Guide to the Wilfred Burchett Photographic Archive, 1940-1980
PIC/15827
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Created: 2018
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Burchett, Wilfred
- Title
- Wilfred Burchett Photographic Archive, 1950s - 1980s
- Date Range
- 1950s - 1980s
- Collection Number
- PIC/15827
- Extent
- 3 metres (20 MS boxes)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- Special Collections (Pictures)
Introduction
Content Description
The archive of journalist Wilfred Burchett spans 40 years of his career and consists of images taken by him, or by others using his equipment. It documents life in communist societies, including Vietnam during the 1960s. The archive also includes photographs taken in Laos, Cambodia, Korea, China, Russia, Algeria and Africa capturing siginificant political events in those countries, his relationships with prominent leaders such as Ho Chi Minh and Prince Norodom Sihanouk and also includes family photographs.
Conditions Governing Access
Access conditions may apply to this collection, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn6449149).
Conditions Governing Use
Conditions for copying and publishing of this collection may apply, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn6449149).
Content Advisory Notice
This collection contains material relating to various conflicts including Vietnam, Cambodia and other 20th Century conflicts that may be distressing. This includes graphic images of mutilation, violent acts, torture and human remains of adults and children.
Biographical / Historical
Wilfred Graham Burchett (16 September 1911-27 September 1983) was an Australian journalist known for his reporting of conflicts in Asia and his Communist sympathies.
Item Descriptions
Series. Miscellaneous Indochina articles, transcripts, maps and correspondence, 1966-1980s
Content advisory notice: This series contains graphic images of the Vietnam War which may be distressing. This includes images of adult and child human remains.
The C.I.A. and Nixon's Peace Plan, The Nixon Nightmare, The Nixon Plan and Indochina Realities, DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), Cambodia, US and Laos, nuclear weapons and Vietnam, 1966-1970s (File 1) - Box 1
Press cuttings, letters.
South Vietnamese National Front of Liberation, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, United States and Vietnam War, 1966-1970s (File 2) - Box 1
Press cuttings, letters.
Paris talks and Vietnam War, How the Korean War was settled, Bombing for Peace, Cambodia Independence Day 1970, Papering over the cracks in South Vietnam, De Gaulle and U.S. aggression in Indochina, 1966-1970s (File 3) - Box 1
Press cuttings, letters.
Roots of a War, Cambodia's Ordeal, President Reagan at Midterm - the National Security State, The capture of Phu My Hung Post, Forward - Catapult to Freedom, Footnotes - Hiroshima Today, 1960s-1980s (File 4) - Box 1
Content advisory notice: This file contains graphic images of the Vietnam War which may be distressing. This includes images of adult and child human remains.
Press cuttings, letters, 3 x colour photos (1 x in envelope with "Kom. Wilfred Burchett journalist - writer. Sofia. Bulgaria", 2 x in yellow envelope labelled "Misc").
Series. USSR and miscellaneous images, 1950s-1980s
Content advisory notice: This series contains graphic images of conflict in Cambodia which may be distressing. This includes images of torture, violent acts and human remains.
Danube Delta, Miscellaneous in Murmansk, Famille & autre, Bertrand Russell trial, Sartre, 1960s-1970s (File 6) - Box 2
Black and white prints, negatives.
Famille - Portugal and others, Algeria, Cairo, Egypt, 1960s-1970s (File 7) - Box 14
Black and white negatives and colour negatives.
USSR, Hungary, 'Le Figaro' - includes Burchett in Vietnam(?), Sariwon chicken factory, Comrade Wilfrid Burchett, Hotel "Dan Chu" avec les amities de Pham Huy Thong 4/1977, Egypt - Cairo, Peter - Peking, 1960s-1970s (File 8) - Box 2
Black and white prints.
Bandung 1955, Comrade W. Burchett, assorted business cards ; Burchett's press pass to United Nations dated 11 Dec 1968, Dormobile trip, Singles, personalities, women, 1950s-1960s (File 9) - Box 2
Black and white prints, contact sheets.
Comrade W. Burchett, Portugal, May Day, VC propaganda photos, 1960s? (File 10) - Box 14
Black and white negatives, contact sheet.
Burchette - 40F', 'Burchette - 288' - Vietnam?, 'Documents of the United NLF-groups in Sweden' booklet, Wilfred, Mao, Kruschev?, Wilfred avec Chefs d'Blat, Grand Pere George, 1960s (File 11) - Box 3
Black and white prints.
