Barbara Oehring Photography: Healesville

Showing posts with label Healesville. Show all posts

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

Monday, April 13, 2015

The 3rd Annual Walk to Coranderrk

I joined the 3rd Annual Walk to Coranderrk on Saturday 28 March 2015. It started at Coronation Park in Healesville and finished at Coranderrk Station, 19 Barak Lane, Healesville.

The walk commemorates the trek made by Wurundjeri elders William Barak, Simon Wonga and others during early 1863 as they searched for a permanent home for their people. The group of 40 travelled across The Great Divide, from the Acheron to the Watts River, selecting land at the junction of the Yarra River and Coranderrk Creek, now Badger Creek close to the eventual location of Healesville. The walk acknowledges and honours the quest of indigenous people to find a place of their own.

For descendants of original inhabitants, walking home to Coranderrk symbolises their people's journey as they searched for a home. Now, the walk also represents the journey into the future as Coranderrk is to be restored as a living place of belonging where everyone will be welcome: indigenous and non-indigenous. This re-enactment of part of the 1863 walk invites us all to reflect on history and to show our commitment to the strengthening of unity between all Victorians.

The rejuvenation of Coranderrk is taking place and everyone is welcomed to share the celebration of strength and survival as we walk and work together.

At Coronation Park Wurundjeri Elder Uncle Bill Nicholson performs Welcome to Country.

Djirri Djirri Dance Group present traditional dances.

Giving directions before the Walk to Coranderrk.

The walk has started.

The turn into Barak Lane.

Arrival at Coranderrk Station.

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

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