Trophies

Trophies

End of Year Trophies: Who do they honour?

Each year trophies are awarded to the winners in several categories. Many of these awards are named in honour of past members who have rendered outstanding service to our club. The question is often asked “Who were these people?” Here are brief biographies of some of them.

Index

The Ian Bock “Photography is Fun” Trophy

Charles du Rieu Trophy

L.P. Mullumby Trophy

Grace Lock Trophy

Edward Rotherham Trophy

Crosbie Morrison Trophy

Norton Hobson Trophy

The Queenie Gatt Trophy

Trophies

The Ian Bock “Photography is Fun” Trophy – a Trophy that considers all End of Year competition entries.

This Trophy celebrates the very significant contributions that Ian Bock has made to the Melbourne Camera Club. For over 40 years Ian has composed, prepared and exhibited fantastically creative photographic images. He has stirred-up the creative juices in many of his fellow members.

This Trophy does not require special entries – it is judged from all the images (but excluding audiovisuals) submitted to the MCC End of Year Competitions.

The criteria for selection of a winner:

  1. the Trophy is for an image in any photographic medium, and
  2. in the judge’s opinion it is consider that;
  3. the image was fun to compose or capture, and/or
  4. the final image was fun to develop/process/prepare/present, and/or
  5. the image is fun to look at.

This Trophy is in two parts:

  • the first piece (the brass key) is passed on to the next winner
  • the second piece (the brass key tag) the winner keeps as their own.

At the next End of Year Social, when the brass key part is passed on to the next recipient, the previous winner is asked to share their thoughts on what aspect of their photography was fun for them in the previous 12 months – ie what was their “key to photography being fun” – a perpetual gift to all MCC photographers!

The Trophy was first awarded in 2006 to Maggie Smith.

  • 2006 – Maggie Smith
  • 2019 – John Parkinson – Bridgewater Bay

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Charles du Rieu

Charles joined the club about 1901 and was active until the late 1920s. He served as secretary for several years, was vice-president from 1910 to 1921 and president from 1922 to 1924. He was a club delegate to the Victorian Photographic Association. Charles was in fact our first democratically elected president, as from the inception in 1891 it was the custom to invite the director of the Working Men’s College to accept the position.

Charles spent his working life in photography, first with T. Baker and Co which became Baker and Rouse, and finally Kodak (Australasia), where he became the manager of the photographic mounts department. Not surprisingly he was in demand for talks on mounting photographs but his main interest was in lantern slides. When the trophy was instituted in 1931 it was associated with an essay competition but this was later dropped.
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L.P. Mullumby (d. 1960)

Leonard (Len) Mullumby came to Melbourne from Perth in 1951. He was one of the first to adopt modernism, the new contemporary style of photography. Always an individualist, he found himself in conflict with the pictorialists. Len was a forceful advocate of human interest subjects. It is believed that he introduced the concept of the flush mounted 16 by 20 inch glossy print which became a hallmark of our club and was adopted by many exhibitors throughout Australia.

Len was in demand as lecturer and judge and from its inception was closely associated with the Melbourne International Exhibition of Photography run by our club. He was an outstanding amateur who turned professional and he achieved considerable success both here and overseas. Len was awarded the distinctions ARPS and AFIAP. He was active in club affairs, being president in 1959. Len died in tragic circumstances when at the height of his career.
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Grace Lock (1902 – 1995)

Grace took up photography rather late in life and soon became well-known in exhibition circles. She was a woman of strong views and a forceful personality. She was a tireless advocate for amateur photography in the Australian Photographic Society, the Royal Photographic Society and the Leica Society as well as in our own club. For many years she was the custodian of the APS permanent collection of prints which she built up to be one of the most important collections in the country. She was active in club affairs and was president in 1964

Grace became one of the most highly honoured Australian photographers. Included in her many awards were the prestigious Honorary FRPS, EFIAP, ESFIAP, and the APS Commonwealth Medal. She was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to photography.
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Edward (Ted) Rotherham (1923 – 2009)