Wilfred avec Chefs d'Blat, Corsica contacts - Smith, Roerbach, 1960s-1980s (File 12) - Box 3
Black and white prints.
USSR - Come East Young Man, Titon family, Roberti and Burchett, Ms Thy, Ban a Phi, UUFO, Mr George Burchett presenting Yuri Gagarin with a boomerang on behalf of Australian peace workers, 1960s-1980s (File 13) - Box 3
Black and white prints, negatives.
Sihanouk, Phnom Penh, Chou en Lai, Corsica, Corse, K2, Kampuchea road people, POW exchange, Cambodian road people, beginning new life, elections Phnom Penh, 1980s? (File 14) - Box 14
Content advisory notice: This file contains graphic images of conflict in Cambodia which may be distressing. This includes images of violent acts and human remains.
Colour slides.
Cambodia 1980 - life returns Phnom Penh, PP victim photos, river fishing, big fish, two men, on the road, killing fields, Driver Phuong, Cambodia kids, WB [dance?] performance, peasants in fields, torture chambers, Phnom Penh, Cambodia/Vietnam border 1978? 1980? Girl with scar, Cambodia-Vietnam Border, Phi Lai, Tam Buu, 1980 (File 15) - Box 14
Content advisory notice: This file contains graphic images of conflict in Cambodia which may be distressing. This includes images of torture, violent acts and human remains.
Colour slides.
Series. China, 1960s-1970s
Tachai housing, Yangtze Gorges, PLA - earth moving trucks, Harbin handicrafts, Yangtze - captain - Burchett and gorges, boats, Tachai personalities, Something from nothing, village, min. lost portraits, Peking, street committee, Taching drillers and wheat, women, well, watchers, 1973 (File 16) - Box 14
Black and white negatives.
Tachai housing, Yangtze Gorges, PLA - earth moving trucks, Harbin handicrafts, Yangtze - captain - Burchett and gorges, boats, Tachai personalities, Something from nothing, village, min. lost portraits, Peking, street committee, Taching drillers and wheat, women, well, watchers, 1973 (File 17) - Box 4
Black and white prints.
China 1972, Tachai, RFC, Kabul 1980, Japan - anti-war demonstration, Minamata, Cuba 1967/76, Nanking, Nanking observatory and S.Y. Sen memorial park, Monique and Chiang Ching, China 1972 - wheelbarrow tax, stone cutters, District opera (Linhsien) spectacle, 1967-1980 (File 18) - Box 15
Colour slides.
Yangtze bridge, Tachai (TA), Harbin arts and crafts, Portugal Carnations / good general interest (China), Peitaho - Rewi and self - Korean commune, Ch'king steel, rice, commune, Ch'king fishing, Szechuan - Chungking, pandas, Saco, Chungking, auto, lights factory, Yangtze Gorges, Peking minorities and arts and crafts,, 1972-1974 (File 19) - Box 15
Colour slides.
Sha Shi Yu, commune, anti-3-wastes, Chou Sin, Jade carving - Shanghai 1972, Yangtze Bridge, Nanking, 179th Div - Nanking N Unit, boat on Sungari, China RFC, Shanghai docks and Whampoa and Wei-groups, Candy factory Shanghai ; Tsinghua serve people, China - Korean minority, Yangtze Gorges, Transport (China), Shan Hai Kuan - start of Great Wall, 1972 (File 20) - Box 15
Colour slides.
Series. Vietnam, 1970s-1980s
Content advisory notice: This series contains graphic images of conflict in Vietnam which may be distressing. This includes images of human remains.
Portugal, Africa, Mekong Delta Village, catapult grenade launcher, local committee, Victory parade, Ho Chi Minh, 2 September 1975, Victory celebrations Ho-ville (2); commemoration meetings Hanoi,, 1970s (File 21) - Box 16
Colour slides. Some captioned. Includes Can Tho river, resistance village, My Tho pagoda, Can Tho armoured cars, women's militia, local kids, Mekong Delta village guerrillas, My Tho militant.
Destruction Langson, return Chinese POWs Langson, Chinese Resistance family, Can Tho; Saigon market, street scenes, waterfront; Saigon bicycles, market and streets ; Hanoi selection, bicycles and peace tet; My Thos Pagoda and Bonze, Resistance Village, Welcomes Journalists, River Scenes; Can Tho villagers, personalities, village beauty; Tanks, river 1978-1980?; Langson; Chinese POWs, Langson; Langson Pass, Destruction City, 1970s-1980s (File 22) - Box 16
Content advisory notice: This file contains graphic images of conflict in Vietnam which may be distressing. This includes images of human remains.
