COCKLECREEK COCKLECREEK T OQUEENSTOW T OQUEENSTOW N~AHISTORIC N~AHISTORIC ALNARRATIVE ALNARRATIVE MANDY HUNNIFORD Cockle Creek to Queenstown – A Historical Narrative, interprets the Tasmanian landscape through a synthesis of visual images and history with Colonial and Aboriginal references. The exhibition incorporates a combination of themes, such as the exploration by Europeans, the settlement of the island, the representation of Aboriginal language, the depiction of locations, illustrating the land and its histories, anecdotes handed down through generations and the relationship between the images and text.

The exhibition investigates the roles of text as visual metaphors and as written history and is a record of Tasmanian history, documenting a sense of place and chronicling the past. These narrative landscapes are not only a declaration of site but also about the passage of time.

Tracing the journeys of early exploration, with the use of evocation, allegories, connections and repetition, the aim of this exhibition is to present an inventive and stimulating demonstration of contemporary painting practice with a historical perspective.

Mandy Hunniford 2011 COCKLECREEK T OQUEENSTOW N~AHISTORIC ALNARRATIVE We are often told how ‘The journey is more important than We can find names of early explorers, reminders of the the destination’. However, we spend so much of our life settlers and places now gone, and the names and words of rushing from one place to another that we rarely appreciate the original inhabitants, the Tasmanian Aboriginal people. what we see, or engage with the places we pass through. The series starts with Monsieur Delahaye’s Garden - This is particularly true, for some reason, when living in Cockle Creek a work finding inspiration from the far south . Although this is a small state we inevitably find coast of Tasmania. The painting depicts the garden at ourselves so determined to get from North to South, Hobart Recherché Bay and looks south to the Great Southern to Launceston, Burnie to Queenstown, one population Ocean. It investigates the location where, in 1792, French centre to the next. As a result we often overlook the beauty explorer Bruni D’Entrecasteaux went ashore onto the and fascinating history of the places we pass through. land of the Lyluequonny people. There was a great Cockle Creek to Queenstown - A Historical Narrative deal of contact between these Tasmanian Aboriginal investigates a journey around Tasmania, from Cockle Creek people and the explorers during D’Entrecasteaux’s in the far south, through the Midlands, along the Northwest time there, with this being one of the few positive Coast and ending in the rugged Tasmanian West Coast. interactions between the Tasmanians and the Europeans. Through this body of work the artist has sought to explore The explorers recorded the considerable evidence of the many areas of the state that we frequently drive past Tasmanian’s long term occupancy, with shelters, discarded and don’t give the consideration that perhaps we should. tools and artefacts, being found and social interaction The journey that we are taken on becomes first apparent being recorded. These explorers also left their mark on the though the artists use of colour, with the series’ the most Island. The expeditions’ gardener, Felix Delahaye, planted perceptible transition from place to place being through the out a vegetable garden during their time here with fruit carefully changing palette. We can see the landscape spread trees and many root vegetables being left to grow there. out before us as we move from work to work; the greens Ten years later, Delahaye became the head gardener for of the far south, the dusty browns of the dry sun-baked Napoleon’s wife Josephine, but his garden planted in midlands, to the lush patchwork of the Northwest pastures Tasmania continued to fascinate our later settlers with and the dense foliage and rugged mineral rich West coast. people like Jane, Lady Franklin and Ronald Campbell Gunn searching for the garden, but with little success. This exhibition does not just take us on a journey through The site of the original Garden was only rediscovered Tasmania by an exploration of colour and landscape; in 2003 and now forms part of the world heritage areai. we are also led through the rich history and the hidden stories of the state. Subtle hints and stories, names and As the series continues through the Midlands, we can see places can be found throughout the text surrounding how the artist has skilfully entwined elements of the past each work. The artist has chosen to refrain from the and present in many of her works, creating images layered use of dates, instead giving the viewer the chance to in both meaning and historical reference. One example discover a name, a place or an event that may lead to can be seen in, Horton College Remains and the Female a new reading of each work as a new story is revealed. Factory, Ross. This carefully constructed painting overlays the contemporary ‘ruins’ of the Horton College, built in Each of these evocative images in this series have

