Ernest Gustav Brandon-Cremer (15 February 1895 – 1 March 1957) was a New Zealand/Australian moviemaker, newsman, explorer and adventurer. He was a key figure in Australian aviation history, and was especially known for his documentation of Lasseter's Gold Reef as well as his photography of the Solar eclipse of 21 September 1922 at Wallal, Australia.
Early life
In Dunedin, New Zealand, Brandon-Cremer was born to Albert Wilhelm Anton Brandon-Cremer and Annie Beaton in a theatrical family, his parents traversing New Zealand and Australia by horse and carriage over several decades in the early days of vaudeville in Australasia.
His childhood was marked by a never-present father and an alcoholic mother, a marriage soon to be dissolved with the children abandoned to the State. Brandon-Cremer ran away from home at age 11 and had to fend for himself. Brandon-Cremer claims that he was taken in by a travelling American minister working in Hong Kong before he ended up in the USA and finally in Hollywood. Ernest was interviewed in 1926 by a Sydney Cinema Magazine, where these missing years were described in great detail.
Ernest travelled around North America working for the Vitagraph Company of America as an assistant camera man working on such silent films as 'Captain Alvarez', 'Memories That Haunt', 'The Juggernaut', The Wills of the Gods' and 'The Barrier'.
In 1913, he was tried in Adelaide for breaking and entering, including theft, and sentenced to 18 months in prison. A later court visit for vagrancy in June 1915 showed he was now in Melbourne. In both instances he listed his profession as cinematographer.
Newspaper notices and advertisements show that Brandon-Cremer worked as a cinematographer with A. C. Tinsdale starting in 1915, a relationship that would last many years, and would benefit him greatly. In May 1917 Brandon-Cremer became second wireless operator aboard the Steamship 'Boonah' as he headed for the UK. In August 1917 he joined the British Garrison Artillery (BGA), part of the UK Royal Horse Artillery as a gunner (serial no. 198613). It seems he never saw active service over his 18 months with the BGA, but did qualify for several medals. In press interviews later in life, Brandon-Cremer said he was "associated" with the R.A.F. and consequently saw service with the British North Russian Relief Force in Russia during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, and took part in the evacuation of Archangel in northern Russia) in late 1919 He has stated he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross,(not verified) (evidence of his flying ability can be found in the short travelogue 'In and Around MacKay' (1933), where he is seen in the cockpit flying above MacKay).
Upon his BGA discharge in February 1919, Brandon-Cremer started a 15-month stint with the London YMCA as a cinematographer. Two months later, on 19 April, he married Minnie Henrietta Warren. Minnie, age 22, from London. He listed his occupation as Film Operator. It seems Minnie died the following year.
In June 1920 Brandon-Cremer went to work in South Africa for a year making short films for the South African Film Trust. On 11 July 1921 he returned to the UK aboard the RMS 'Kinfauns' from South Africa.
The Spanish Foreign Legion, 1921
In August 1921, Brandon-Cremer travelled to Spain to join the Spanish Legion fighting the Moors (Rif) in North Africa, and participated in 11 battles. He was repatriated to the UK in November, giving interviews to the British press, representing himself as the only Australian (New Zealander) to join the Spanish Legion. He later claimed to have been under the command of then Capt. Francisco Franco (subsequent dictator of Spain).
His accounts of the ill treatment of British recruits to the Spanish Legion were widely reported in American, British and Australian newspapers. Upon reading such reports, his former business partner, A. C. Tinsdale started a campaign to return Brandon-Cremer to Australia. It seems that this was accomplished as Brandon-Cremer returned to Albany, Western Australia aboard Euripides on 9 March 1922.
The Eclipse at Wallal, Western Australia, 1922
Wallal, Western Australia was the chosen location for a visiting US Lick Observatory party of Astronomers, led by W. W. Campbell, to view the upcoming Solar eclipse of 21 September 1922. The purpose of the expedition to view stellar transits of the Sun's disk during the eclipse to measure and verify Albert Einstein's Theory of relativity. Wallal was preferred for its isolation from man-made light sources, its propensity for clear skies and its location to gain the longest eclipse duration.