1905 to 1938

Broome

Murakami, Yasukichi, 1880-1944

Kanamori, Mayu

BA2754

Digitised

Description
1 online resource (54 photographs) : digital, black and white, TIFF, jpeg files.

Notes
Title devised by cataloguer. Captions provided by donor.

Original version
Originals comprised 35 prints. These are in private ownership.

Biography/history
Yasukichi Murakami (1880-1944) arrived in Cossack in 1897 aged 16 and found work with Takazo Nishioka, a Japanese storekeeper in Broome. After Nishioka died Murakami married his widow Eki. They expanded the business which also served as Murakami’s photography studio and he soon became a well-respected leader of the community. Murakami later went into partnership with pearler A. C. Gregory and helped run the Dampier Hotel. After Eki died, Murakami married (Theresa) Shigeno Murata and they had 9 children. Murakami designed and patented a modern day pearling suit but never received credit for this invention and after the pearling industry declined he moved to Darwin with his family. HIs application for naturalisation was turned down and when Japan entered the war in 1941 the family was interred in Victoria. Murakami died in 1944 but his wife, six sons and three daughters all survived. For many years Murakami’s photographs were believed to be lost but they were eventually tracked down thanks to the efforts of Japanese-Australian photographer Mayu Kanamori and Murakami’s great granddaughter. Kanamori created a stage play from this story called “Through a Distant Lens” and at long last Murakami is receiving the credit he was due for his invention and contribution to the business affairs of Broome.

Photographs

Postcards

Correspondence

BA2754/17: Yasukichi Murakami with diving suit. The Japanese on the bottom reads Mr Yasukichi Murakami and diving equipment.

Siobhan Campbell