1855, with a depiction of the Ross , which been carefully matched with the textual elements of

closed in the same year. This work has created a strong the work, the names of people and events that have

dialogue between the two sides of the colonial settlement: shaped the history of the state. Each work has been

the landed settlers and their convict labours. 403 women carefully constructed to lead the view onto different

and girls where known to have spent time at the Ross stories but with an eye on the overall composition of a

Female Factory and the site has since become protected series. The tremendous amount of work that the artist

Historic Site. Most tellingly this work tells the duel story has put into this show is obvious with each work being

of the Tasmanian Midlands with the factory established to carefully researched and skilfully created. As the viewer continues to spend time with the works more stories incarcerate and act as a supply centre for the female convicts. begin to unfold and as we engage with this series we Convicts that were needed to work in the homes of the are lead on a journey, through both the natural beauty, landed elite, whose children attended the Horton Collegeii. colonial landscapes and the amazing history of Tasmania. This exhibition is a documentary process, with stories from Damien Quilliam

the past overlapping with the present, brought together Curator of Contemporary Australian Art, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery through both image and text. As the series continues

through the state we see both remembered sites such

as the now demolished jetty at Port Sorell corresponding

with the striking contemporary portrayals like the poppy

fields at Ulverstone or the rich farmland tapestry at Burnie.

This series reaches its conclusion on Tasmania’s West Coast

with the painting, Landscape Memorial in Copper and Gold,

Queenstown. This work highlights the mineral wealth of

this West Coast town with the scarred moonscape-hills

awash with the gold and copper hues, referencing the

treasure that has made this town thrive. However, like

all of this artists works, there is another message that is

not obvious at first. This work seeks to act as a reminder

to the 42 men that were trapped and died in the Mt Lyell

mining disaster in 1912. Each of these men have been

memorialised in the work, their names painted across the i Mulvaney, John, 2007, The Axe Had Never Sounded: Place, People and Heritage in Recherche Bay, Tasmania, Australian National hills, and then covered in the colours of gold and copper, University, Canberra ii Bender, B., Winer, M.,2001, Contested landscapes: movement, exile the minerals that helped make the state grow and prosper and place, Berg, Oxford. iii Bonyhady, T., Griffiths, T., 2002, Words for country: landscape & but has also cost the lives of many that have sought itiii. language in Australia, UNSW Press, Sydney.

MH 5 Monsieur Delahaye’s Garden, Cockle Creek, 2010, oil on canvas, 120 x180cm

1. Monsieur Delahaye’s Garden, Cockle Creek

In 1792, the French explorer Bruni D’Entrecasteaux sailed into Recherché Bay, Cockle Creek on a botanical expedition. The same year his journal stated that the expedition’s gardener, Felix Delahaye, had planted a garden behind a protective stone wall on the shores of the north‐east peninsula. In 2003 the remains of this French garden were discovered and a reserve was created to protect the area.

Cockle Creek is significant for its rich material history in the form of middens, and as the site of positive exchange between Tasmanian Aborigines and French navigators.

The crew included botanists, mappers, astronomers, artists, gardeners and Louis Girardin, a mysterious steward with his own secret, could not have anticipated becoming such important part of Australian history.

Hidden within this band of intellectuals was Girardin, an effeminate young man who, as the crew was to discover, was in fact a 38 year old woman, Marie Louise Victoire Girardin. Girardin was the daughter of the head gardener at the royal court of Versailles who was forced out of France after shaming her father by having an illegitimate child.

Going against the strict naval laws then forbidding women to participate in expeditions, Bruni D’Entrecasteaux not only knew of Girardin’s deception, he appeared to encourage it. Girardin was keen to maintain her disguise – she defended her masculinity by challenging a fellow crew man to a sword fight during which she suffered a gash to the arm.

