Australian Responses to the Indian Famine, 1876–78: Sympathy, Photography and the British Empire

Abstract

This article analyses Australian efforts on behalf of victims of the 1876–8 Indian famine as complex articulations of colonial identity and loyalty in the British imperial world. Focused on the Victorian Famine Relief Fund, which made extensive use of vivid photographic images of sufferers, the article also examines the public campaigns on behalf of Indian famine victims in other colonial cities and towns. It suggests that the language of filial duty most commonly associated with later military commitments had a humanitarian pedigree, and that the settler colonial ability to express empathy for non-white British subjects was enhanced by the capacity to see photographic images of them. Despite their promise of drawing the viewer closer to witnessing suffering, photographs of famine victims served rather to emphasise the distance between the viewer and the viewed, in ways that were productive for the fund-raising effort.