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The Art of Protest

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The Art of Protest MULTIMEDIA EXHIBITION 1 THE ART OF PROTEST MEMORIES OF THE STRUGGLE – MULTIMEDIA EXHIBITION THE ART OF PROTEST THE ART OF PROTEST 2014 Customs House Sydney University of Pretoria MEMORIES OF THE STRUGGLE – MULTIMEDIA EXHIBITION 2016 Museum of Australian Democracy Canberra Protest in Sydney including from left to right Eddie Funde, ACTU President Cliff Dolan, Maurie Keane MP, Senator 2017 The Castle of Good Hope Bruce Childs and Johnny Makateni. Photo: State Library of NSW & Search Foundation Cape Town Voices and Memories ANGUS LEENDERTZ | CURATOR THE ASAA TEAM CONTRIBUTORS The global anti-apartheid movement was arguably the greatest social movement of CURATOR Angus Leendertz Father Richard Buchhorn the 20th century and Australia can be very proud of the important role it played in Will Butler and Pamela Curry – Australian High Commission Pretoria, ASSISTANT CURATORS the demise of apartheid. The history of the anti-apartheid movement in Australia Tracy Dunn (Director Ephemera Research & Logistics, University of Pretoria Exhibition 2014 Collections) & James Mohr David Corbet – University of Pretoria Catalogue Design from 1950 to1994 was a story waiting to be told. Ken Davis & Dr Helen McCue – APHEDA (Union Aid Abroad) MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIAN Introduction DEMOCRACY CURATOR Professor Andrea Durbach – HRC Centre, University of New South Wales Libby Stewart Professor Gareth Evans – Former Australian Mininister of Foreign Affairs In this exhibition, you will hear the voices and In 1997, I responded to Nelson Mandela’s general call memories of some of the Australians, South Africans for skilled South Africans to return to their country ASAA REFERENCE GROUP Dr Gary Foley – Victoria University and people of other nations who worked hard of birth and assist in building the new free South Kerry Browning Eddie Funde – ANC Australia over decades to bring about the end of apartheid. Africa. After living overseas for many years, I moved Dr Meredith Burgmann Irene Gale and Sybil Wakefield – CARE South Australia They often faced bitter opposition, and some were back to Cape Town, where I changed the focus of jailed for their actions. Memories of the Struggle my professional practice to the Heritage Sector Jane Harris Paul Kaplan – West Australia pays tribute to the dedication and commitment and undertook skills-based craft training within the Natalie Hendricks Professor Peter Limb – Michigan State University of everyone who took part in the movement. broader community. Some of these new-found skills 4 5 Ish Larney Michael Philips – MoAD 3D Model were used in the landmark interiors of the Parliament The source material for the exhibition was drawn from Patrick Wagner Warren Ludski – Past journalist, Canberra Times of South Africa in Cape Town. I developed a number books, PhD theses and documentaries, but the majority of prestigious projects, including sections of the Audrey McDonald – Union of Australian Women of the information, photographs and other anti-apartheid Robben Island Museum and the Permanent Exhibition memorabilia came from the personal and organisational MULTIMEDIA Greg Miller & Reverend Dorothy McRae-McMahon – Uniting Church on Slavery at the Slave Lodge in Cape Town. archives of activists and supporters. This afforded us Georgia Wallace-Crabbe John Myrtle – South Africa Defence and Aid (SADAF) – Film Projects the opportunity to create a multimedia exhibition that THE ART OF PROTEST Lynette Simons – Mandela foundation speaks of the commitment of many Australians from all The Australasian South African GRAPHIC DESIGN Jane Singleton – Mandela Foundation & Sydney Peace Prize walks of life to supporting the struggle for democracy in Julia Park – Creative Park Alliance (ASAA) Algernon van der Hoeven – South Australia South Africa. A picture emerges of continuous protest in the fields of politics, sport, the trade unions, civil I returned to live permanently in Sydney in 2010, and Klaas van Woldring – Northern NSW society and the clergy. Many who led the vanguard of set about working with a small group of South Africans the anti-apartheid movement did so against the wishes and Australians to raise funds for South African non- of the state and federal governments of the day, and governmental organisations. It was from this start some sustained injury or were imprisoned as a result. that the group called the Australasian South African Alliance (ASAA) came into being, and our first project MEMORIES OF THE STRUGGLE – MULTIMEDIA EXHIBITION I immigrated to Australia in 1980 after completing was to organise a photographic exhibition celebrating PARTNERS my studies in Amsterdam. In Sydney, I started Australia’s role in the anti-apartheid struggle to mark COVER my design career doing corporate office, café & Aboriginal activist Gary the 20th anniversary of democracy in South Africa. Foley wearing the same restaurant design, and after a time with a Sydney Springboks jersey he wore when leading firm, I created my own design