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Bush snapshot: Tasmanian bushwalking shutterbugs capture 60 years

A Tasmanian bushwalking club's amateur shutterbugs are celebrating 60 years of snapping Tasmania's world-famous wilderness.

Members of the Launceston Walking Club have held public exhibitions almost every year, travelling throughout the state and interstate.

The shows, under the banner of "Do you Know Tasmania", are a photographic history captured through the lenses of club members.

But it is more than just spectacular scenery on show - their photos and films form a backdrop to changes in society, camera technology, bushwalking gear and even political campaigns.

At the heart of their archive is a passion for the wilderness portrayed through thousands of images and 16mm movies.

The club's exhibitions began with a fundraising campaign in 1954 as a way of raising money to pay for a bus.

What started as a one-off slideshow to sell raffle tickets became a regular travelling exhibition.

At the height of the shows in the 1970s thousands of people would pack local halls and theatres.

Before the advent of colour television the shows in Launceston were seen by 5,000 people over a week's run.

"Colour TV started in Tasmania in 1975 and that had a big impact on audience numbers for following shows but it has kept going and a younger generation of club photographers is still passionate about sharing their love for Tasmania's wilderness with the general public," said club member Ian Ross.

Mr Ross saw a show while living in Queensland in the 1970s and 20 years later decided to move to Tasmania.

He has seen them evolve over the years.

"John Miller the fellow whose idea it was, who has just turned 80, said they used to put the slides on the projector one at a time and look at them for half a minute," he said.

"Today if we have something on the screen for 7 or 8 seconds now we start getting bored.

"These days it is now digital video, there is no shortage of content so I think the show has a future. It will keep going as long as there are people with a passion to share."

Moving into the digital age

After years of film, clunky 35mm slide cameras and lugging canvas bags full of lenses, club members now have an array of digital devices to take bush.

Go-Pro video cameras for rafters' helmets and smartphones with panoramic apps are now packed in the lightweight, hi-tech camping gear.

A community fund grant in 2005 enabled the club to transfer a lot of its old material to digital format.

"Some of them are just classic bits of social history - they show people cooking bacon and eggs over a campfire and carrying axes and even carrying rifles on an extended trip to get a bit of fresh meat," Mr Ross said.

"It's an interesting bit of social history."

Gardening guru and media identity Peter Cundall said the impact of the club's exhibitions through the years can not be underestimated.

"What we have in Tasmania, I know it sounds corny, but it is quite unique," he said.

"Everything about Tasmania, particularly the wild area, is unique there is nothing like it on earth.

"Even the plants are unique. They're endemic, most of them, and to go across alpine wilderness in full flower, it is like walking on some fantasy vision of heaven.

"I've been there, I've been going on my own with my heart singing because of the incredible pleasure of being there and seeing something Tasmania has that is absolutely different to any other place on earth."

The club's next offering will be on show at the Hobart campus of the University of Tasmania on Friday and Saturday.