This month Peter Warples-Crowe and Megan Evans discussed their current exhibition ‘Settlers and Savages’ with our art group.

Peter, an Aboriginal man from near Tumbarumba NSW, uses his art to explore the misconception of Aboriginals as ‘savages’. His series of mission blankets with copies of nineteenth century etchings starkly confronted this idea.  The large study of ‘Progress’ showing an Aboriginal man being crushed in a mining whim, asks the question: Was the finding of gold in Ballarat progress for Aboriginal people? Likewise the video of Megan and him on the high plains, masked and wearing a possum skin cloak as they acted out their roles of settler and Aboriginal, with Megan obliterating the art works that Peter had drawn on the rock faces. Within these serious charges, Peter confronts the events with a certain wry humour and irony as he seeks to explore what these deprivations mean to contemporary Aborigines.

Megan, a descendant of squatters in the same area, uses her textile skills to embellish pieces of colonial furniture with beaded scenes including portraits of her grandparents and herself. Using red beads, Megan mutilates the furniture with slashes suggesting the blood spilt in these frontier confrontations. Chairs with carving forks stuck in them, a settee with rifles for legs and a chandelier dripping with red strands of beads cascading from it, further define this idea. Her excellent beaded work on these pieces gives an unsettling contrast of both beauty and horror.

Both artists wanted to debunk the idea of the ‘golden light of colonisation’ that has pushed Aboriginal history aside to acknowledge the tragedies of settlement. Both artists believe that if both cultures face these facts and listen to these forgotten stories there will be a better chance of settlers and Aborigines moving forward in shared understanding.
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​Meg Dillon

Our group was quite excited to find ourselves in the  Claridge Studio for this month’s art appreciation session. Gallery Director Bryony Nainby had arranged for Dr Julie Gough, an artist, writer and curator to come to Benalla to talk about her own art practice as a Tasmanian Aborigine.

In this session Julie showed many of her photographs that explore amongst other things the notion of ‘Absence’ in the Tasmanian landscape. Where are the missing people that inhabited the island prior to settlement by Europeans? Julie found traces of them in the evocative nineteenth century  placenames that hint at their presence: Black Charlie’s Creek, Blackboy, Blackman’s Bay, Jacky’s Marsh etc. Her photos show fingerboards with the placenames but as well the empty landscape behind denuded of native vegetation. The absence of people, of native scrub and native animals point to the obliteration of their culture. And yet within Tasmanian society many Aboriginal people live and practice their culture.

As well Julie noted the number of Aboriginal words appropriated as placenames: Karoola, Catagunya, Bungana and Camena to name a few. Many of these were imposed on the landscape in the twentieth century with little regard for their language, origins and meaning.

You may recall Julie’s photos in the Gallery several months ago, photos of BBQ shelters in picnic spots that have former Aboriginal cultural associations. Her lecture and photo-show also greatly enhanced our understanding of the current exhibition ‘Settlers and Savages’ which uses everyday  nineteenth century furniture and objects, embellished with gashes and accretions of red beads, symbolising the blood spilt during the clashes between Aborigines and settlers.

These two events led to many thoughtful comments and further understanding of the culture and experiences of the First Australians.
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​Meg Dillon