 Cato's "The Story of the Camera in Australia" (1955), though it is more populist than academic, is acknowledged as the first Australian national history of the medium, and was premised on his belief that photography "as no other medium, literary or graphic", recorded and would reveal the history of the young nation.A keen stamp-collector from childhood (also 1935 president of the Royal Philatelic Society of Victoria) Cato was able to sell his stamps for about £10,000 in 1954 to finance six years of research for this book.He used the La Trobe Library picture and newspaper collections in Melbourne, making only one visit to Sydney and Canberra institutions.