Like nearly all landscape photographers, as a child I loved nature and exploring the outdoors. I wanted to be a capable bushman and naturalist, and from a young age photography was a part of that exploration.
Not yet a teenager, the first photography book I ever owned, The World of Olegas Truchanas, showed how photographers could explore the largely untouched and unknown wilderness to promote a commitment to value and protect the natural world.
There is a legacy of Tasmanian wilderness photographers that has greatly influenced me and many Australian photographers. Few are better known to the general public than Peter Dombrovskis and his image Morning Mist at Island Bend, which was so influential in the campaign to save the Franklin River (below).
I will not attempt to document this rich history here but instead discuss two books that have inspired my passion for nature photography - when I was just starting out and more recently as I have re-engaged with photography. In this post I will review a book from 1975, and in the next post discuss a book from 2022.
The World of Olegas Truchanas was published in 1975 by a self-established committee three years after Olegas’ tragic death in the Gordon River Gorge. The book was a great success with the first edition of 5,000 copies and the eight subsequent editions selling out.
The first part of the book is a biography of the life of Olegas. The second part contains 44 colour plates of the Tasmanian wilderness. There are some remarkable images, particularly of the now drowned Lake Pedder, although as stand-alone images many suffer issues with the quality of the image and/or printing.
But to quibble over the quality of the images (especially nearly 50 years later) is to miss the point of the book. This is the story of a Lithuanian immigrant who would disappear into the wilderness alone, emerging with photographs that captivated audiences and inspired a movement to protect these precious places.
Born in 1923, Olegas arrived in Tasmania in 1948 having fought in the resistance during World War 2 and escaped his native Lithuania as it became a Soviet State in 1940. Having experience climbing and photographing in the Bavarian Alps, he was drawn to the remote wilderness of South-West Tasmania.
Typical of his approach to exploring the wilderness, in 1952 Olegas decided to climb Federation Peak alone (it was only first summitted in 1949) – and do it alone. With a 70 pound pack, he took 28 (!) days to summit and return through the dense vegetation of Tasmania’s untracked wilderness.
Then in 1954 Olegas made his first attempt to paddle the Gordon River from Lake Pedder to Macquarie Harbour. This solo attempt failed as rising water swept him over a waterfall, jamming his canoe mid-stream and required a five day walk out to safety. Three years later he become the first person to successfully negotiate the Gordon split, taking photographs and detailed notes for future trips.
For ten years Olegas enjoyed a growing reputation as explorer and photographer as he shared his experiences to anyone interested in learning about the Tasmanian wilderness.
“What they call the empty quarter, and I know to be filled with some of the world’s most spectacular scenery.”
Then in 1967, disaster. On 7 February a fire swept through south-eastern Tasmania, killing 62 people and destroying 1,500 houses including Olegas’ – along with all his hard-earnt photographs. And that same year the government announced a hydro-electricity scheme for the Gordon River that would flood Lake Pedder and its famous two-mile beach.
With great urgency, over five years Olegas set about re-photographing the wilderness and telling people about what they would be losing.
“Is there any reason why Tasmania should not be more beautiful on the day we leave it, than on the day we came? … If we can revise our attitudes towards the land under our feet; if we can accept a role of steward and depart from the role of the conqueror, if we can accept that man and nature are inseparable parts of the unified whole, then Tasmania can be a shining beacon in a dull, uniform and largely artificial world.”
Olegas Truchanas, 19 November 1971 at the opening of an exhibition themed on Lake Pedder
He actively campaigned to protect some of the landscape that the development would make more accessible for timber harvesting (including the Huon Pine Scenic Reserve on the Denison River that now bears his name). He was a council member for the Australian Conservation Foundation. But to no avail, after a long campaign, the government completed the three dams that inundated Lake Pedder in 1972.
Although this campaign was lost, the attention of the world had been focussed on the South-West wilderness and the risk of development on the Lower Gordon and Franklin Rivers made clear, setting the stage for future battles. Olegas was a key figure in building a strong community of conservationists throughout Tasmania (including being friend and one time mentor to Peter Dombrovskis) and establishing the importance of photography as a way to bring awareness to the general public of what was out there, and what was at risk of being lost.
But these battles were not for Olegas – on the 6 January 1972, he drowned in the Gordon River, perished in the river he fought to save.
In my next post, I will discuss another Tasmanian photographer whose deep connection and understanding of wilderness is reflected in his recent book that brilliantly captures the beauty and savagery of the Tasmanian wilderness.
What a tragic story! But still, thank you sharing!