Australia’s first Oscar-winner was Damien Parer. He was a photographer from Victoria who became an official cameraman with the Australian army during World War II, first in the Middle East and then in New Guinea. He and the correspondents he worked with took many risks to capture as closely as possible just what war really felt like. Their work was an important record of the war. Parer filmed his award-winning ‘Kokoda Frontline’ while the Australian army was retreating from Kokoda in New Guinea. Later he joined the American forces and was killed during fighting in the Pacific area.