Lady Jane Franklin, wife of the Governor Sir John Franklin, led an expedition which included the ornithologist John Gould and botanist Ronald Gunn to Cockle Creek in 1839. They made three attempts to find Felix Delahaye’s garden but failed. Hope, Faith and Charity Islands, Dover, 2010, oil on canvas, 120 x180cm

2. Hope, Faith and Charity Islands, Dover

The town was originally named Port Esperance by the French explorer, Bruni D’Entrecasteaux in 1792. Dover was originally established as a convict probation station.

Dover lies beside the waters of Esperance Bay and the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, with the imposing figure of Adamson’s Peak in the background. The three islands directly offshore, Faith, Hope and Charity, were named perhaps to inspire the convicts held at the original probation station.

MH 7 Fourteen Tree Plain, Jericho, 2010, oil on canvas, 120 x180cm

3. Fourteen Tree Plain, Jericho

Founded in 1816, Jericho it is one of the oldest townships in Australia.

Private Hugh Germain is believed to have served in the Royal Marines in Egypt and during his foray beyond Hobart Town in 1806 is carried a copy if the Arabian nights he is believed to be responsible for the names of Bagdad, Jericho, River Jordan, Jerusalem Plain (now Colebrook) and Lake Tiberias.

The most notable buildings in Jericho are the Commandant’s Cottage (built in 1842) and the Probation Station (built in 1840), which was constructed to house the 200 convicts who were used to construct the road linking Hobart and Launceston. The land adjacent to the Probation Station was originally known as ‘Fourteen Tree Plain’ and was the site of the first horse race in the colony of Van Diemen’s Land, held in April 1826. Horton College Remains and the Female Factory, Ross 2011, oil on canvas, 120 x180cm

4. Horton College Remains and the Female Factory, Ross

In 1850 Captain Samuel Horton offered 20 acres and £1350 to the Wesleyan The Ross Female Factory operated towards the end of the transportation Church for the establishment of a boy’s college. The multi-storeyed Horton period from March 1848 to January 1855. It served as a factory as well as College was built of red brick with dressings and had trimmings of carved a hiring depot, an overnight station for female convicts travelling between sandstone. The portico, some foundations and underground water well are all settlements, a hospital and a nursery. It was one of five female factories that remain after the college was pulled down 1920 due to lack of students established in Tasmania. and the material sold. The archaeological location is a protected historic site. Although little In 1935 the Mary Fox Wing at the Methodist Ladies College (now Scotch architecture remains above the ground, the Ross Factory is the most Oakburn College) some old bricks from Horton College were built into archaeologically intact female convict site in Australia. one of the walls as a tangible reminder of the college association. Horton The Ross Bridge is decorated with 186 intricate carvings featuring animals, College was the first Methodist College in Australia. Horton House was birds, insects, plants, Celtic Gods and Goddesses and the heads of local partly constructed from the material obtained from the college. friends and foe – including an unflattering one of Governor of the day, Research into the lives and experiences of convict women and their George Arthur. These carvings were created by convicts Daniel Herbert children in Van Diemen’s Land, and into the Female Factories designed to whose artistry earned him his freedom and James Colbeck who was also define and contain those experiences. a talented stonemason. Prior to his transportation he had worked on the construction of Buckingham Palace.

MH 9 Murderers Tier and Mary Island, Oatlands, 2011, oil on canvas, 120 x180cm

5. Murderers Tier and Marys Island, Oatlands

The area was first explored when Governor and his The Black War of Van Diemen’s Land was the name of the official campaign party passed through in 1811. It was another decade before Macquarie of terror directed against the Tasmanian Aborigines. Between 1803 and returned to the district whereby he named the town oatlands on 3 June, 1830 their number was reduced from an estimated 5,000 people to less 1821. He named the town Oatlands on 3 June, 1821. than 75.

Mary’s Island on Lake Dulverton was named after Mary Anstey, wife of the Although historians vary on their definition of when the conflict began and local Police Magistrate Thomas Anstey. It is a small sandstone rock roughly ended, it is best understood as the officially sanctioned time of declared 80m long with a few cedars growing on it. martial law by the colonial government between 1828 and 1832.

