He taught himself photography and set himself up in the postcard business, where he gained a reputation for putting himself in danger to produce stunning images, including placing himself in front of an oncoming train to capture it on film.

Fellow Sydney-sider Henri Mallard in 1911, recommended Hurley for the position of official photographer to Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition, ahead of himself.

[5] Hurley asserts in his biography that he then cornered Mawson as he was making his way to their interview on a train, using the advantage to talk his way into the job.

[6] Mawson was persuaded, while Mallard, who was the manager of Harringtons, a local Kodak franchise, to which Hurley was in debt, provided photographic equipment.

[2] Hurley was also the official photographer on Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition which set out in 1914 and was marooned until August 1916.

He kept only a hand-held Vest Pocket Kodak camera and three rolls of film and for the rest of the expedition, he shot just 38 images.

In 1917, Hurley joined the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) as an honorary captain, and captured many stunning battlefield scenes during the Third Battle of Ypres.

He wrote that he would dress in civilian clothes and eavesdrop on soldiers who were visiting his exhibitions; he concluded that the composites were justified by the favourable comments they attracted.

He was employed by the Australian Department of Information as head of the Photographic Unit from September 1940 until early 1943, based in Cairo.

He took the only film of the initial victory against the Italians at Sidi Barrani in December 1940, which was given to Cinesound and Movietone News for global release.

In this capacity, he travelled a reported 200,000 miles covering the region from Libya to Persia, making regular items for War Pictorial News and 2-reel features.

He also worked as cinematographer for Cinesound Productions where his best known film credits include The Squatter's Daughter (1933), The Silence of Dean Maitland (1934) and Grandad Rudd (1935).