practice. demonstrations against the 1971 tour. Photo: Fairfax Syndication The launch of Memories of the Struggle She also researched and coordinated the installation of the ephemera on display at Customs House, some Memories of the Struggle – Australians Against of which is in the Museum of Australian Democracy Apartheid was launched by Former Prime Minister (MoAD) exhibition. When we realised that not all the Bob Hawke at the Parliament of NSW in early information we had collected could be included in the 2014 and was facilitated by NSW Leader of the Customs House show, Tracy came up with the idea of Opposition and current Labour MP Linda Burney. making a scrapbook of our research. This scrapbook The first meeting of ASAA was held at the Sydney home is one of the most interesting items in the exhibition. of Jane Harris and James Mohr. Present were Meredith Jane Harris, Natalie Hendricks, Ish Larney and Burgmann, Tracy Dunn, Jane Harris, Natalie Hendricks, Pat Wagner worked tirelessly throughout the life of Ish Larney, James Mohr and Kolin Thumbadoo. the project and were an invaluable resource, never CLOCKWISE FROM too busy to assist with whatever was required. TOP LEFT TO RIGHT MP Linda Burney Julia Park, our graphic designer, became an indispensible speaking at the launch The Seed funding of the Memories of the member of the group, and it is she who is responsible Struggle – Australians The ASAA drafted a proposal to the Australian High Against Apartheid at for bringing elegance and legibility to the many complex NSW Parliament, 2014. Commissioner in Pretoria, HE Mr. Graeme Wilson, put strands of information presented in the exhibition. HE.Mr Sibusio Ndebele forward the idea of entering into partnership to curate South African High Commissioner to a photographic exhibition which would celebrate 20 Australia is accompanied by HE Mr Adam years of democracy. The exhibition would outline the McCarthy Australian High The research Commissioner to South historical ties shared between Australia and South Africa Africa at a recent vist to At a meeting in July 2013 at a coffee shop in the MoAD. Photo: DFAT and the role they played in bringing about the downfall Glebe, Meredith Burgmann, Ish Larney and I began Dr Meredith Burgmann of apartheid in South Africa. It would also celebrate the with former prime efforts of those Australians who gave so much to the listing the network of individuals who were active 6 minister Bob Hawke and 7 curator Angus Leendertz cause in those difficult years. The proposal was successful in the anti-apartheid years. The entire reference at the launch of the Memories of the Struggle and we received seed funding from the Australian group then mapped the decades of anti-apartheid – Australians Against Apartheid in Canberra. High Commission in Pretoria. Natalie Mendelsohn, activity in all Australian states and created a HE Mr. Graeme Wilson Second Secretary at the AHC in Pretoria, facilitated detailed timeline. Key organisations and individuals with Archbishop throughout Australia and abroad were consulted. Desmond Tutu. the proposal and assisted High Commissioner Graeme In memory of HE Wilson in communications with our group. Sadly, Mr. Mr. Graeme Wilson, Out of this process, a timeline emerged that illustrated former Australian High THE ART OF PROTEST Wilson passed away before the exhibition was realised in Commissioner to South the full story of anti-apartheid activism across all Africa, who worked Pretoria, but his contribution was crucial to the project. tirelessly to advance layers of society in Australia from the mid-1950s the Australia-South Africa relationship to 1994, when Nelson Mandela became the first during his tenure and democratically elected president of South Africa. who was a driving force behind this exhibition. The curators and reference group Not all the information gathered could be used as there The ASAA group with Every member of the ASAA group worked hard to Gareth Evans at the were constraints on both time and exhibition space, opening of the Memories get the detail right and sustain the onward movement of the Struggle exhibition but all contributions are recognised and valued. in Customs House of the exhibition, but special mention must be made Sydney, September 2014. of the contributions of two people in particular – At the 2015 opening “ We realised that we had the beginnings of a MEMORIES OF THE STRUGGLE – MULTIMEDIA EXHIBITION of the Memories of the assistant curators, James Mohr and Tracy Dunn. Struggle exhibition, good exhibition, one that not only focused MoAD. From left to right: Anthony Abrahams James Mohr tirelessly researched many archives for on the enormity of ending apartheid in (One of the Wallabies detail and photographs we could include in the who refused to play South Africa, but one which illustrated the the Springboks), exhibition, and Tracy Dunn catalogued all the Kerrie Browning, development of Australian society in the Sekai Holland and curator information and ordered it for use in the final panels. Angus Leendertz. years of the struggle.” Tracy Dunn, 2014 Our work began in earnest.
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