Colour slides
Release US pilots, Gia Lam airport, Chinese pilot and MIG-19; Henri de Turenne team en route Dien Bien Phu ; Burchett on road to Dien Bien Phu; General Vo Nguyen Giap, Hanoi, November 1981, Va Quock Uy, Ten That Tung; Miscellaneous group photos and Burchett, on Dien Bien Phu and Mekong visits; Can Tho River scenes and airport; Vietnam Project Team, Approaches Danawar Hur, Tanks and Temples; Ben Hai to Mekong, Catapult Villagers, Road, River Scenes, Basket Boats (1); Coffee and rubber, Ban Me Thuot; Vietnam project team, Ben Hai to Mekong, road scenes, tanks etc. Elizabeth, 1970s-1980s (File 23) - Box 16
Content advisory notice: This file contains graphic images of conflict in Vietnam which may be distressing. This includes images of human remains.
Colour slides.
Series. North Vietnam, 1960s-1970s
Content advisory notice: This series contains graphic images of conflict in Vietnam which may be distressing. This includes images of human remains including children.
Contact sheets 100-400 ; 1000 ; 2000 ; 3000 - Hanoi ; 4000 - Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Vo Nguyen Giap, Pham Van Dong, 1960s (File 26) - Box 4
Black and white contact sheets. Black and white prints.
Wilfred Burchett, Ho Chi Minh, Vo Nguyen Giap and Pham Van Dong in Geneva, 1950s? (File 27) - Box 4
Black and white contact sheets. Black and white prints.
Vietnam, 1956-1960s (File 28) - Box 4
Black and white prints. Includes two portraits of unidentified figures inscribed to Vessa Burchett, and various portraits of Wilfred Burchett at work in Vietnam. Handwritten label on original envelope hard to read.
Includes portrait of Burchett wearing pith helmet beside movie camera ; portrait of Pham Van Dong and others ; portrait of unidentified figures, 1960s? (File 29) - Box 4
Black and white prints. Prints stamped with "Copyright by Photo Pic, 21, Avenue du Maine, Paris-15e - Lit. 93-14 - mention obligatoire".
War scenes, including some in Laos, 1960s? (File 30) - Box 4
Black and white prints. Mostly unidentified. Original envelope marked "Not by WB".
Vietnam 1978 and Vietnam film project 1981, 1978, 1981 (File 31) - Box 4
Black and white prints. Includes Nguyen Huu Tho 78 ; Pham Van Dong Dec 1978 ; Mme Binh ; Mme Binh and fields ; fields and boats and kids in river ; Burchett with ? orphans contact ; Cambodia frontier Dec 1978 ; Saigon River re-education ; Re-education.
Vietnam North - militia and bombed pagoda, 2000-8000, 1960s? (File 33) - Box 5
Black and white prints.
Vietnam project - 120F00, 1368F - Vietnam project ; Vietnam China POW exchange, Vietnam including re-education, 1978? (File 34) - Box 5
Black and white contact sheets.
Vietnam project - 120F00, 1368F - Vietnam project ; Vietnam China POW exchange, Vietnam including re-education, 1978? (File 35) - Box 18
Content advisory notice: This file contains graphic images of conflict in Vietnam which may be distressing. This includes images of human remains including children.
Black and white negatives and contact sheets. Includes Saigon parade, Saigon workers market street demo, Bridge Tai Ninh?, boats and kids river, workers in fields and kids, orphans, Saigon River and re-education, Mme Nguyen Thi Binh, Mme Binh 2, WB with Pham Van Dong Dec 78, with Nguyen Huu Tho.
Series. Cambodia, Angola, Mozambique, Portugal
Content advisory notice: This series contains graphic images of conflict in Cambodia and other areas which may be distressing. This includes images of execution, human mutilation and remains.
Portugal Communist Party, Angola, Mozambique, Petition signed by Sartre re denial by Australian government of Wilfred Burchett's passport, Portraits of Fidel Castro, Kampuchea, Cambodia, Pol Pot regime, 1970s (File 37) - Box 5
Content advisory notice: This file contains graphic images of conflict in Cambodia which may be distressing. This includes images of execution, human mutilation and remains.
Black and white prints.
