JEWEL IN THE CROWN PORTFOLIO

Unique   Magnetic  Island  photographic  retrospective 

Aspects  of    island   life  off Townsville -  its  nature, architecture and    people-were  recently on  display  by   Vandanha .

A passionate supporter of the  island  ,  Vandhana ,  below,  moved   there  from  Melbourne in 1997 . Her  photographs were used to  illustrate   a   book , Magnetic  Island - A sense of  place , which  included  community writing . 

A  person who featured in the book , soaking up th sun at Alma Bay, with  her philosopher husband, John, was  the   author, historian, anthropologist  and  academic,  the   late  Inga  Clendinnen  ,  who  spent much  time  on  the  island , escaping  Melbourne  winters. 

She was  an expert on  Aztec civilisation and pre Columbian ritual human sacrifice ; wrote about the Holocaust and  the  first contact between  Aborigines and  white explorers.   

The exhibition of 200  sepia and colour photographs ,covering  from  1998 to 2004 , was held  in the   Amaroo Conference Room  on the  island .Somehow , this   exhibition  was  missed  by   mainland  media . 

Buildings of  importance  demolished  over  the  years were  included  in the  section below .

The  wide scope of  the  collection  covered   frogs ,  a  death  adder,  Curlews , flora.  There  were  interesting   photographs  of   Aboriginal    residents. 

UPCOMING : Secrets of Olympus-with photos.