Photographic notes on Australian scandals

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Beautiful Lies: Notes Towards a History of Australia

By Peter Milne

Photomedia artist Peter Milne is known for works that concentrate on reinterpreting Australian history as allegory. His latest book, Beautiful Lies:Notes Towards a History of Australia, covers a collection of four separate but related satirical photomedia projects completed over a period of ten years. The first project depicted, Dreams of the Skull, is Milne’s interpretation of Queensland history as it might appear in the mind of a Fascist.  Here he draws on Queensland political history during the later decades of the 20th century.

There are six photo collages, each one named for a specific dream state, starting with Nightmare, which makes reference to the sheep shearers’ strike of 1891 out of which came the Australian Labor Party.  Wet focuses on German adventurer Baron Von Luckner (1881–1966) as he visits a shop in Innisfail, Queensland, a notable moment in Australia for Fascism.  Day references Queensland student activist Brian Lavar and his arrest for taking part in a protest march.  Recurring comments on the pro-life movement of the 1960s.  Lucid marks the occasion when controversial politician Joh Bjelke-Peterson received an honorary doctorate, and Prophetic presents the rise of politician Pauline Hanson’s far right party, One Nation. 

All the collages are striking in their colour and manipulation of cut-out images. The complexity of the components invites careful scrutiny and though Milne’s works can be appreciated and enjoyed for their visual impact, their true force is felt only when the viewer is aware of who the characters are and the history they represent. The more the viewer knows about the history of the subject matter, the more effective the images become as the collages are full of in-jokes and comments on news stories current at the time.

Brief Shining Momentis a series of photographs presenting Milne’s slant on the era of Gough Whitlam’s premiership (December 1972 to November 1975) and its notions of national identity.  The photographs examine a number of individuals who played their parts in Whitlam’s government – Jim Cairns (Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister) and his assistant Juni Morosi who are depicted as  A Kind of Love, which uses a soap-opera storytelling style to tell a tale of tragedy, love, intrigue and sex, among other things.  Milne also chooses to provide images of Don Dunsan, who served several terms as Premier of South Australia, Clyde Cameron (Australian Labor Party), and Sir John Kerr, Governor General of Australia.

The focus of Running Dogs: Australian Media Magnates are the media tycoon Kerry Packer and his son James, media proprietor Rupert Murdoch, and newspaper proprietors Fairfax & Sons, and the 1980s with fraudster Alan Bond, Conrad Black (who took over Fairfax in 1994) and disgraced businessman Christopher Skase.

Lastly, The New Australia follows the story of William Lane (1861–1917), utopian thinker and founder of the failed ‘New Australia’ colony in Paraguay, a ‘tale of romantic idealism’.

The book is a delightful insight into an alternative white Australian history. Beautifully produced, the photography does justice to both the colour and black and white works and the text that accompanies each project provides the necessary background to enable the viewer to contextualize and decipher the story.

In addition, for each of the dreams in Dreams of the Skull a short analysis is provided as identification for, and background to, the images.

Milne’s work is a continuing project of visual interpretation of important markers in the history of white Australia.  His comment on these works is that ‘they investigate the tension between the idealistic quest for power and the inevitable corruption that occurs once it is achieved’.  He sees the purpose of studying history as essentially for encompassing the common argument that its importance is in serving as a cautionary tale for the future, for society or individual behaviour. By dressing people up and posing them in front of an audience, leaving no possibility of pretending that what you are presenting is objective truth, he frees up the possibility of exploring potential fables.

Milne’s tableau pieces are set stages with costumes and props presented as a photographic ‘still’ of the scene. In his collages individual works are a composite of separate images, placed carefully and interestingly across the viewing plane.  They require careful investigation to find all the component parts to unravel the story. These are not photographs to be glanced at casually but images that draw the viewer in, up close, as the story is told frame by frame.  Milne’s choice of component parts and juxtapositions can make for uneasy feelings but that is part of the attraction and part of his purpose. ‘I don’t mind making my audience feel uncomfortable. What I strive for is to create something that is stimulating, funny and a little bit creepy.’

Beautiful Lies: Notes Towards a History of Australia by Peter Milne is published by the Queensland Centre for Photography (QCP) and T&G Publishing Pty Limited (T&G) Brisbane Australia in August 2011. 120 pp. 85 colour illus, slip case, AUD. $66.00 plus postage.ISBN 978-0-9775790-7-5