ISSUE 136 : May/Jun - 1999 - Australian Defence Force Journal

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50AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE JOURNAL NO. 136 MAY/JUNE 1999STILL ACTION:THE WAR PHOTOGRAPHY OF DAMIEN PARERAustralian War MemorialSpecial Exhibition gallery1 April – 23 July 1999Still Action: the war photography of Damien Parer is on display in the Australian War Memorial’snew Special Exhibition gallery from 1 April to 23 July 1999.Damien Parer is best known for his wartime cinematography, winning an Oscar for KokodaFrontline, produced while he was an official Department of Information photographer. But, he wasalso a very accomplished stills photographer, and this exhibition features a selection of his very beststills work.In fact, Parer started his career in stills. Apprenticed to Melbourne photographer ArthurDickensen, he trained in taking glamourous fashion shots. His appetite for movies was whetted whenhe worked as stills photographer on Chauvel’s Uncivilised and Forty Thousand Horsemen. But hislove of still photography remained, fuelled by stints working with Max Dupain and Olive Cotton.Still Action: the war photography of Damien Parer is a tribute to Parer’s professionalism, talentand his life as a stills photographer. The exhibition consists of 55 framed black and whitephotographs, seventeen of which are framed enlargements of films. It shows Parer’s pre-war work, hiswork in North Africa and the Middle East and later in the South West Pacific. It also explores Parer’sfascination with the sinister beauty of planes, tanks, ships and guns and depicts the mood and emotionof Australia’s fighting men.Almost all works come from the extensive collection held by the Australian War Memorial inCanberra. The exhibition was developed by the Australian War Memorial in cooperation with theOrange Regional Art Gallery and is being toured by the Memorial.Parer was born in Melbourne in 1912, grew up on King Island in Bass Strait and at the age of 11went to boarding school in Bathurst.In 1940, Parer joined the Sixth Division, 2nd AIF in the Middle East, and covered land, sea and airactions at Tobruck, Derna, Greece and Syria. In July 1942, he returned to Australia and was sent northto cover the fighting in Timor and New Guinea. During his time in New Guinea, Parer was in the frontline, exposed to the same dangers as the soldiers he was capturing on film, and it’s perhaps theseimages that are most familiar to Australians. Ultimately, it cost him his life. Parer, now working forthe Paramount News Corporation, was killed on 17 September 1944, filming US Marines storming aJapanese bunker on Peleliu Island. He was just 32.As Frank Hurley’s images provide the lasting memories of Australia’s involvement in the FirstWorld War, so Damien Parer’s are the benchmark memories of our part in that second great conflict.The exhibition is part of the Australian War Memorial’s travelling exhibitions program funded bythe Department of Veteran’s Affairs Their Service – Our Heritage. Other travelling exhibitionsinclude: Ivor Hele: the Heroic figure, Too dark for the Light Horse, Impressions: Australians inVietnam, Up Front: faces of Australia at war and 1918 Australians in France.
Book ReviewsROOTING DEMOCRACY – GROWING THESOCIETY WE WANT by M. Rayner, Allen &Unwin, St Leonards NSW, 1997.Reviewed by A. Zoiti-Licastro“Australians have little respect for politics, andless for politicians…91% of those interviewed…saidthat politicians twisted the truth to suit themselves,and 66% believed that politicians were not usuallytruthful” (p11).For anyone who remembers WA Inc., the closureof Fairlea women’s prison and the protests overGrand Prix racing at Albert Park, this is an interestingbook. Moira Rayner, a lawyer with her heart in theright place, was so good at her job as Commissionerfor Equal Opportunity in Victoria that she became thelast one. The Liberal Government in Victoria has aneconomic agenda they were voted in to pursue. Oncea party has been elected is that where the democracyends? Who can argue with the winner in the race?This book asks you to consider what democracy isand where we, as a society, are going.Using examples such as children being stripsearchedbefore they are allowed to see theirimprisoned mothers and the famous Rosa Parksrefusal to give up her seat for a white person on a busin 1950s America, Rayner examines modern Westernculture; the way we act (are we inherently selfish assome believe) and the way Kant says we should act(your treatment of others is the end not just themeans). Does a parent have the right to bring up achild in a way that contradicts the UN Convention onthe Rights of the Child? This book asks you to thinkabout what you believe, even people who say they arenot interested in politics will have an opinion on suchmatters. Rayner brings politics home to the reader’sbackyard in plain language.A government will never represent every singleperson. The day after an election, how do people feelwho voted for a minority party and had theirpreferences crawl up the ladder to wind up puttingone of the big two back in? How long will Australiathrive with only two major parties? QueenslanderRussell Hinze said to Joh Bjelke-Peterson: “If youwant the boundaries rigged, let me do it, and we’llstay in power for ever. If you don’t do it, people willsay you’re stupid” (p51). What does that famed“ordinary Australian” know about such workings?The message is that an elected government cannot bethe first and last word in the running of a democracy,we who vote the parties in must be able to hold themto account. There must be a separation of powers, anindependent judiciary, an independent public serviceand security of tenure. If the steady erosion of ourcivil and human rights continues is our democracygoing in the right direction? “Total power must neverbe concentrated in one place” (p64), says Rayner whorecounts her experience in Latvia where state officialsacted as if they were exempt from following the law.The days when student lawyers were taught thatUN treaties were unenforceable are over, anindependent judiciary can call up a UN treaty asjustification for a decision. Rayner says when this didhappen, bureaucrats were stunned. Human rights aspart of everyday life did not occur to them.Remember the apprentice who was set alight by hisfellow workers? People who will never have to facebeing set alight during the course of their work daymight roll their eyes when human rights arementioned, for the apprentice and for those of us whoread about him, justice was an imperative. “Humanrights cannot be doled out by the powerful as akindness to those who “deserve” them (p.73).The three parts of the book address the past, thepresent and the future of democracy. Part two, “AWilting Democracy”, describes the signs of a healthydemocracy and why we should be concerned whenour voices are not heard or are over-ridden byeconomic considerations.Rayner quotes US President Thomas Jefferson,who suggested the review of the constitution every 30years to ensure its relevance. Approaching 100 yearsof age, the Australian Constitution is overdue for areview. Although we do have a constitution, thosevoted in to represent us are often so engrossed in thebig picture they forget the local ramifications of theirbig picture decisions, alternatively, they know enoughabout the workings of government to use it to thecommunity’s disadvantage. One former minister saidhe enjoyed giving long-winded answers because itprevented anyone else from asking questions. “Bysuch strategies the all-important Question Time hasbecome a travesty” (p.93).The midnight sessions of Parliament in Victoriashow the zeal with which new laws can be enacted,would the government meet with such gusto to passthrough reforms “that are likely to subject their own
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ISSUE 136 : May/Jun - 1999 - Australian Defence Force Journal

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