Every federal election, the Library collects campaign material and ephemera across all candidates, electorates and parties comprehensively. The Library's election ephemera collection covers every Australian federal election since Federation in 1901.
For the 2022 Federal Election, the decision was made to undertake a project to photographically document the election to supplement and enhance the collection of election ephemera. Photographers from across Australia were commissioned by the National Library of Australia to photograph the election campaign and polling day in their communities.
Explore 2022 Federal Election photographs in Trove
Tyr (Jiayuan) Liang is a photographer dedicated to documenting contemporary cultural activities, events and festivals, especially those that happen within a historical background. This photograph documents the inside of a voting centre in Rundle Place, Adelaide and was selected as it documents the continuing effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on Australia through the presence of masks and hand sanitiser. It also documents the infrastructure of voting in Australia, such as the cardboard voting booths in the background, and the facilities used by Australian Electoral Commission staff.
David Paterson has been a photographer in Canberra since 1986, specialising in art, commercial, events and portrait photography. He has been awarded ACT Professional Photographer of the Year six times. David Paterson documented the 2022 Federal Election in Canberra. This photograph shows people queuing to vote in Garema Place, surrounded by election corflutes for candidates in Canberra electorates.
Louise Whelan is a photographer and oral historian who works regularly with the Library. She documented the 2022 Federal Election in Sydney, including in the key seat of Reid.
Aishah Kenton documented the election in regional Victoria in areas including Benalla, Shepparton and Swanpool. This photograph is one of many collected by the Library which documents the many variants of ‘democracy sausage’ sold during the election campaign as fundraising for community and Parents and Citizens’ Associations.
Brian Cassey is a photographer in the Cairns region of Australia. He has worked as a photographer in Australia since the 1980s, winning numerous awards including a Walkley Award in 2021. Cassey covered the 2022 Federal Election in electorates in the Cairns region, capturing the local flavour of the election in Far North Queensland. This photograph shows campaign materials for several of the local candidates, including the presence of Australian Youth Climate Coalition volunteers.
Greg Power is a Tasmanian photographer based near Mt Field National Park, Southern Tasmania. This photograph documents the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Australia, as well as an example of the instructional information provided by the Australian Electoral Commission on voting.
