My grandfather, Walter (pictured, 1947), was working on a farm in regional Western Australia in the 40’s and 50’s. He was expelled from school around age 11 because he had no shoes. This was a reality for Aboriginal people who were mostly living on government-sanctioned settlements called reserves. Many were only allowed to leave the reserve to work amongst many other oppressive laws. My grandfather worked the farm throughout his childhood until he was a young man. The farm owner offered rations and to sleep in the horse stables in the warmth of the hay as compensation for his work. The owner claimed to pay my grandfather by safekeeping his earnings in a “trust fund”. This fund was his own pocket and my grandfather never saw a cent from it. The wealth of Australia was built on the back of this common occurrence now known as the Stolen Wages, a historical exploitation of Aboriginal workers through intentional withholding and mismanagement of their earnings by government and private employers.

Screenprint on paper

150cm x 90cm

Ngunmi-Pudji (putting down language), was a response to the 2025 exhibition Relic at Goolugatup Heathcote Gallery, responding to a prompt reflection for passed family members. This paper sculpture was made in collaboration with fellow Kungarakan artist and my Kurrung (mother), Meg McGuire, to reflect the body of work both literally and figuratively of her mother (my Wetji or Grandmother) after a life of hard work reviving the Kungarakan language. The sculpture is made of fragile paper strips taken from her notes, reflections, research, sketching and various documentation that told us more about her than she ever could given the little time she had to accumulate such things before she was overcome by dementia in later years. Her life’s work resulted in the published Kungarakan language book called Ngun Koongurukun (Speak Kungarakan). This resource is now a source of much lost information for our Mob in the south of Darwin, Northern Territory.

200 cm x 100 cm

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