One of Australia’s most famous photographers and an internationally respected master of his craft, Wolfgang Georg Sievers (1913-2007) compositions were often magic personified and changed the face of industrial and architectural photography in this country forever.

So important is he to Australia’s photographic history that 65,000 of his images reside in the National Library of Australia in the national capital, Canberra – the largest single collection on record.

It’s an horrendous instrument – a Papua New Guinea head hunter’s “man catcher”, comprising a sharpened wooden shaft with bamboo noose.

Innocuous looking but deadly, it was used to capture and enslave enemy tribe members by encircling the head, the razor-like point protruding into the back of the neck inflicting fatal injury if they continued to struggle.

An attractive Tudor-style mansion called The Gables, belonging to a prominent local antiques dealer and situated in the Victorian Western Districts town of Hamilton, is the venue for Christian McCann’s forthcoming on site fine and decorative arts auction from 12pm Sunday June 25 at 69 French Street.

The entire contents are destined to go under the hammer and featuring a superb collection of 18^th and 19^th century English furniture and French, English and Italian glass chandeliers, the auction is a must for collectors.

Surely it takes a strong and versatile larrikin streak to farm 40,000 emus, milk the venom of poisonous snakes to aid in the research of anti-venenes and manage the largest horse-riding school in the southern hemisphere – among many other unusual accomplishments – as well as become a close friend to Australia’s First Nations people.