Australian Responses to the Indian Famine, 1876–78: Sympathy, Photography and the British Empire

Abstract

This article analyses Australian efforts on behalf of victims of the 1876Á8 Indian famine as complex articulations of colonial identity and loyalty in the British imperial world.Focused on the Victorian Famine Relief Fund, which made extensive use of vivid photographic images of sufferers, the article also examines the public campaigns on behalf of Indian famine victims in other colonial cities and towns. It suggests that the language of filial duty most commonly associated with later military commitments had a humanitarian pedigree, and that the settler colonial ability to express empathy for nonwhite British subjects was enhanced by the capacity to see photographic images of them. Despite their promise of drawing the viewer closer to witnessing suffering, photographs of famine victims served rather to emphasise the distance between the viewer and the viewed, in ways that were productive for the fund-raising effort.

Material Perspectives on Religion, Conflict, and Violence

“…In this context it might not come as a surprise that towards the end of the 19th century, photographs of suffering of non-westerners to raise empathy among communities in 'the West' at an organized level first appeared in the context of Christian missionaries and organizations. The Indian famines of the 1870s and 1890s were brought to mostly Christian European, American, and Australian audiences through photographs (Twomey 2012). Heather Curtis (2012; shows how photographs of this famine were abundantly spread among American evangelicals.…”

“…Since these technologies developed greatly in the 20th and 21st centuries, photographic imageries have been used to display harm, suffering, and atrocities, but also to suggest conflict-positions using binary models of innocent victims versus violent perpetrators. Christian missionaries and organizations have been at the cradle of -what is called -'humanitarian photography' (Twomey 2012(Twomey , 2015Stornig 2018).…”

What’s in That Picture?

“…In this context it might not come as a surprise that towards the end of the 19th century, photographs of suffering of non-westerners to raise empathy among communities in 'the West' at an organized level first appeared in the context of Christian missionaries and organizations. The Indian famines of the 1870s and 1890s were brought to mostly Christian European, American, and Australian audiences through photographs (Twomey 2012). Heather Curtis (2012; shows how photographs of this famine were abundantly spread among American evangelicals.…”

“…Since these technologies developed greatly in the 20th and 21st centuries, photographic imageries have been used to display harm, suffering, and atrocities, but also to suggest conflict-positions using binary models of innocent victims versus violent perpetrators. Christian missionaries and organizations have been at the cradle of -what is called -'humanitarian photography' (Twomey 2012(Twomey , 2015Stornig 2018).…”