, Peter Johnson, Moira Joseph, Peter Kelly, Ted Keogh, Ted Kloszynski, Christopher Köller, Johann Krix, Paul Lambeth, Peter Leiss, Carolyn Lewens, Steven Lojewski, Ashley Mackevicius, Ian Macrae, Sheelagh Mahon, Gaetano “Nino” Martinetti, Tony Maskill, Jenni Mather, James McArdle, Jim McFarlane, Euan McGillivray, Rod McNicol, Larry Metzler, Julie Millowick, Peter Milne, Jacqueline Mitelman, David Morrison, Greg Neville, Matthew Nickson, Glen O’Malley, Viki Petherbridge, Pamela Ponting, Phil Quirk, Paddy (Patrick) Reardon, Leonie Reisberg, Jon Rendell, Elizabeth Roddick, Robert Rosen, Stella Sallman, Michael Sankey, Jill Scott, Geoff Strong, Paul Torcello, Warren Townsend, John (Wynn) Tweg, Peter Van der Veer, George Volakos, Ian Wallace, Jess Ward, Stephen Wickham, Andrew Wittner, Lynette Zeeng…
Support Material
This website provides biographical details on and examples of the work of the prominent alumni of Prahran College photography, and these bios are being added as blog posts.
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Memorabilia, photographs of students and tutors, film and video material will be available to accompany the exhibition and provide context.
There are many fine publications and monographs featuring the work of these artists to further supplement the exhibition.
Some of the artists will be available to talk about their work and the importance of this period.
An Education Kit, including glossary of terms, artists information and worksheets will be provided.
Peter Leiss has produced video interviews with alumni
For further information on Prahran College and photography in 1970s Australia, James McArdle has authored entries for Wikipedia on:
Prahran College (with links to articles on photography alumni), Gordon De Lisle, The Photographers’ Gallery and Workshop, Church Street Centre for Photography, Brummels Gallery, Jennie Boddington, and added to articles on NGV photography collection, Paul Cox, Athol Shmith, and John Cato
Key Organisers
Colin Abbott: Photographer
Merle Hathaway: Curator
Peter Leiss: Photographer, videographer
James McArdle: Photographer, writer, tertiary lecturer
Phil Quirk: Photographer
Prahran Photography 
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