Barbara Oehring Photography: Coranderrk

Showing posts with label Coranderrk. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

PANORAMA at Tarrawarra Museum of Art

PANORAMA is an exhibition curated by Anthony Fitzpatrick and Victoria Lynn at Tarrawarra Museum of Art in Victoria's Yarra Valley. Selected landscape works from the museum's collection are staged in two parts.

It's always a pleasure to visit Tarrawarra Museum of Art in its delightful landscape.

On 7 May 2016 I attended the public forum Points of View when Part One of the exhibition was on show.

Panelists Judy Watson, Danie Mellor and Imants Tillers spoke about their work in relation to landscape and writer Justin Clemens read poetry.

After the forum I captured Danie Mellor (middle) in conversation.

Photo credit: Barbara Oehring 2016

Born of Indigenous and European cultural heritage Danie Mellor's works are linked to cultural histories and concepts of the landscape. On the left a fragment of his painting Bayi Minyjirral in his signature blue and white palette.

I returned for Part Two of PANORAMA on 20 May 2016 to view paintings by Peter Booth, Fred Williams, Brett Whiteley, Rosalie Gascoigne and others.

Work on left by Andrew Browne: Light through foliage 2001, oil on canvas.
Work on right by William Delafield Cook: Promontory 1981, acrylic on canvas.

Photo credit: Barbara Oehring 2016

The landscape is also featured in Judy Watson: the scarifier. I am pleased that this installation is on for the entire length of PANORAMA.

Indigenous artist Judy Watson was invited to create a new installation in response to the site and history of the Coranderrk Aboriginal Station near Healesville (1863-1924).

I was delighted to meet Judy at Tarrawarra Museum of Art.

The artist and the curator Victoria Lynn who is also the Director of TWMA.

As Watson's work is in response to the landscape around Tarrawarra it is appropriately installed in the room with a view.

Installation view: Judy Watson: the scarifier
Photo credit: Barbara Oehring 2016

The artist states:
The scarifier follows the plough. It evokes images of cutting into the ground and the body, leaving wounds, mark-making as it traces the contours of country and blood. Words and actions imprint deeply within the psyche. Descendants carry the scars and memories of their ancestor's stories.

Installation view: Judy Watson: the scarifier
Photo credit: Barbara Oehring 2016

Judy Watson © Barbara Oehring 2016

PANORAMA Part Two and Judy Watson: the scarifier run until 31 July 2016.

For details go to: Tarrawarra Museum of Art

The story of Coranderrk: Coranderrk.com

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

CORANDERRK: WE WILL SHOW THE COUNTRY

CORANDERRK: WE WILL SHOW THE COUNTRY by writer/historian Giordano Nanni and Yorta Yorta playwright Andrea James, and directed by Rachael Maza, was first presented at La Mama Courthouse in Melbourne in 2010.

On 21 February 2016 La Mama Theatre staged a special one-off performance of CORANDERRK: WE WILL SHOW THE COUNTRY on-country at Coranderrk.

Coranderrk was an Aboriginal Station founded in 1863 near preset-day Healesville. In 1881 the people of The Coranderrk Aboriginal Station took on the Board for the Protection of Aborigines in a fight for dignity and self-determination. This led to the 1881 Coranderrk Parliamentary Inquiry.

The script of CORANDERRK: WE WILL SHOW THE COUNTRY consists entirely of extracts from the Minutes of Evidence of the Coranderrk Parliamentary Inquiry into the Aboriginal Reserve at Coranderrk. Through the medium of verbatim theatre the cast re-enact key passages from testimonies, letters and petitions of 20 witnesses (nine of them Aboriginal) who gave evidence at the Parliamentary Inquiry.

The re-staging on-country at Coranderrk itself was a truly historic event. It was performed by Uncle Jack Charles, Jim Daly, Syd Brisbane, Glen Shea, David Paterson, Greg Fryer, Pauline Whyman, Peter Finlay and Liz Jones.

