Australian News Photography and Contested Images of Famine in Indonesian-occupied East Timor
The Indonesian invasion of East Timor in December 1975 and subsequent military operations to suppress the East Timorese resistance led to widespread displacement and famine in 1977–79. With Indonesia restricting access to East Timor during the operations, a set of photographs of famine-afflicted chi...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Taylor & Francis
2023
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| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/SR200201031 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90743 |
| _version_ | 1848765415358988288 |
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| author | Hearman, Vannessa |
| author_facet | Hearman, Vannessa |
| author_sort | Hearman, Vannessa |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The Indonesian invasion of East Timor in December 1975 and subsequent military operations to suppress the East Timorese resistance led to widespread displacement and famine in 1977–79. With Indonesia restricting access to East Timor during the operations, a set of photographs of famine-afflicted children, taken by Australian journalist, Peter Rodgers and published in metropolitan daily newspapers in Melbourne and Sydney in November 1979 triggered renewed debate about conditions in the territory. This article traces the production and circulation of the photographs by a range of image brokers, those working in the media and those campaigning for East Timor’s independence. The Rodgers photographs are now recognised as iconic and foundational in the collection of images used in the independence campaign. However, the history of the Rodgers photographs and the discourses that developed around them demonstrate the multiple interpretations and problems that arise in representations of famine through photographs. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:34:53Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-90743 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:34:53Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-907432024-11-12T02:41:14Z Australian News Photography and Contested Images of Famine in Indonesian-occupied East Timor Hearman, Vannessa The Indonesian invasion of East Timor in December 1975 and subsequent military operations to suppress the East Timorese resistance led to widespread displacement and famine in 1977–79. With Indonesia restricting access to East Timor during the operations, a set of photographs of famine-afflicted children, taken by Australian journalist, Peter Rodgers and published in metropolitan daily newspapers in Melbourne and Sydney in November 1979 triggered renewed debate about conditions in the territory. This article traces the production and circulation of the photographs by a range of image brokers, those working in the media and those campaigning for East Timor’s independence. The Rodgers photographs are now recognised as iconic and foundational in the collection of images used in the independence campaign. However, the history of the Rodgers photographs and the discourses that developed around them demonstrate the multiple interpretations and problems that arise in representations of famine through photographs. 2023 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90743 10.1080/1031461X.2023.2189275 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/SR200201031 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Taylor & Francis fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Hearman, Vannessa Australian News Photography and Contested Images of Famine in Indonesian-occupied East Timor |
| title | Australian News Photography and Contested Images of Famine in Indonesian-occupied East Timor |
| title_full | Australian News Photography and Contested Images of Famine in Indonesian-occupied East Timor |
| title_fullStr | Australian News Photography and Contested Images of Famine in Indonesian-occupied East Timor |
| title_full_unstemmed | Australian News Photography and Contested Images of Famine in Indonesian-occupied East Timor |
| title_short | Australian News Photography and Contested Images of Famine in Indonesian-occupied East Timor |
| title_sort | australian news photography and contested images of famine in indonesian-occupied east timor |
| url | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/SR200201031 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90743 |