Swagman on the road to Wilcannia, New South Wales

Inspired by American rural photographs taken for the Farm Security Administration from 1937, as well as the earlier realism of new photography portraiture, Axel Poignant consciously expressed what he had to say about the subject through documentary photography. Poignant had journeyed extensively through remote areas of Australia, independently and on assignment, and undoubtedly empathised with the ‘swagman’. This image resonates with the mythology of national identity which focused on the outback, embedded in the national psyche by Banjo Paterson’s unofficial anthem ‘Waltzing Matilda’: the independent spirit facing adversity. The swag – also known as the ‘matilda’ – of rolled up blankets, was an essential item carried by itinerant workers when walking the long roads of Australia and sleeping out. Poignant recalled meeting the swagman:
The bike had no chain or pedals. He used it to carry his worldly goods – tent fly, pots and pans, tucker and water and also some books. He gave his name as George Meredith and he was making his way from Paroo to Menindie which he expected to reach months later. He didn’t go to ‘The Hill’ [Broken Hill] anymore. It was too far. We met up with him just past the Springfield Tank. 1

The photograph captures the self-reliance and dignity of a figure with the pathos of a Charlie Chaplin character. Taken from a high angle, the swagman is centrally positioned in the foreground which exaggerates the length of the road leading to a distant horizon. The image suggests that for the lone swagman the journey rather than the destination is his raison d’être as he walks on and away from the photographer.

1. Newton G 1982, ‘Axel Poignant: photographs 1922–1980’, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney/Beaver Press, Sydney

© Art Gallery of New South Wales Photography Collection Handbook, 2007