Discover the new virtual exhibition “Thomas Ashby and the other side of the world” on our digital platform:
By early July 1914, the British School at Rome’s (BSR) director, Thomas Ashby, had made the final arrangements to attend an international academic tour. He could not have been more excited when he left Porto di Brindisi(Puglia) on 7 July on that four-month voyage to Australia, Sri Lanka and Malta. His itinerary included some outreach for the BSR and a little time for sightseeing on the way home. Unexpectedly, his plans were upended four weeks later when war was declared in Europe. This exhibition is a record of those events, the places he saw, the things he did, and how the trip became part of his legacy for the BSR.
He returned to Rome in early November with a remarkable souvenir: a series of 113 travel photographs. Using those images, this exhibition traces his route across Australia, Sri Lanka, and Malta as he tramps through temperate rainforests, explores ancient archaeological sites, hikes in mountain ranges, and rides in a national park. Importantly, many of the photographs were taken during small group excursions, and whilst that limited his ability to frame them perfectly, the series does offer a unique, unfiltered view of his experiences.
Ashby was an avid photographer, and the BSR preserves more than 8,000 images, many of which he took in Italy. This virtual exhibition is the first to showcase his overseas photographs. It provides a new perspective on Thomas Ashby and his contribution to the BSR, a century after his directorship (1906 to 1925).
This exhibition was curated by Nicole Moffatt (Macquarie Gale Fellow 2017). The Australian leg of Thomas Ashby’s journey in 1914 is the subject of a forthcoming article for the Papers of the British School at Rome (2025), ‘Photographing a Sunburnt Country: A Study of Thomas Ashby’s Australian Series’.
