Though Australia’s link with the land is strong, and the ways in which we’ve used it have largely determined the Australian character, our interaction with the land is often contested. Here, we gain insights into works that respond to mining in Queensland. Mining in Queensland For Indigenous Australians, the land is everything. Through their care,…
Do you look forward to that time of year when you can walk under a jacaranda tree in full bloom — the gorgeous carpet of fallen purple blossoms caressing your feet, then looking down, the intense purple colour suddenly turns your world upside down — the grass has now become the sky! This is the…
Continue reading » “What’s under the Jacaranda: Delve into the colour purple”
William Yang’s work, intimate and considered, draws on the artist’s own lived experience. Yang’s personal stories inform his spoken-word performances and photography, and he often scribes these stories directly onto his photographic prints. Drawn to people, Yang’s work reveals unsettling narratives in his own life, in the lives of his subjects, and in society. Adept…
Continue reading » “William Yang’s work reveals unsettling narratives in his own life”
These intriguing group of brooches, made by unknown jewellers, that were produced in the Australian goldfields, circa 1880–1915 are a peculiarly Australian innovation. These elegant pieces, which are made from gold, gold nuggets, quartz and garnet, employ mining motifs such as picks, shovels, buckets and prospector’s pan. Following significant discoveries of gold in Australia in…
Continue reading » “Goldfield brooches: Uniquely Australian”
In 1988, the year of Australia’s bicentenary, the Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha) was officially gazetted as Australia’s national floral emblem, enjoying a popular acceptance as the national flower long before then. We’ve been celebrating the Wattle for different reasons over the last century, and this year for the first time on Monday 31 August, Brisbane…
Continue reading » “National Wattle Day: A celebration of a floral emblem”
Daniel Boyd, born in Cairns, Queensland, is an artist of both Aboriginal and South Sea Islander heritage, whose works often deal with the complexity of the history of South Sea Islander labour in Queensland and its legacy. This is one of our state’s most important historical narratives, with some 62 000 labourers brought to Queensland…
Continue reading » “In Daniel Boyd’s works, Australian history is re-told”