Promotional landscapes: D.L. Mundy's 'Photographic experiences in New Zealand': Tuhinga 20

Tuhinga 20: 67 - 80

ABSTRACT: In December 1874, the British journal the Photographic News published ‘Photographic experiences in New Zealand’ by Daniel Louis Mundy (1826/27–81). The article (which was read before the Photographic Society of Great Britain) described the time Mundy spent taking photographs in New Zealand during the 1860s. As an important account of early landscape photographic practice in New Zealand, the article enables a unique insight into Mundy’s method as a photographer and the rationale behind some of the photographs he took. The project, and  subsequent exhibitions and publications, gained Mundy scientific honours but very little artistic or financial reward. This paper looks at the context the article gave Mundy’s photographs and the work he did to promote and publish them in London in 1874 and 1875.

KEYWORDS: Daniel Louis Mundy, colonial photography, Julius von Haast, Ferdinand von Hochstetter, James Hector, Colonial Museum, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Canterbury Museum, New Zealand.