Lot 181
Foelsche was the official Police Photographer in the Northern Territory from 1873 until the mid-1890s
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Dimensions:
- 13 x 9cms Exhibited:
- Portrait Literature:
- Photography Medium:
- 1464 Circa:
- Fine Art Notes:
- Paul Foelsche (1831- 1914) was born near Hamburg Germany and migrated to South Australia in 1854 perhaps drawn by the lure of gold. However, instead of racing off to the Victorian Goldfields like so many others he instead signed up to become a State Trooper bringing him into contact for the first time with the local Aborigines for whom it was said to have developed an affinity. He was an exceptional police officer and in 1869 he was transferred to Palmerston in the Northern Territory as the sub-Inspector of the Northern Territory Mounted Police rising to Inspector in 1876. Foelsche understood the difficulties of applying British justice to the native population and undertook a systematic study of Aboriginal customs and language. On 2 August 1881 his authoritative paper, 'Notes on the Aborigines of North Australia', was read to the Royal Society of South Australia. (ADB)Perhaps acknowledging that a picture paints a thousand words Foelsche embraced the new art of photography and by 1873 he was recognised as the leading photographer in the Northern Territory. He drew critical praise for ethnographic photographs of the Territorys Aboriginal tribes even receiving a gold watch from the Kaiser of Germany as a reward for his photography. However, historical revisionists have unearthed chilling accounts of the heavy-handed justice he meted out on the native population and so his staged portrait shots of Aborigines, who sit stony-faced, appear more menacing when viewed through a more critical lens. In one photograph on offer you can clearly see that the subject is manacled. Condition:
- Extremely Fine condition
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