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Alien Harbour : Frank Hurley, Jules Verne, and the Early Dress-divers of Underwater Sydney single work   criticism  
Issue Details: First known date: 2019... 2019 Alien Harbour : Frank Hurley, Jules Verne, and the Early Dress-divers of Underwater Sydney
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'The underwater of Sydney Harbour has its own histories, visual and literary representations, and narrators, but its contributions to Australian culture are yet to be fully recognised. Among European narrators were dress-divers whose technologies enabled access to an otherwise alien, inhuman world. This article discusses early dress diving in Sydney Harbour, focusing on an account by the explorer, Frank Hurley (1885–1962), of diving at Shark Island in 1921. Hurley's account is compared to the experiences of the harbour's professional dress-divers. His departures from reality are read as a science-fictionalisation of Sydney's submarine realm influenced by Jules Verne (1828–1905).' (Publication abstract)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Historical Studies vol. 50 no. 2 2019 16839290 2019 periodical issue

    'We are thrilled to present our second issue of Australian Historical Studies for 2019. Here we bring together a series of methodologically innovative and interdisciplinary pieces that explore seeing and hearing in history. The first article, by Andrew Hurley, explores the nexus between hearing and emotion in the history of Australian exploration. Where scholars have hitherto posited silence and emptiness as key parts of explorer narratives (parts that did clear colonial work), Hurley tells a more complicated story about one very keen listener’s multivalent engagement with the Australian outback. Ludwig Leichhardt’s detailed diaries suggest an only partly recorded, but very rich engagement with soundscapes in Australia.' (Lisa Ford and David A. Roberts, History in Sight and Sound, editorial introduction)

         2019     pg. 212-234
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Last amended 20 Jun 2019 10:16:57
212-234 Alien Harbour : Frank Hurley, Jules Verne, and the Early Dress-divers of Underwater Sydneysmall AustLit logo Australian Historical Studies
Subjects:
  • Sydney Harbour, Sydney, New South Wales,
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