Ted was trained as an industrial chemist but after serving in the AIF he turned to teaching. His several years as a country teacher gave him a love of nature and bushwalking. He took up photography as a hobby and this led him to take a position as lecturer with the photography department of RMIT where he worked until retirement in 1983. Ted specialized in natural history photography and was a member of the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria. He was the photographer and co-author of definitive books on Australian Flora including Flowers and Plants of Victoria, Flowers and Plants of NSW and Southern Queensland and Orchids of Australia. Another of Ted’s special interests was the photography of reptiles. For his folio of photographs of Australian snakes he was awarded the prestigious Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society.

Ted joined the Club in 1950. He was also a member of the Melbourne Camera Circle. His nature photographs were exhibited widely both in Australia and overseas, winning him many awards. As a nature judge Ted was in demand for club, national and international exhibitions. In addition to FRPS his photographic honours included EFIAP and APSA. Ted served for several years on our Club Council and was President in 1958.
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Crosbie Morrison (1900 – 1958)

Philip Crosbie Morrision had a lifelong interest in natural history and a passionate concern for the environment and the preservation of National Parks that was ahead of its time. After post-graduate work on the Great Barrier Reef for a Master of Science degree he took a job with The Argus newspaper covering a variety of fields including parliament, sport, music and even shipping news. With a style described as ‘crisp exactitude’ his polished prose was a model of clarity and precision. His position as a writer on a daily newspaper gave him the opportunity to publish articles on his favourite topic. As the author of hundreds of natural history articles he became well-known and highly respected. In 1930 he married Lucy Washington, a niece and assistant to professional photographer and club member Ruth Hollick.

Wide knowledge coupled with warmth, passion and an engaging speaking voice made him a popular speaker and radio broadcaster. He was an excellent photographer and an enthusiast for 35mm at a time when professionals regarded the miniature camera as little more than a toy. He became a skilful cinematographer and was in demand for public lectures illustrated with his 16mm Kodachrome films.

In 1938 he left The Argus to found and edit the magazine Wildlife, which, although highly regarded, was never a financial success. After it ceased publication in 1954 he returned to journalism.

It seems that Crosbie Morrison was never a member of the Club. He was, however, a good friend, always happy to give talks and to judge the nature sections of club, national and international exhibitions.

Australian Dictionary of Biography
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Norton Hobson (1923 – 1998)

Norton served in the RAAF during WW2 as a radar technician and on return to civilian life he attained the degree of Master of Science (zoology and biology) and the Diploma of Education. He joined the staff of Melbourne High School in 1957 eventually becoming head of the science department.

Norton joined the Melbourne Camera Club in 1961. He served on Council for several years and was President in 1964, 1966 and 1972. Norton was heavily involved in the running of the club. While president he was responsible for the organization of two of the Melbourne International Exhibitions and of the move from the Queen Street premises to Lygon Street. Norton was a brilliant teacher. He loved a good argument, drawing on his vast knowledge of science and the arts to support his case. Over many years his lectures in the Introduction to Photography Course were models of clarity and precision. His technical knowledge, practical experience and teaching skills combined with a deep knowledge of photographic art made him an outstanding judge.
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The Queenie Gatt Trophy

The Queenie Gatt Trophy is a perpetual trophy that is being awarded by Charles Gatt in memory of his late mother Queenie Gatt. It is intended to honour MCC members for their non-photographic work in support of the Club.

The procedure for choosing who to award the trophy to is as follows:

  1. The Board calls for nominations
  2. Any Club member can put forward a nomination to the Board
  3. After the close of nominations, each Board member informs the President who their chosen candidate is
  4. The President counts the votes and informs the Gatt family of the Board’s choice
  5. The Gatt family has the last call on who to give the award to, but usually follows the choice of the Board
  6. A plaque with the name of the winner and the year of the award is then made and attached to the trophy

The award winner receives the trophy, to be returned in time for the next trophy holder to receive it, and a medal, which is for him/her to keep.
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