Portugal, Kampuchea, Etudiants (students) ; An Quang, Lisbon, Ethiopia, Angola, Mozambique, Cambodia - Phnomh Penh, Frontier River, Prahoc, 1970s (File 38) - Box 18
Content advisory notice: This file contains graphic images of conflict which may be distressing. This includes images of human remains.
Colour negatives, colour print and slides.
Series. North of the 17th parallel, Mekong upstream, Cambodia-Laos, 1954-1956
Content advisory notice: This series contains graphic images of conflict in Vietnam and Laos which may be distressing. This includes images of human remains, child disfiguration and mutilation.
Vietnam - early visit Dien Bien Phu, Laos, Laos - interiors, Vientiane market, Sihanouk and Sangkum, Mekong upstream: Cambodia - Chou En Lai, Angkor, Chou Sihanok, Great Lake, Pochentong, Siem Reap, Hanoi street scenes, Cac and land reform, ploughing Dien Bien Phu, Thai girls, bamboo raft, Baie D'Along (Halong Bay), Vietnam, 1954-1956 (File 45) - Box 18
Black and white negatives. Includes: Factory and Maternity Hospital ; Minority Villages - advanced co-ops, Dien Bien Phu, National Assembly, dam site etc., Chou En Lai, P.V. Dong - Hanoi. T&T and temples, our Hanoi house.
Laos, Vientiane market, On way to Laos - transit camps, Sihanouk and Sangkum, Mekong upstream: Cambodia - Chou En Lai, Angkor, Chou Sihanok, Great Lake, Pochentong, Siem Reap, Hanoi street scenes, Cac and land reform, ploughing Dien Bien Phu, Thai girls, bamboo raft, Baie D'Along (Halong Bay), Vietnam, 1954-1956 (File 46) - Box 7
Black and white contact sheets. Includes: Factory and Maternity Hospital ; Minority Villages - advanced co-ops, Dien Bien Phu, National Assembly, dam site etc., Chou En Lai, P.V. Dong - Hanoi. T&T and temples, our Hanoi house.
Poulo Condor returnees, Land reform - Vietnam, Laos - with Pathet Lao, Laos or on road to Laos, North of the 17th, 1954-1956 (File 47) - Box 18
Content advisory notice: This file contains graphic images of conflict in Vietnam which may be distressing. This includes images of child disfiguration and mutilation.
Black and white negatives.
Poulo Condor returnees, Land reform - Vietnam, Pathet Lao, North of the 17th parallel, Chou En Lai and Sihanouk, 1970 (File 48) - Box 7
Content advisory notice: This file contains graphic images of conflict in Vietnam and Laos which may be distressing. This includes images of human remains.
Black and white prints. Visit of Premier Chou En Lai and Sihanouk to Phnom Penh High School and Angkor Wat around 1955.
17th Parallel - Vietnam - fields, factory, Wilfred Burchett with others, 1954-1956 (File 49) - Box 7
Black and white negatives.
17th Parallel - Vietnam - fields, factory, Wilfred Burchett with others, 17th Parallel illustrations, Pathet Lao battle, Laos, 1971 (File 50) - Box 8
Content advisory notice: This file contains graphic images of conflict in Vietnam and Laos which may be distressing. This includes images of human mutilation and remains.
Black and white contact sheets and prints.
Rowi album, 1950s (File 51) - Box 8
Black and white negatives and contact sheets. Includes Indonesia, bouts on Black River, Binh Dinh ferry crossing, boat scenes, woman ploughing, road Dien Bien Phu, ferry crossing, Baie D'Along (Halong Bay), planting out rice, opening Hanoi railway, outdoor meeting, portraits Ho and Mao, accusation meetings, visit Cambodia frontier.
Series. Korea, China, Japan, 1940s-1970s
Content advisory notice: This series contains graphic images of conflict in South Asia and Korea which may be distressing. This includes images of human remains.
Japan May 1977, Japan - Minamata disease, DPRK 10.81, Indeterminé - Corea? [i.e.. Korea], Peking women's day, Hong Kong ; Macau ; Cape Schank, Hobart and Mildura (Australia) ; Deepwater Bay (Hong Kong), 1970s (File 53) - Box 18
Content advisory notice: This file contains graphic images of conflict in South Asia which may be distressing. This includes images of human remains.
Colour slides, colour negatives.
Kyodo News Photos - includes Burchett with Utahashi and Nakamura ; Hiroshima - Aioi Bridge, dome, Park of Peace 1946-47, Japan - includes some Hiroshima ; Minamata victims, Deepwater Bay (Hong Kong), 1945~1970s? (File 54) - Box 8
Black and white prints.
