Excerpts from Chapter 1
Nearly 100 women, mostly Aboriginal, are playing bingo on a Wednesday night in the lounge of a hotel in Dubbo, the rural economic hub of central New South Wales. “Spot the white ones,” Mervyn Bishop whispers to me with a mischievous chuckle. He is tickled by the irony that Australian country pubs and clubs that once excluded Black customers like Mervyn have become dependent on them for their survival...
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​Cities grow and redevelop; once familiar roads are re-routed and childhood landmarks are knocked down. But the Australian bush that nurtured Mervyn is eternal. It can be so quiet that all you can hear is your own breathing. A dome of blue hanging over a 360-degree horizon. It is a landscape that forces you to examine your soul.
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Mervyn’s sister Cynthia recalled her grandmother would call her and her cousins into the Bourke Street house at dusk with a caution: “You little girls need to get inside. It’s getting dark. You don’t want to be out there when the welfare (man) comes.”...
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Neighbours and friends would come over to watch his little shows. He felt the first hint of power from photography and it played to his desire to entertain, to be a showman. “I was somebody. I suppose you would call me a flash Black.”
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ABOUT THE BOOK
This biography of one of Australia's treasured artists offers an intimate portrait of the struggles and triumphs of Mervyn Bishop, Australia's ground-breaking Indigenous photographer. Born in Brewarrina NSW in 1945, he used chance, charm and talent to join the staff of the Sydney Morning Herald at just 17. He won a top news photography award but never received the customary pay increase. Disillusioned, Bishop moved to Canberra as a government photographer and took the iconic photo of Gough Whitlam pouring earth into the hands of traditional owner Vincent Lingiari. He later returned to Sydney and was eventually befriended by the arts scene, leading to his first solo exhibition in 1991. But this victory was clouded by the death of his wife on the day of the opening. While often celebrated for chronicling the rising visibility of Indigenous Australians, Bishop is also proud of what he calls his "whitefella pictures". He carved his own path, deftly navigating the Black and White worlds of post-war Australia.
Hardback, 208 pages, offset printed on ivory silk paper for superior image reproduction and touch. Designed and typeset by Isambard Thomas.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tim Dobbyn is a former journalist who started at Australian Associated Press in 1981 before moving to the United States in 1987 to work for Reuters. After taking a break from daily journalism, he worked freelance jobs before starting work on the Mervyn Bishop biography in 2018. He and his family have known Bishop since 1962. He lives near Washington D.C. with his wife Sheila and two impossible dogs.
2024, Gerrit Fokkema
IN THE NEWS
Sydney's Channel 9 does a nice interview with Mervyn and the book gets a cameo appearance near the end.
Australian Rural & Regional News reviews the book, plus a bonus author interview.
Listen to Mervyn and the author talk about his photographs, his life experiences and more on ABC Radio National's "Speaking Out with Larissa Behrendt"
UPCOMING EVENTS
A conversation with Mervyn Bishop and Tim Dobbyn
Moderated by Catherine De Lorenzo
22 October - 6 p.m. for 6:30 p.m.
SOLD OUT
Gleebooks
49 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe NSW 2037, Australia
+ 61 2 9660 2333
CANBERRA WRITERS FESTIVAL
A conversation with Mervyn Bishop and Tim Dobbyn
Moderated by Brenda L. Croft
24 October - 6 p.m.
National Portrait Gallery
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Mervyn Bishop + Tim Dobbyn
with
Stephanie Armstrong OAM
7 November 6-7.30 p.m.
Avenue Bookstore, Elsternwick
351 Glen Huntly Rd, Elsternwick Vic 3185