The Prahran Legacy: exhibitions and publications
News!: An ongoing series of exhibitions display the work of alumni of Prahran College…
The first was Prahran 40, an anniversary show of the 1974-76 students instigated by Colin Abbott and realised by Susanne and Michael Silver at Photonet Gallery, March–April 2014.
A major recognition of the influence and significance of Prahran College on Australian photography was The Basement curated by Angela Connor and Stella Loftus-Hills at the Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh) March–May 2025 accompanied by a substantial illustrated monograph with essays by prominent art historians and commentators.
A show of contemporary work by these alumni followed in May, opening on the 4th, at MAGNET Galleries in Docklands, Melbourne, and simultaneous with the last month of the MAPh show.
Next is a group show LONG Exposure: The Legacy of Prahran College with 50 alumni showing nearly 200 works at the Miners Tavern, Lydiard Street, adjacent to the Ballarat Railway Station. It is a core show of the Ballarat International Foto Festival 23 August–19 October 2025.
The Long Exposure: The Legacy of Prahran College Catalogue has been designed and produced by Mimmo Cozzolino and may be downloaded here
Further exhibitions and publications will follow and these profiles of alumni will continue to be written for this blog to serve as a research resource for future exhibitions and publications. Submission of low-res imagery and biographical material are welcomed!
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 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 to 1980s 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 the department from 1983.
After the departure of Shmith and Cox at the end of the 1970s and through to the amalgamation of the department with the Victorian College of the Arts under alumnus Chris Köller, a series of guest lectures and workshops was arranged by Head of Department John Cato, presented by:
Mickey Allen (painter/photographer), Dr Ulli Beier, Brian Brandt, Glenn Busch (N. Z.), Harry Callahan (U.S.A.), Rebecca Cummins (U.S.A), John Davis (sculptor), Paula Dawson (Holographer), Bob Ellis (scriptwriter), Elliott Erwitt (U.S.A), Beatrice Faust (critic), Sandi Fellman (U.S.A.), Bill Gaskins (U.K.), Ralph Gibson (U.S.A), John Gollings, Les Gray (book-designer), Annette Hall (photo-conservator), Bill Henson (alumnus), Werner Herzog (West Germany), Ian Howell (law/accountancy), Louise Hubbard, Russell Hurley (ciné), Robert Imhoff, Robert Jacks (painter), Merryle Johnson, Bill Kelly (painter), Chris Köller (alumnus), David Lancashire (graphic designer), Wayne Levy, Carolyn Lewens (alumna), Ian Lobb, Chris Long (historian), James McArdle (alumnus), Ron McCormick (UK.), John Marmaras (U.S.A.), Graham Marchant (painter), Julie Millowick (alumna), David Moore, Ole Mynster (ciné), Arnold Newman (U.S.A), Gael Newton (curator-historian), Tom Patton (U.S.A.), Bruce Postle, Graham Pizzey (photographer/naturalist), Philip Quirk (alumnus), Les Rabinowicz, John Ruane, Tony Saad (video), Yuri Sokol, Judy Spafford, Mark Strizic, Dacre Stubbs (photographer/anthropologist), Peter Turner (U.K), Paul Torcello.
The 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 and all exhibited work of Prahran students and alumni; Brummels (showing Australians); and Photographers‘ (exhibiting famous American photographers), and Church Street Photographic Centre. 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 1968–1991
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—1980s who have carved fine careers in the medium;
Colin Abbott, Robert Ashton, Chris Atkins, Chris Beck, Miklos Bertok, Ross Bird, Peter Bowes, John Brash, Sue Budds, Peter Burgess, Nanette Carter (Köller), Brenda Caruthers, Peter Champion, Andrew Chapman, Lyn Cheong, Nigel Clements, Robert Colvin, Jon Conte, Kim Corbel, Domenico (Mimmo) Cozzolino, Michael Cullin, Meredith Davis, Christina de Water, Robert Earp, Duncan Frost, Rob Gale, Arthur Georgeson, Jill Gocher, Sandra Graham, Luzio Grossi, Janina Green, Gerard Groenveld, Morris Hambur, Brendan Hennessy, Naomi Herzog, Julie E. Higginbotham, John Hollingshead, Graham Howe, Clive Hutchison, Philip Ingamells, Leonie Johnson, Peter Johnson, Ashley Jones-Evans, Moira Joseph, Linda Jullyan, 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, Bill McCann, Jim McFarlane, Euan McGillivray, Rod McNicol, Larry Metzler, Julie Millowick, Peter Milne, Jacqueline Mitelman, David Morrison, Richard Muggleton, Martin Munz, Greg Neville, Matthew Nickson, Glen O’Malley, Anne Palamountain, Courtney Pedersen, Viki Petherbridge, Pamela Ponting, Phil Quirk, Paddy (Patrick) Reardon, Leonie Reisberg, Jon Rendell, Elizabeth Roddick, Ilana Rose, Robert Rosen, Stella Sallman, Michael Sankey, Jill Scott, Greg Scullin, Miles Standish, Maria Stratford, Geoff Strong, Paul Torcello, Warren Townsend, John (Wynn) Tweg, Peter Van der Veer, George Volakos, Lisa Walker, Ian Wallace, Jess Ward, Stephen Wickham, Andrew Wittner, Lynette Zeeng…and many others.
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, and video material, will be available to accompany Long Exposure: The Legacy of Prahran College to provide its 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 in person at The Miners Tavern, Ballarat, 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’ video interviews with alumni will be on show.
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, Brummels Gallery, Jennie Boddington, and added to articles on NGV photography collection, Paul Cox, Athol Shmith, Church Street Centre for Photography, and John Cato
Key Organisers
Colin Abbott: Photographer, patron
Merle Hathaway: Curator
James McArdle: Photographer, writer
Phil Quirk: Photographer
Ilana Rose: Photographer
Deadline for submissions
The deadline for the current exhibition and publication has now passed.
However, profiles of alumni will continue to be written for this blog and will serve as a research resource for further exhibitions and publications. Submission of low-res imagery (1200px width) and biographical material and memories of your time at Prahran College are welcomed.
Enquiries may be made using the form below.
Prahran Photography 
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