Breaking Stereotypes – Mervyn Bishop: Close Up at the State Library NSW, Sydney

Sometimes it is really important to acknowledge the little people who, in their own quiet way, make a major impact.

Mervyn Bishop is just one of those unassuming people who pursued their passion and ended up smashing some stereotypes, and societal expectations.

Join me for a short retrospective stroll through Mervyn’s personal history and profound photographic portfolio…

What is Mervyn Bishop: Close Up?

• Mervyn Bishop was Australia’s first Aboriginal press photographer. While that doesn’t sound particularly earth-shattering in 2025, in 1962 it definitely was.
• Mervyn grew up in the small town of Brewarrina (approx. 765km north-west of Sydney) and had a passion for photography from a young age. When he was 17years of age, he moved from Brewarrina (population approximately 804 people) to Sydney (population approximately 2.23million people) to turn his passion into a profession. He was the first Aboriginal cadet photographer in Australia, commencing both his 4-year cadetship with the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper and a photography certificate at Sydney Technical College.

• The exhibition celebrates Bishop’s career as a press photographer, including his presence at some of the most important moments in Australia’s political and social history.
• In October 2025, the State Library NSW acquired over 200,000 of Bishop’s images and these were added to the Library’s already extensive collection.

• This exhibition is a celebration of both photography and family. It includes his most famous images as well as gently highlighting the importance and impact of his family, and country on who he is today.
• His most famous photo would be of our then Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, pouring a handful of earth into the palm of traditional owner, Vincent Lingiari in 1975. It commemorates the handing back of Wave Hill Station in the Northern Territory to the Traditional Owners. This photo has achieved icon status as one of the most significant points in Australian and Indigenous Australian history.

• The exhibition highlights the impact and importance of Aboriginal people seeing and being seen. Some of the photos on display are just capturing simple family events, backyard parties, and having fun on the river, but they still have a quiet power.
• In the Year 2000, Bishop received the prestigious Red Ochre Award to acknowledge his lifetime of achievements.

Where Is It?

• 1 Shakespeare Place, Sydney – just on the edge of the CBD.
• The Exhibition is located on Level 1 in one of the Exhibition Galleries and adjacent to both the Amaze Gallery and Paintings from the Collection.

When to Visit?

• The Library is open seven days per week from 9am-8pm, with slightly shorter opening hours on weekends.
• The Exhibition is open until 17 February 2027.

Why Visit?

• As mentioned previously, this Exhibition has a quiet power. Many of the images are deeply personal – family gatherings, moments of relaxation – but they are moving all the same. They open your eyes to the lives of people who mostly weren’t on my radar as I grew up in rural NSW. We had very similar country, small-town lives, but were almost worlds apart with Australia’s social divide, as well as urban/rural divide. It makes you think.
• It, like many of the other exhibitions currently on show at the State Library NSW, provides a very clear snapshot of Australian society in the 1960’s and ‘70’s. Think of old cars, cat’s eye glasses, bouffant hair-do’s, wide ties, and flared jeans. Groovy baby!
• It has some excellent photographs which tell clear stories of life, and
• It’s free.

How to Get There?

• The easiest way to get to the State Library NSW is on foot.
• Alternatively, catch a taxi or bus, or the closest train station is at Martin Place.

Who Will Enjoy this Exhibition?

• Students of press photography and journalism will enjoy both the technical aspects of this exhibition and the social commentary.
• Australians may reflect on the pivotal moments in Australian history.
• Visitors may be interested in how Australia’s past was captured and portrayed. Not all of it was good.

General Comments:

• As soon as you walk into the Exhibition, you know this is going to be a very personal affair. The display is set up around a family lounge room complete with ‘open’ fire place, mantel piece and lounge chair. There is even an old Bakelite telephone which, when you pick up the handpiece, you can listen to recorded stories.
• There are family photos aplenty, including of Mervyn as a child and various family weddings, balls and old uncles in war uniforms. Perhaps you may wonder how these, often, happy snaps are relevant to the life of a professional photographer, but it does clearly show how he was supported, and shaped by his extended family.

This Exhibition is about both the photographer and the photographed, and it has a nice balance. Mervyn Bishop deserves to be recognised for his impressive career and his work deserves to be revisited so we remember where we have come from.

What do you think is the most important? What resonates with you? The professional photographs? Or the personal?

Phew! This is the last in my series covering my visit to the State Library NSW in late October 2025. There is certainly a lot into cram into a visit. Now, let’s go walking! 😊

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