Some unusual names have flourished around Oatlands such as Brents Jorgen Jorgenson, the self-proclaimed, ‘King of Iceland’ was an intelligent, Sugarloaf, Brandy Bottom, Rumneys Hut, Murderers Tier, Kittys Corner and quick-witted adventurer who was born in Denmark. As a young man, he Brents Sugarloaf. served in both the British and Danish navies and subsequently travelled to Iceland. Whilst there, he saw an opportunity to overthrow the government The early history of the town is a reminder that the local Aborigines did and during a return visit with a group of armed British seamen, he arrested not give up their land without a fight. Governor Arthur had a notion of the Danish governor. Jorgenson enjoyed control over the government for rounding up all the Aborigines on Van Diemen’s Land and that Oatlands several weeks before the Danish military forced him out. He returned to was the centre of these operations. They were famously unsuccessful England, and to prison. spending vast numbers of hours and resources. The Tasmanian Aborigines simply slipped through the infamous Black Line (1830) each night and over Heavy drinking and habitual gambling saw Jorgenson fall on hard times, 1000 soldiers and armed civilians returned after weeks of hunting down but eventually he fought his way back to some sort of respectability and the indigenes with only a small boy and an old woman to show for their was employed as an English spy. Ultimately though, his bad habits got the labours. better of him; he was arrested for theft and sentenced to transportation for life. Arriving in Van Diemen’s Land in 1826, Jorgenson redeemed himself Although early governors were instructed to treat the Tasmanian once more, rising to the ranks of field policeman at Oatlands. Aboriginals with “kindness”, no provision was made to purchase land or to make a treaty as had happened in New Zealand with the Maoris. The Almond Gardens, Campbell Town, 2011, oil on canvas, 120 x180cm

6. The Almond Gardens, Campbell Town

Alfred Biggs made the first telephone call in the Southern Hemisphere from the Campbell Town Railway Station in1874.

IN 1874, the US Navy sent several teams to various points in the Southern Hemisphere to observe the Transit of Venus. Bad weather meant the team destined for the Crozet Islands could not land and ended up in Tasmania. They actually viewed the Transit from Valentine’s park in Campbell Town. The phenomenon occurs in cycles of 120 then 12 years – the most recent was June 8, 2004. Dr William Valentine who’s interest in astronomy led him to organise the viewing of the Transit of Venus in 1874.

Harold Gatty born in Campbell Town in 1903 was a distinguished navigator who with flew the “Winnie Mae” around the world in 8 days with Wiley Post, a native American Indian pilot. Local school teacher’s son, Harold Gatty was on his way to making history as the two of them flew around the world in 8 days and 15 hours - a feat never before achieved. He is the only person from Campbell Town, and perhaps Tasmania, ever to be honoured with a ticker tape parade through New York. Although he was offered American citizenship for his achievement he declined and Congress passed a special act to award him the US Distinguished Flying Cross. Years later many American military pilots who had to ditch into the sea owed their survival to him too. He developed a navigation system and survival guide - ‘The Raft Book’ that the US military used for several decades

In 1827 John McLeod planted a large almond orchard, part of which still remains and accounts for the name given by the locals to the area. He held a ball at Meadowbank and used a platoon of convicts to attend to hundreds of Chinese lanterns to light the road from Campbell town. The ball was called The Almond Gardens Ball.

MH 11 Tamar Island, Riverside, 2010, oil on canvas, 120 x180cm

7. Tamar Island, Riverside

Tamar Island was first sighted in 1804 and over the years had been known as Upper, Pig and Mud Island. It was also called Turtledove Island because of the number of young couples who went courting there. It was named Tamar Island in 1906.

With a rich and varied history it has been a quarantine station as well as a graveyard for sunken ships that lie beneath the waters of The Burial Grounds. It was also used as a training base for soldiers when the British were worried about a potential Russian offensive against Tasmania.

From the late 1800s until the 1950s, the island was offered as a farming lease. One such resident was Thomas Robinson, who in 1892 leant his plough up against an oak tree upon the death of his wife. That tree is still there today with the plough embedded in its trunk.

