Incredible story behind this iconic photograph of Fred Hollows — not told until now

Almost any Aussie who sees this photo knows who it is and what’s going on. But the emotional, inspiring story behind it hasn’t been told — until now.

If you show this striking black-and-white photograph to almost any Australian, they’ll be able to instantly tell you who it is and what he’s doing.

But for almost three decades, the emotional and inspiring story behind it hasn’t been widely shared — until now.

It was 1992 when young Sydney newspaper photographer Michael Amendolia was sent on his very first overseas assignment, following the legendary Fred Hollows on a trip to Vietnam.

The renowned ophthalmologist, famed for his work treating cataracts, would oversee the training of a team of local doctors in Hanoi.

Amendolia’s first big trip would be Fred’s last.
After a lifetime devoted to humanitarian work and public service, he died just months later following a three-year battle with cancer.

“I think the reason the photograph was chosen, and this is just my interpretation, is how Fred himself looks in it,” Amendolia said.

“He’s this gruff-looking character, a big man, who has a softness in his face and in his eyes. He was very ill at the time and in a vulnerable part of his life. I remember him coughing up blood and being on morphine some days, such was the extent of his pain.

“But Fred wanted to be there. It was something he wanted to be doing. He was that sort of character who thrived on helping others and ignored his own needs.”

Professor Fred Hollows examines the eye of Tran Van Giap in the courtyard of Hanoi Institute of Ophthalmology in 1992. The portrait of Fred and Giap, who was eight at the time, has become the iconic image of The Fred Hollows Foundation.

Hanoi, Vietnam 1992. Professor Fred Hollows examines a patient’s eye during surgical training in Hanoi.

Fred Hollows in Vietnam 1992, watching a surgery during training with Vietnamese surgeons. Picture: Michael Amendolia

It was quite by chance that Amendolia captured the now-iconic image of Fred examining the eye of an eight-year-old boy and arranging for him to undergo surgery.

“It was the second day of the trip and the first day of surgeries,” Amendolia recalled.

“I had some good photographs already but that particular image was taken at the very end of the day while Fred was walking around the courtyard where all these patients were waiting.”

Amendolia followed him around as he examined various people and watched as a man suddenly rushed forward to the front and thrust his boy towards the Australian ophthalmologist.

“Fred sat down to look at this child’s eyes, explaining the situation. He promised he’d get the boy on the schedule for the next day to get it fixed.”

And so he did. Tran Van Giap underwent an operation the following morning that completely transformed his life.

“I was leaning down, snapping away, another one and another one. I didn’t know that I had got something really special.”

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A technique news photographers once used in editing the punch hole in the bottom of the negative of the image chosen for printing and transmitting back to Australia for the original story. Picture: Michael Amendolia

Michael Amendolia working on the photo transmission machine in his Hanoi hotel room while on his first international assignment to photograph Professor Fred Hollows. Picture: Michael Amendolia

Back at his hotel that night, Amendolia mixed some developer and processed the film, holding the tiny negative up to the light.

“It stood out like a beacon,” he said.

“I clipped the bottom of it — that’s how we indicated the choice image. It was the very first image I sent back to Australia. I got a fax the next morning saying they’d used it on page three of The Daily Telegraph and then every other paper in the group used it in some way.”

Just weeks after the group returned to Australia, the Fred Hollows Foundation was formally launched and the picture of Fred and Giap was at the centre of a major ad campaign.

It also featured in an exhibition hosted by Hazel Hawke, then-wife of former prime minister Bob Hawke.

“Oh, he loved it,” Amendolia said of Fred’s reaction to the shot. “He was always wonderful to me.”

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Tran Van Giap with his father Tran Duc in 1992 in Hanoi after Professor Fred Hollows examined his eyes and organised for his eye operation.

It resonated so well that the organisation asked to use it again and again, and 26 years on, it remains a recognisable and powerful picture that is still used to convey the work of the eye health charity.

Its power and longevity is something Amendolia said he could never have imagined “in a million years” — nor was the impact that assignment would have on his own path.

“I wasn’t brought up with a consciousness of international affairs, which is why I loved working in newspapers. The greatest thing I got was my mind being opened up to the whole world,” Amendolia said.

“On another level, meeting Fred Hollows did the same. Being with the guy, hearing about his work, listening to all his friends speak about his impact as he died, was incredible.

“It completely transformed my perspective and my values. I’ve got to carry it on by working with various not-for-profits and doing humanitarian work.”

Tran Van Giap holding the original published story in 1992 on the restoration of his sight organised by Fred Hollows. Picture: Michael Amendolia

Photographer Michael Amendolia and Tran Van Giap meet outside the hospital in Ho Chi Minh City where his new daughter was born days earlier.

As he was dying, the young photographer felt drawn to the Hollows home and would sit in the living room as a stream of people came and went.

“I wasn’t a good press photographer because I didn’t shoot any of it. It felt too sensitive to me to photograph. I just sat and listened to all his friends speak about his impact as he died.”

Fred was still clinging to life when Amendolia set off to shoot images for a book about the doctor’s life, travelling through Vietnam before heading to Eritrea in Africa’s northeast.

“I was leaving Vietnam when the staff there told me Fred had died. I carried on with the trip because I felt that’s what Fred would’ve wanted. I photographed the places he worked in and the communities he had helped.”

Fred Hollows Foundation Billboard in a Sydney train station 2009.

Gabi Hollow visits with Tran Van Giap’s wife Le Thi Binh and son Tran Binh Minh, at Ho Chi Minh Hospital to welcome the arrival their new daughter Tran Thien Phuc. Picture: Michael Amendolia

One of the countless trips Amendolia has done with Fred Hollows over the years was back to Vietnam in 2012 to meet up with the boy from the picture, now a married father-of-two and high school teacher.

“You almost never get the opportunity to do that, to see what happened later to photo subjects. I’ve got to go over to see where he is now and he’s been to Australia a few times.

“To see how his life was transformed is fantastic.

“He just happened to be there with his father, who just happened to push him forward, which just happened to catch the attention of Fred Hollows.”

The boy in the famous portrait photo of Fred Hollows Tran Van Giap. Gabi Hollows visting him in a Ho Chi Minh. Photo Michael Amendolia

Ho Chi Minh 2012. Tran Van Giap teaching his Year 12 maths class at Truong Thpt school.

A modest Amendolia puts his iconic photograph down to the luck of timing, but admits it feels nice to have “done something useful”.

“I like to see my photographs working for something. I’m fortunate that this one has. I’m proud.”

Find out more about the work of the Fred Hollows Foundation at its website