Japan - includes 1970 Kitafuji fight of the Mother's Committee against US exercise, China (envelope 'Ambassade de France en Chine'), 1970 - 1971 (File 55) - Box 9
Content advisory notice: This file contains graphic images of mummified human remains.
Black and white prints, negatives.
China contacts, In and around Kaesong, Vietnam Sud, North Korea - includes scenes in Pyongyang, Kim Il Sung University, Pyongyang Gymnasium, conveyor belt, chemical factory, Mangyongdae - birthplace of Kim Il Sung, Korea POW exchange - W.B. and Hsiao Chen, China 1973 - numbered contacts, 1967 - 1983 (File 56) - Box 9
Black and white prints.
Photos Coree [i.e.. Korea] + Wilfred et sec passport, North Korea Victory celebrations - Fatherland Liberation War and Kim Il Sung, Korea, 1965 (File 59) - Box 10
Content advisory notice: This file contains graphic images of conflict in Korea which may be distressing. This includes images of human remains.
Black and white prints.
Series. Angola, Mozambique, Portugal
Angola, Huambo etc. ; Benguela Lobito Silva Porto, Angola coffee ; MPLA demos, Angola corpses portraits ; returnees Lubango, Alentejo (Portugal) cork harvesting, no hunting-fishing, Hiroshima monument maquette, Portugal - Carnation Revolution, Portugal, Portugal - Alentejo, 1970s (File 60) - Box 19
Colour slides.
Angola, Huambo etc. ; Benguela Lobito Silva Porto, Angola coffee ; MPLA demos, Angola corpses portraits ; returnees Lubango, Alentejo (Portugal) cork harvesting, no hunting-fishing, Hiroshima monument maquette, Portugal - Carnation Revolution, Portugal, Portugal - Alentejo
Series. South Vietnam, 1960s-1970s
NLF (National Liberation Front) and Wilfred Burchett, FNL, 1960s-1970s (File 62) - Box 10
Black and white prints.
Second visit NLF, US POWs, Tai Nguyen and NLF, 1960s-1970s (File 63) - Box 10
Black and white prints.
Second visit NLF - includes NFL ; NL bazooka ; FNL Jolie fille avec grand fusil [i.e.. pretty girl with big gun] ; NFL women and trenches ; bridge crossing ; NFL harvest ; man portrait, destroyed village ; pigs ; Burchett with FNL SVN ; unidentified colour negatives - rice harvest? Tai Nguyen negs, 1960s-1970s (File 64) - Box 19
Black and white and colour negatives, slides.
General cultural and educational activities, includes ballet school of NLF's Central Song and Dance Ensemble ; children survivors of bombed out school Long An Province dancing 'Dance of Peace', 1960s-1970s (File 65) - Box 11
Black and white prints.
Girl guerrillas including Blossom and Lissom and Quit, Lib. Army troops using US 57mm bazookas, US 81mm and 60mm mortars, US .30 calibre heavy machine guns, US Browning water-cooled machine guns, LA men with captured US automatic and heavy weapons, 1960s-1970s (File 66) - Box 11
Black and white prints.
Photos FNL - by categories, includes: health, food production, guerrilla girls, NLF media, 1960s-1970s (File 67) - Box 11
Black and white prints.
SVN (South Vietnam), Burchett with guerrilla girls Blossom and Lissom - President Lib. Writers Assoc. Tran Hun Tranh and novelist An Duc and at work in jungle interviewing President Nguyen Hun Tho etc. with Lib. Army and guerrillas, Making anti-smallpox vaccine at Central Laboratories of NFL's Public Health Commission. Testing vaccines on white rabbit. Burchett with two of directors, Dr Tran and woman Dr Thuy Ba, Lib Army breakfast - studies, sing-song, campfire, relaxation, 1960s-1970s (File 68) - Box 12
Black and white prints.
Tai Nguyen, NLF Contacts 100-800 KEP, 1960s-1970s (File 69) - Box 12
Envelope containing empty labelled envelopes, Black and white contact sheets.
Series. Miscellaneous documents, articles, prints, audio tape, 1960s-1980s
Content advisory notice: This series contains graphic images of conflict in South Africa which may be distressing. This includes images of human remains.
Untitled envelope of photographs - some captioned, includes portraits of Burchett, Pete Seeger, other unidentified scenes and portraits, 1960s? (File 72) - Box 13
Black and white prints and colour prints.