In 1890 Tamar Island became a botanical ark with over 500 trees from the Botanical Gardens in Hobart planted. There are still roughly 100 trees including Spruce, Fir, Elm and Oak on the island today. The Jetty, Narawntapu and Penguin Island, Port Sorell, 2010, oil on canvas, 120 x180cm

8. The Jetty, Narawntapu and Penguin Island, Port Sorell

Port Sorell was originally named Burgess but in 1822 the then Governor William Sorell renamed it in honor of himself. It was once the largest town on the north coast and had a thriving port developed by Van Dieman’s Land Company. This port included a jetty opposite Bakers Beach that is no longer there, it has since been replaced by a concrete pylon. Port Sorell had a convict jail on Watchhouse Hill now home to a bowling green. Little evidence of Port Sorell’s history remains after the town was destroyed by bushfire.

Port Sorell was the home of the Punnilerpanner tribe, with midden sites up to 4000 years old. In 2000, Asbestos Ranges was changed back to its Aboriginal title, Narawntapu, in recognition of its long and significant place in the history of Tasmania’s Aboriginal people.

MH 13 The Poppy Fields, Ulverstone, 2011, oil on canvas, 120 x180cm

9. The Poppy Fields, Ulverstone

The present-day town area was first settled by Europeans in 1848.

Developmental work in the poppy industry was done by the CSRIO during World War 2 in a number of Australian States including Tasmania. Pilot production began on the North West coast in 1964. Tasmanian Alkaloids commenced in 1970 along with the first season of commercial production. In 1972 a joint decision by Commonwealth and State Governments restricted the growing of poppies to Tasmania. This led to the establishment of the Poppy Advisory and Control Board. Farmland, Burnie, 2011, oil on canvas, 120 x180cm

10. Farmland, Burnie

Burnie was originally settled in 1827 as Emu Bay. The town was renamed However, its fortunes changed dramatically in the 1880s with the discovery for William Burnie - a director of the Van Dieman’s Land Company - in the of significant mineral deposits on the west coast of Tasmania. In 1878 the early 1840s. Van Diemen Land Company constructed a wooden horse-drawn tramway to serve Mt Bischoff, which was then the richest tin mine in the world. The Like most of the north coast of Tasmania, the area surrounding Burnie tramway was a remarkable timber construction that stretched over 75 km was first explored by Europeans when George Bass and Matthew Flinders and used horses to pull the tin laden carriages. The tin industry ensured circumnavigated Van Diemen’s Land in 1798. the continued growth of the town, and by the late-1880s, the railway had Later in 1827, a small settlement was established at the western end of Emu been converted to steam locomotives and the port facilities were greatly Bay, near the present city centre. The first permanent settlers of Emu Bay expanded. Burnie became the sole port for the Mt Bischoff mine resulting arrived from England in the vessel Caroline on February 2, 1828.The name in a trebling of its population to more than 1000 by 1891. ‘Emu Bay’ was chosen because the Tasmanian sub-species of emu which was With the late-nineteenth century mineral boom on the west coast, which smaller than its mainland counterparts and roamed the district at the time of saw the towns of Zeehan, Mt Lyell, Dundas, Renison Bell and Rosebery settlement. This sub-species became extinct sometime in the 1850s. grow rapidly, the railway was taken over by the Emu Bay Railway Company The settlement of Emu Bay was initially used as the base for all the Van and extended to Zeehan in 1900. Thus, Burnie became the major port for Diemen’s Land Company operations in the district. Some of the settlers the shipping of silver from Tasmania. This saw record growth in Burnie’s refused to adapt to their new surroundings. For instance they did not business district and the further development of outlying farms. recognise that in the southern hemisphere the seasons were reversed. For The claims of Mt Bischoff and the mines at Zeehan that were served by many years the costs of farming were only just recovered. By the 1880s the the Emu Bay Railway line began to decline by about 1915, and Burnie company was making more money from timber felling and timber exports although its population had grown and its port facilities had been than from farming. substantially developed once more relied found itself almost wholly reliant on its outlying farms and forests for its existence.

