Peter Dombrovskis
Encyclopedia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n photographer, most notably of Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
n scenes. In 2003 he was the only Australian photographer inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame.
Dombrovskis was born in a refugee camp in Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
of Latvian parents. The protége of noted wildlife photographer and activist Olegas Truchanas
Olegas Truchanas
Olegas Truchanas was a Lithuanian-Australian conservationist and nature photographer.He was a key figure in the attempt to stop the damming of the ecologically sensitive Lake Pedder in South West Tasmania by the Hydro Electricity Commission...
, his photographs of the Tasmanian Wilderness
Tasmanian Wilderness
The Tasmanian Wilderness is a term that is used for a range of areas in Tasmania, Australia.The World Heritage Areas in South West, Western and Central are the most well known. However, there are also other areas in Tasmania that have the elements of being known as wilderness areas, the Tarkine...
— particularly in the annual Wilderness Society calendar—brought images of once remote and inaccessible areas of the State into the public realm. Dombrovskis founded West Wind Press in 1977 and later went on to print calendars entirely of his own work featuring incisive commentary from pre-eminent environmental professionals.
His most famous photograph was Morning Mist, Rock Island Bend, Franklin River, which some commentators believe played a part in the victory for Bob Hawke
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
in the 1983 federal election. The photograph portrayed a section of the Franklin River
Franklin River
The Franklin River lies in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park at the mid northern area of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Its source is situated at the western edge of the Central Highlands and it continues west towards the West Coast of Tasmania...
which was to be submerged by the proposed Franklin Dam
Franklin Dam
The Franklin Dam or Gordon-below-Franklin Dam project was a proposed dam on the Gordon River in Tasmania, Australia, that was never constructed. The movement that eventually led to the project's cancellation became one of most significant environmental campaigns in Australian history.The dam was...
and spearheaded the visual appeal of the Franklin River in the contentious 'No Dams' campaign of 1982. Dombrovskis later co-authored with Dr. Bob Brown
Bob Brown
Robert James Brown is an Australian senator, the inaugural Parliamentary Leader of the Australian Greens and was the first openly gay member of the Parliament of Australia...
a splendid example of his skill in photographing the Gordon River
Gordon River
The Gordon River is one of the major rivers of Tasmania, Australia. It rises in the centre of the island at Lake Richmond and flows westward for about 193km where it empties into Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast of Tasmania. Major tributaries include the Serpentine River and the Franklin...
and the Franklin River in his book, 'Wild Rivers' of 1983.
On 28 March 1996, Dombrovskis died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
while photographing near Mount Hayes in the Western Arthurs mountain range of South West Tasmania
South West Wilderness, Tasmania
The South West Wilderness of Tasmania, Australia is a remote and inaccessible corner of the island state containing unspoilt scenery, rugged peaks, wild rivers, unique flora and fauna, and a long and rugged coastline...
.
His works are represented at the National Gallery of Victoria, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the Australian Heritage Commission and in private collections.
External links
- http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an24314453Dombrovskis collection of Tasmanian wilderness photographs, 1978-1995, National Library of AustraliaNational Library of AustraliaThe National Library of Australia is the largest reference library of Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the...
, CanberraCanberraCanberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
], a collection of 21 colour photographs - Gallery of photos by Truchanas and Dombrovskis
- International Photography Hall of Fame inductees
- Australian Broadcasting Corporations Big Ideas - The Terry Lane Interviews - That Photograph, radio documentary about the political impact of the photograph in this article