About Portraits from a Land Without People

"Every face in this wonderful book tells a story that adds up to an extraordinary portrait of Australia ... a long-overdue history of Indigenous Australia through photograph."
Louis Nowra

In 2000 John Ogden published a book titled Australienation. Portrait of a Bi-Cultural County, in support of the reconciliation movement.  The Australian newspaper claimed that the book "said more about this big, brown land …. than all the words in The Hansards combined".  With the support of Reconciliation Australia, and in co-operation with the Jimmy Little Foundation, Ogden has compiled the most comprehensive anthology of photographs to document Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island culture yet produced.

The book charts the photographic history of Indigenous Australia from the first photographs by Douglas T. Kilburn in 1847 through to the Prime Minister’s 'Aplogy' in 2008.  BHP Billiton, Transfield Holdings, the Goodridge Foundation, Baxter Healthcare, and the Hay Group have jointly sponsored this project, and Gilbert + Tobin have assisted with permissions and approvals pro bono.

All proceeds from this project will go to the Jimmy Little Foundation’s national programme dedicated to improving Indigenous health, particularly in the area of kidney disease.

Jimmy Little [Dr James Little AO] has been an entertainer and national inspiration for just on fifty years. He has performed for people from the humblest outback veranda to the Sydney Opera House for a Royal Command performance. Since his kidney transplant, Jimmy has dedicated himself to making a positive contribution to Indigenous health in remote areas where kidney failure runs as much as fifty times the national average. Kidney failure is responsible for at least one in three deaths amongst a people whose life span is about twenty years less than the national average.

Portraits from a Land Without People looks not only at the work of photographers, but also anthropologists, missionaries, settlers and government agencies.  Images have been chosen for their aesthetic qualities or historical importance, either in regard to Aboriginal culture,
or the history of photography itself.  There is a large library of photographs tucked away in state, federal, and private collections that Ogden has been researching for this pictorial history of Aboriginal Australia.  Over the last two years he has viewed over 300,000
images and has uncovered many lost gems. 

"The book has an authenticity that dwarfs most attempts in film, television and print to tell the Aboriginal story of the last two centuries. It is a raw story. It stands on its own and yet pays its respect to so many others who looked through a lens along this long road." Jeff McMullen

Pat Dodson has written the foreword for the book, and Professor Larissa Behrendt (winner of the David Unaipon Award for Indigenous writers) has been commissioned to write an introductory essay, commenting on the complex relationship between photography and Indigenous Australia. The book also features the work of many Indigenous photographers, providing an ideal showcase for their talents.   

Portraits from a Land Without People is a superb anthology of the best photographs ever taken of Aboriginal Australia. The book is designed to promote understanding and tolerance of Aboriginal and Islander life, both at home and internationally, by showing the richness, diversity and resilience of Indigenous culture. At the same time it will help
improve conditions for the Indigenous community.

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