Thousands were published worldwide in newspapers, magazines, books, serial encyclopedias and postcards.

His work answered a demand in Australia, and the Western World, for visual information on the life in the Pacific Islands, the local's physical appearance and customs and whether economic opportunities existed for settlers or investors.

Thomas McMahon, born in 1864, made a first trip to New Guinea in 1915, he then toured the Pacific till 1922 in order to advocate Australian colonialism, tourism and economic development in the area.

[1][2] After a reporting on Fiji published in The Sydney Mail in late 1921[3] and early 1922, he traveled to Asia in August 1922.

He published a book about the experience and became a rural reporter and photographer for Brisbane's Courier Mail.