William James Mildenhall

Who was William James Mildenhall?

William James Mildenhall photographed construction of the new Australian capital, Canberra, during its development in the 1920s and 1930s.

Mildenhall was a Commonwealth public servant, initially employed as paymaster in the Department of Works & Railways, he later became the Information Officer for the Federal Capital Commission in 1926.

Mildenhall had seen the need to officially document the growing national capital in photographs, and offered his services to the Department of Works & Railways in 1921; an offer which was readily accepted.

He often took photographs in his own time, and on an ad hoc basis alongside his full-time clerical position, continuing in this role until 1935, when complaints concerning his monopolisation of departmental photography resulted in an inquiry that forced the arrangement to be discontinued.