The 'camping album' by Max Dupain and Olive Cotton, 1937

Taken around 1937 by the photographer Max Dupain (1911–1992), the Sunbaker entered Australia’s consciousness in the mid-1970s to rapidly become a symbol of the country’s identity and way of life. The 'camping album' or 'Vandyke album' is of exceptional importance in Australia's photographic history as it gives context to Australia's most iconic photograph. The photograph of Harold Salvage, a British builder who was part of a group of friends on a surfing trip, has indeed been described as ‘perhaps the most famous and admired photograph in Australia’ (The Age, 13 December 2004) and ‘probably the most widely recognised Australian photograph’ (Highlights, Monash Gallery of Art, 2010).

Dupain's preferred version of the Sunbaker had Harold Savage's hands clasped, but the sole surviving print of this version is in this album. The image in the album did not appear until Max Dupain’s first monograph was published in 1948, after this, the negative was lost. In the 1970s, Max printed a second version of the Sunbaker with Savage's hands unclasped and it was this version which went on to become one of Australia's most iconic images.

www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/boy-oh-boy-max-dupain-library