Great Australian photographs: Migrants by David Moore – an audio essay

David Moore’s work Photograph: David Moore/courtesy of Lisa, Michael, Matthew and Joshua Moore

Click on the audio buttons to hear conversations between Guardian Australia picture editor Jonny Weeks, Guardian Australia photographer Mike Bowers, senior curator of photography at the National Gallery of Australia Shaune Lakin, and the curator at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, Pippa Milne.

Audio 1

Audio 1

‘Migrants arriving in Sydney, 1966’ Photograph: David Moore/courtesy of Lisa, Michael, Matthew and Joshua Moore

• ‘Migrants arriving in Sydney, 1966’ by David Moore (image courtesy of Lisa, Michael, Matthew and Joshua Moore: www.davidmoorephotography.com.au )
  

It was a time when Australia reached out to the rest of the world to populate or perish

Mike Bowers

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Audio 2

Audio 2

The black and white version of ‘Migrants arriving in Sydney, 1966’ Photograph: David Moore/courtesy of Lisa, Michael, Matthew and Joshua Moore

• The black and white version of ‘Migrants arriving in Sydney, 1966’ by David Moore

A black and white print taken from a colour negative is never really a great black and white print

Shaune Lakin

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Audio 3

Audio 3

Redfern interior, 1949 Photograph: David Moore/courtesy of Lisa, Michael, Matthew and Joshua Moore

• Redfern interior, 1949

I feel that this photograph is imbued with so much compassion – it's one of the great things about David Moore

Shaune Lakin

Redfern Boy, 1948 Photograph: David Moore/courtesy of Lisa, Michael, Matthew and Joshua Moore

Surry Hills Boy, 1948 Photograph: David Moore/courtesy of Lisa, Michael, Matthew and Joshua Moore

Steelworks, Newcastle, NSW, 1966 Photograph: David Moore/courtesy of Lisa, Michael, Matthew and Joshua Moore

• (above) Redfern Boy, 1948; Surry Hills Boy, 1948; Steelworks, Newcastle, NSW, 1966; (below) Sisters of Charity, Washington DC, 1956; Western Distributor, Multiple 6, 1979.
  

Sisters of Charity, Washington D.C., 1956 Photograph: David Moore/courtesy of Lisa, Michael, Matthew and Joshua Moore

Western Distributor, Multiple 6, 1979 Photograph: David Moore/courtesy of Lisa, Michael, Matthew and Joshua Moore

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Audio 4

Audio 4

President Johnson and Prime Minister Holt at Canberra Airport, 1966 Photograph: David Moore/courtesy of Lisa, Michael, Matthew and Joshua Moore

• (above) President Johnson and Prime Minister Holt at Canberra Airport, 1966

It came to represent that era of our subservience to America

Mike Bowers

• (below) Tony Abbott, then leader of the opposition, at Parliament House in Canberra on 30 May 2013, by Mike Bowers; one of the viral memes made using Alex Ellinghausen’s image of Peter Dutton in 2016

Tony Abbott, then leader of the opposition, at Parliament House in Canberra on 30 May 2013 Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian

One of the viral memes made using Alex Ellinghausen’s image of Peter Dutton in 2016

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Audio 5

Audio 5

An image from The Unseen Road To Asylum by Barat Ali Batoor Photograph: Barat Ali Batoor

• (above) An image from The Unseen Road To Asylum by Barat Ali Batoor; (below) Welcome to Australia 2004 by Rosemary Laing
  

Welcome to Australia 2004 Photograph: Rosemary Laing/Tolarno Gallery