ABSTRACT
From the air a scattering of brilliant white sandy cays and sand fringed islands dotted in an array of navy-black, brilliant aqua and turquoise waters stretches for more than 2,000 kilometres along the northeast coast of Australia. Up close the waters are crystal clear, the islands are green, and underwater life displays colours and forms unimaginable to those who have never seen it. This is the Great Barrier Reef – simultaneously of enormous scale and comprised of myriads of minute life forms. It defies the human imagination, but satellite and aerial imagery, underwater cameras, colour emulsion, digital technology and motion film make it possible to capture and communicate many of these visual qualities. Images of the Reef are reproduced in their thousands each year; in popular science magazines, documentary films, coffee table books, internet sites, tourist brochures, advertisements and postcards. The visual qualities transmitted through these media are an integral part of the region’s standing as a World Heritage site and as Australia’s premier tourist destination. While the tourism industry is often attributed with creating and promulgating particular images of tourist destinations, analysis of historic images of the Reef suggests that this relationship is a much more complex one.