MH 15 St. Valentines Peak, Hampshire, 2011, oil on canvas, 120 x180cm

11. St. Valentines Peak, Hampshire

In 1827 Henry Hellyer, a explorer and surveyor with the Van Diemen’s Land Company (VDL), led an arduous 32-day trek inland from Stanley through almost impenetrable bush to the ‘peak like a volcano’ which had been observed by Matthew Flinders in 1798. Commencing its ascent on St. Valentine’s Day, Hellyer named it St Valentine’s Peak. Hellyer’s report of extensive, open and apparently desirable sheep country he called Surrey and Hampshire Hills resulted in the VDL applying for a series of grants which totalled over 170,000 acres.

Unlike the older sheep districts of the eastern half of Tasmania, the country around St. Valentine’s peak was sub-alpine, with long, wet and bitterly cold winters. The native snow grass lacked nutrition and in the first few winters more than 5,000 merino sheep perished. Hellyer’s inability to judge the type of country that was required and the VDL’s chief agent Edward Curr’s acceptance of Hellyer’s opinion without first inspecting the land himself, led to serious financial difficulties in the VDL.

Curr wrote of Hellyer: ‘he may look upon everything with a painter’s eye and upon his own discoveries in particular with an affection that is blind to all faults’.

Hellyer’s belief that slanderous reports were circulating about him apparently worked on his over-sensitive and reserved nature to the point of desperation and he committed suicide on the 9th September 1832. Grey Gums and Red Rocks, Tullah, 2010, oil on canvas, 120 x180cm

12. Grey Gums and Red Rocks, Tullah

Tullah was originally a mining town called Mount Farrell.

Tullah was established as a small mining settlement in 1900 following the discovery of silver lead ore by Josiah Innes and party. Original access was by foot and packhorse until the Mt. Farrell Tramway was completed in March 1909. In 1924 the Wee Georgie Wood steam railway linked the town to the Emu Bay railway and this continued until 1964 when the Murchison Highway was completed.

The forests along the road to Tullah have a certain timelessness about them and are linked both to the past and also the present.

MH 17 Silver City (The Secret Garden), Zeehan, 2011, oil on canvas, 120 x180cm

13. Silver City (The Secret Garden), Zeehan

Zeehan was first sighted by Abel Tasman, in 1642, when he saw the mountain peak later named Mount Zeehan by Bass and Flinders, after Tasman’s brig. In 1871 the discovery of tin at Mount Bischoff led to further exploration in the area. 10 years later, Frank Long discovered silver and lead, sparking the largest mining boom on the West Coast of Tasmania. While the boom lasted it was known as the Silver City.

In 1871, Dame Nellie Melba, Australia’s first opera star, once graced the stage of the Gaiety Theatre.

Zeehan was one of the first places in Tasmania ever seen by Europeans. As early as 1642 Abel Tasman sighted the mountain peak which was subsequently named Mount Zeehan after the brig in which he was sailing. It was Bass and Flinders, travelling around the Tasmanian coast in 1802, who named both Mount Zeehan and Mount Heemskirk after the two boats used by Tasman in his epic voyages.

27 men have died in the mines at Zeehan. Their names have been painted under the grey and silver mountain in this painting as a memorial to them.

On the west coast there had been rumours for years of a secret garden in Zeehan. The general consensus was that there had been a garden but no- one had actually seen it. Hells Gates, Strahan, 2011, oil on canvas, 120 x180cm

