1 George Alexander: "On Photo-Discourse" in Art and Text -No.5, 1982, page 84.

2 Conventional photographic processes have long been electronically controlled and monitored in the interests of automation, rationalization, and quality improvement. More recently, the penetration of electronics into photography has ceased to be a question of variations and optimization's of conventional processes: rather, it now concerns fundamental changes in all areas of production, distribution and reception of technically produced pictures. Photographic images can be digitalised and manipulated virtually at will, just like any other form of data. This applies both to electronically generated photographs and to conventional, chemically-mechanically produced photographs.The colour, contrast, sharpness and resolution of digitalised pictures can already be extensively influenced at this point in time.One can also accommodate a single picture to the requirements or conventions of a variety of media. With the aid of state of the art software and purpose built graphics computers one can now totally control the pictorial content of a photograph including deletion of parts of the picture or addition of elements that were not present in the frame when the initial picture was taken. Electronic re-touching is truly invisible in the end product.

3 I refer to equipment which is already available for purchase such as the Kodak professional digital camera system ( described in the Australian Macintosh Business Management Journal 'Macnews' Issue 26, June 1991, page 26), as well as the huge array of similar but improved devices still awaiting commercial release at the time of writing such as the Rollei digital image back for the 6008 6x6 cm camera system. It's colour scanning ability is, according to Kayell, Rollei's Australian representative , capable of differentiating between 16.5 million hues . The Kodak international specialist in this area is Michael Coles (02) 870 4420 is his direct number. * Authors note: this text was written and published in 1991 . It appears here in it's original form and thus a number of references seem now rather outdated. A second edition is presently in the writing stage.

4 Manning Clark in the foreword to Ann Atkinson's (Ed.) Fixed in time, Photographs from another Australia, Daniel O'Keefe Publishing, Drummoine, N.S.W. 1985

5 Bill Nichols Ideology and the Image, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1981, page 57

6 The earliest account which links the past and present in a continuous sequence begins with Polybius' Histories the mammoth forty book account of the Hellenistic period ["the starting point for my treatise will be the 140th Olympiad (220-216 B.C.)]. Polybius defined his work as a 'pragmateia' (a practical treatise or guide) to set it apart from the aim of other contemporary historians who aimed at 'terpsis' (enjoyment). His work was 'pragmatike' (realistic and rational) and aimed at providing 'öpheleia' (useful advice), see Peter Green Alexander to Actium: The Helenistic Age Thames and Hudson, London, 1990, page 269.

7 Various writers have made major or minor contributions towards such an account but as yet there are many, often significant, gaps. According to Jenny Mather's article 'Australian woman photographers research project' in Art Network , Issue No. 2 , Spring 1980, page 12: "Australia's photographic history has been very poorly documented. American photographic history and illustrated books outnumber Australian photographic books almost 30 to 1". Anne Marie Willis suggests that the three most common approaches to writing a photographic history are based on a concentration on 'great photographers', a concentration on photography as technology and the treatment of photographs as documents with self-evident meanings. Anne Marie Willis, Picturing Australia, pp.1-2.

8 While some reference to the depiction of the Australian aborigines will be made in this chapter, a separate chapter(chapter 2) is dedicated specifically to the debate of issues arising from the photographic depiction of Australian natives.