“…every photograph reveals and conceals. And one thing I have learned, even with photographs, is that people still see only what they believe”

Endurance is the first novel by Australian lawyer, arbitrator and author, Tim Griffiths. James Francis "Frank" Hurley was an Australian photographer and adventurer. He participated in a number of expeditions to Antarctica and served as an official photographer with Australian forces during both world wars. Griffiths recounts, in the first person, the major events of Hurley’s life from age thirteen until his mid-thirties. From early in his photographic career, Hurley displayed a sense of daring, a sense of adventure. It was a career that took him to extremes: from the icy wastes of Antarctica to the soggy trenches of Ypres to the deserts of Egypt and Palestine.

Griffiths really gives the reader a sense of Frank Hurley, the man, and the photographer’s perspective of exploration and war is expertly conveyed: “I wanted people, wives and sweethearts, whoever, and whatever they believed, to see what the world contained and I wanted to be the one to create that vivid picture….. the image endures beyond the events we witness and the lives of all witnesses” and “My sense is that God has lost sight of us; we are faraway objects, as if seen backwards through a camera lens. Even the sun shrinks, diffuses and splits in two, then three suns, which my naked eye gazes on, each sun linked by a halo as depicted in picture books of the holy saints” are two examples.

The depth of research that Griffiths has done is apparent in the extensive amount of detail woven through the story. Who, except for one who has been there, would consider the practicalities of a diet inducing diarrhoea when travelling in a lifeboat in subzero temperatures? Hurley’s reaction to his own appearance after rescue from Elephant Island: “Most unnerving was a large vanity mirror. Who was the frightening, dishevelled man that stared back so suspiciously? I inspected my appearance closely, then ran a hot bath and removed the clothing I had worn for a year. Applying a sharp razor, I rediscovered my face beneath tangled hair and a matted beard.”

A few maps and some of Hurley’s evocative photographs would certainly have enhanced the text. While “gripping, white-knuckle novel” is perhaps an exaggeration, this is certainly an interesting and informative read. The mix of fact and fiction forms a very readable account of the life of this legendary Australian, and it is an outstanding debut novel.
With thanks to TheReadingRoom and Allen&Unwin for this copy to read and review.