14. Hells Gates, Strahan

For 12 long years between 1822 and 1834, Sarah Island was the most of the east. Pearce was captured after a brief period of liberty and upon feared place in Australia. Clinging to the shores of the Wild West coast of his return to Macquarie Harbour he confessed to the cannibalism of other Tasmania and hemmed in on all sides by rugged unchartered wilderness, members of the escape party in order to ward off starvation. As the grisly tale the environment itself formed the prison walls that confined the convicts unfolded, Pearce related how the men had granted one of their next meals who were sent there. The conditions were so brutal that many went made, the opportunity to say prayers before eating him. Eventually, only Pearce or chose death or a very uncertain escape into the bush rather than spend and one other man, Bob Greenhill, remained alive. Greenhill had earlier said, their time in this notorious place. perhaps jokingly, that he was so hungry he could eat a man! When Greenhill was finally overcome by tiredness and fell asleep, Pearce killed him and set The name “Hells Gates” relates to the original convicts’ claim that it was out alone, taking with him a portion of Greenhill’s thigh and arm. their point of ‘entrance to Hell,’ their Hell being the on Sarah Island and the outlying surrounds of the harbor. There was insufficient evidence to try Pearce for murder. On his second escape, only a few weeks after he was returned to Macquarie Harbour, It finally closed down in 1833 when the remaining convicts were all taken Pearce again killed his companion, Thomas Cox for food, despite having to Port Arthur. The convicts worked on a nearby coal seam and rowed sufficient bread and salt meat with him at the time of his capture. Pearce across the harbor each day (after swimming to the boats) to cut down the was found guilty of murder and executed at Hobart Town on 19 July 1824. large stands of Huon Pine which edged the waters. One of the best known prisoners to escape from Sarah Island was the and his seven convict mates escaped from gaol in Sarah flamboyant . In June 1824 Brady and fourteen companions Island, in 1822 and set out on a terrible journey that led to the starvation seized a boat and sailed to the Derwent estuary before taking to the bush. and, ultimately, cannibalism. In 1891, two lighthouses were built, one on the western side of Entrance On the 20 September 1822 an escape attempt by a party of eight prisoners Island, and the other on Bonnet Island. resulted in Alexander Pearce becoming the first to reach the settled districts

MH 19 Landscape Memorial in Copper and Gold, Queenstown, 2010, oil on canvas, 120 x180cm

15. Landscape Memorial in Copper and Gold, Queenstown

Queenstown, its hills stripped bare of timber to fire the local copper smelters, has the appearance of a deserted moonscape. Throughout the town’s 130 year mining history, diminishing gold resources resulted in a shift to copper mining. The copper smelters polluted the area with sulphur fumes and left the landscape sparse. Vegetation is now slowing regrowing.

The mountains surrounding Queenstown including Mt. Owen and Mt. Lyell have unusual pink and yellow hues that come from the conglomerate rocks hence their particular colour.

In 1912, 42 men died in the Mt. Lyell Disaster. The names of these men have been painted under the layers of copper and gold in this painting in recognition of their lost lives. Although concealed, their names are there nonetheless. Acknowledgements:

The artist would like to thank the Director of the Academy Gallery, Malcom Bywaters, Exhibitions Manager, Robert Boldkald, Amelia Rowe and the staff and volunteers at the Academy Gallery for their enthusiasm and effort towards this exhibition. Thank you to Damien Quilliam for writing the catalogue essay and Rhonda Hamilton for opening the exhibition. Special thanks to Emeritus Professor Vincent McGrath, Todd Wilkin, Jesse Hunniford, and to my family and friends.

This project was assisted through Arts Tasmania by the Minister for the Arts.

*Historical information for artwork numbers 1 to 15 is supplied by the artist.

Mandy Hunniford is represented by Handmark Gallery, Hobart and Evandale, Tasmania

MH 21

Academy Gallery academy of the arts SCHOOL OF VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS LAUNCESTON UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA

Staff: Malcom Bywaters, Director INVERMAY ROAD, INVERESK Deborah Sciulli, Administrative Officer LAUNCESTON 7250 AUSTRALIA Robert Boldkald, Exhibition Manager T: +61 3 6324 4450 F: +61 3 6324 4463 Georgie Parker, President Academy Gallery Volunteer Club www.acadarts.utas.edu.au G A L L E R Y H O U R S : Catalogue published by the University of Tasmania, MONDAY - FRIDAY 9AM - 5PM School of Visual and Performing Arts. Free Admission All rights reserved. Copyright the author, artist and the University of Tasmania, School of Visual and Performing Arts.

All opinions expressed in the material contained in this publication are those of the author and not necessarily those of the publisher. The University of Tasmania’s exhibitions program receives generous assistance from the Minister for the Arts, through Arts Tasmania. Edition: 50 Catalogue ISBN: 978-1-86295-610-8.

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