The stage is all set up.

At 5.00pm the gates at Coranderrk opened and people started to arrive for the 6.30pm performance.

Mission Australia social enterprise restaurant Charcoal Lane provided food featuring native Australian ingredients. A delicious tasting plate was given to anyone with a ticket to the show.

A large crowd, including some descendants of the Aboriginal people who gave evidence at the Parliamentary Inquiry, turned up.

Baby Robert, a descendant of Robert Wandon, with his mother.
Wandon was a Coranderrk stockman, Barak's nephew and successor as Ngurungatea (leader).

Alan Wandin in the presence of his daughters Jacqui Wandin and Brooke Collins welcomed everyone.

CORANDERRK: WE WILL SHOW THE COUNTRY begins.

Uncle Jack Charles as Barak, Wurundjeri clan-head; Ngurungaeta (leader) of the Coranderrk community.

The wonderful cast.

It was a moving event particularly for the descendants of The Coranderrk Aboriginal Station.
After the performance a Question and Answer session was held. Here a descendant speaks.

For information on Coranderrk's past, present and future, please visit the Coranderrk website: coranderrk.com

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Coranderrk Festival 2014

I was delighted to be chosen as the official photographer for the 2014 Coranderrk Festival.

In 2013 the inaugural Coranderrk Festival commemorated the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Aboriginal station in Healesville. It celebrated the history of the reserve and its links to the community.

The 2014 Coranderrk Festival once again paid tribute to the dignity and resilience of the original inhabitants who survived despite the forced closure of their Coranderrk home in 1924. Visitors to the festival, indigenous and non-indigenous, were invited to join descendants of the Coranderrk community in a family day of music, dance, stories and art.

Here is a selection of my favourite portraits:

Dardee Balagamdail member © Barbara Oehring 2014

Djirri Djirri Dance Group girls © Barbara Oehring 2014

Alesa Lajana © Barbara Oehring 2014

Bobby Binnungurr © Barbara Oehring 2014

June Mills © Barbara Oehring 2014

Rod Neason © Barbara Oehring 2014

Allan and Jacqui Wandin © Barbara Oehring 2014

Sally Grice © Barbara Oehring 2014

Djon Mundine © Barbara Oehring 2014

Uncle Jack Charles © Barbara Oehring 2014

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Future Memorials at TarraWarra Museum of Art

I explored the two current exhibitions 'Russell Drysdale' and 'Future Memorials' at TarraWarra Museum of Art in Healesville. I particularly appreciated 'Future Memorials'.

The project, commissioned by TarraWarra Museum of Art, explores the effects of colonialism on Wurundjeri people and seeks new ways to understand and renew the relationship between the past and the present.

FUTURE MEMORIALS involves the Sydney-based Wiradjuri-Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones, Melbourne-based non-Aboriginal artist Tom Nicholson and Senior Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Wandin Murphy AO.

Tom Nicholson's Towards a monument to Batman's Treaty 2008-2013 comprises 101 A0 sheets on the museum wall and 3456 used bricks collected from citizens around Healesville.

Jonathan Jones with Aunty Joy Wandin Murphy after William Barak
untitled (shield design) 2013

The architecture and the landscape delight.

Future Memorials
until 9 February 2014
TarraWarra Museum of Art

311 Healesville-Yarra Glen Road,
Healesville, Victoria, Australia
Open Tuesday – Sunday, 11am to 5pm

Monday, March 18, 2013

CORANDERRK FESTIVAL

Coranderrk was a successful Aboriginal Station established in Healesville, Victoria in 1863.

To mark the 150th anniversary, the Coranderrk Festival was celebrated with music and activities on Saturday 16 March 2013.

Coranderrk, the festival site - a working paddock.

Watching the stage.

Author and historian Mick Woiwod talked about the story of Coranderrk.

Here he is being driven away by Allan Wandin, a descendant of William Barak, who settled at Coranderrk Station in 1863.