This book was inspired by Linda Nochlin's seminal 1971 essay ‘Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?’ and Germaine Greer's equally ground-breaking 1979 book The Obstacle Race, both of which featured women artists who had been overlooked in history. Where those works focused on women's paintings, this book centres on photography, specifically the works of some early minor and major Australian women photographers, and probes women's contribution to Australian photography in the era of cultural modernity.