Historical information

This is an early underwater camera housing for a video camera. It was sold by Wills Camera Housings from Kaniva, Victoria. It is dated around the late 1960s to the mid1970s.

The history of underwater photography began with the first protective camera box for underwater photography was made in 1856. In 1914 the first underwater video footage was taken. Colour underwater photography was first shot in 1926. In 1950 the first commercially available underwater camera housing, the "Tarzan" was designed by Henry Broussard, an underwater photographer, for his own camera. It was produced by the French company Beauchat.

In 1957 the revolutionary underwater camera was invented by Jaques-Yves Cousteau and Jean de Wouters. The new amphibious "Calypso" changed the nature of underwater photography.

Significance

This underwater video camera housing is significant for its purpose of underwater photography.
Camera housings such as this were used to record the position and layout of shipwrecks along coast of the Great Ocean Road. Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village has underwater footage of dives that show the now protected shipwrecks.

Physical description

Underwater camera housing for a video camera. Perspex and metal, made by Wills Camera Housings of Kaniva, Victoria.