Dimensions
154 x 234 x 25mm
Some of the most memorable images of the Second World War were recorded by legendary war photographer Damien Parer. His images from the Kokoda Trail shaped the way Australians saw the war in New Guinea and brought the anguished reality of war to an already shell-shocked nation.
'Kokoda Front Line', a documentary made using Parer's footage, was the first Australian film to receive an Academy Award.
In this biography, film historian Neil McDonald goes beyond the myths to portray the all-too-brief life of one of the greatest documentary filmmakers of the Second World War. It traces his work for the Department of Information (the body responsible for wartime propaganda) in the Middle East, Greece, New Guinea and finally to Guam and the island of Peleliu, where he was killed in September 1944.
There are vivid portraits of important contemporaries such as Max Dupain, Olive Cotton, Ron Maslyn Williams, George Silk, Chester Wilmot, Osmar White, and a moving account of Parer's romance with his wife of only a few months, Elizabeth Marie Cotter.
There is also plenty of private sources and Australian Archives - and previously unpublished photographs. Neil McDonald interviewed over a hundred of Parer's friends and the servicemen he filmed, travelling to America to uncover the story of the cameraman's time among the US Marine Corps during the landings on Guam and Peleliu.
This revised edition contains new insights into Parer's sudden death, as well as previously unpublished photos.
