Photographing a Sunburnt Country: A Study of Thomas Ashby’s Australian Series

In a quiet corner of the British School at Rome’s photographic archives, the story of Thomas Ashby’s remarkable voyage to Australia in 1914 lay hidden for nearly a century. At that time, he was the BSR’s Director, and, after he died in 1931, a series of his unlabelled photographs was passed on to the School. Establishing the context for each of its 61 images has extended our understanding of Ashby, his time in Australia- and his work well beyond Rome and the Mediterranean. The series brings into view the global history of the BSR and its earliest efforts to develop international academic networks.