Ern McQuillan

Ern McQuillan (b. 1926), photographer, was born in Sydney and grew up in the inner western suburbs. He acquired a box brownie as a boy and began working on the Truth and Sportsman newspapers at the age of fifteen.

In 1944 he was drafted into the army and assigned to the military history unit as a photographer, working in the Celebes as well as in Sydney, where he took the photograph that was used in the Department of Veterans' Affairs 1945-1995 commemorative campaign, Australia Remembers.

At one time a professional boxer, he renounced the sport when his news editor complained that he looked too beaten around to send on photographic assignments. Over the course of his career McQuillan worked for a range of publications including the Australian Woman's Weekly, the Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Telegraph, and the Bulletin. He photographed Richard Nixon and is well remembered for images related to the Petrov Affair. In his late seventies McQuillan was still working as a press photographer in Sydney. He was awarded an OAM for photography in 1998.

Royce Levi has compiled a remarkable online archive of information about Ern and his work and readers are encouraged to go to his web-page. (See details below).

Sources:

• Royce Levi, ‘Ern McQuillan’s Remarkable Life’, Royce Levi’s Blog http://royciebaby.com/about-royce-levi/ern-mcquillan-must-be-a-known-part-of-australian-history/
• ’Ern McQuillan’, National Portrait Gallery, http://www.portrait.gov.au/people/ern-mcquillan-1926