Footprints in the Forest A visual exploration of the tall timber forests of Northern New South Wales. By Susan Coumbe B FA Hons (Newcastle) An exegesis submitted in support of an exhibition of works of art for the degree Of Master of Philosophy (Fine Arts) At University of Newcastle, Australia January 2009 I hereby certify that the work embodied in this exegesis is the result of original research and has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other University or Institution. Signed I wish to acknowledge and thank my supervisors Brett Alexander and Anne Graham for their support, patience and assistance with this research. I would also like to thank ceramic artist Robyn Furner for her technical assistance with the ceramic works. School of Drama, Fine Art and Music Faculty of Education and Arts The University of Newcastle Supervisors Brett Alexander and Anne Graham. Abstract This exegesis is a supportive document to the Sculptural Installation works produced in response to a visual exploration of the tall timber forests of northern NSW. Personal lived experience of the forest environment underpins this investigation and adds to the final presentation of the creative works of art. This particular landscape in the valley of Tanban, Eungai Creek in the Nambucca Shire holds the marks and traces of past human endeavor and is one of many coastal forest sources of the magnificent timber tree – red cedar, and the mythic tales of cedar getters who worked the forests. This place of trees is imbued with memories deeply seated in the cultural identity of the region and is a site of conflict, survival and settlement. Past and present timber practices have left their mark and the landscape bears the scars. Today Indigenous peoples within the region are reclaiming once lost sacred sites within the forest landscape and the once contested forestry practices and blockades have made way for the preservation of old growth, rainforests and cultural sites of significance into reserves and national parks. The sculptural installation works presented here are a reflection of my personal connection to this landscape of trees and the deeply embedded histories the forest contains. List of Contents List of illustrations Page 1 Introduction Page 3 Chapter 1 Forests - An understanding of place, Page 8 history and culture of the Nambucca region of New South Wales Chapter 11 Approaches to Nature, Culture and Place Page 27 Chapter III Contemporary Art Engagements Page 42 Chapter IV Arboreal – Footprints in the Forest: Page 60 Installation works, process, discourse and images Conclusion Page 81 Source of illustrations Page 85 Bibliography Page 88 List of illustrations Introduction 1 Views of Tanban from the summit of Mt Yarrahappinni 2 Views of Tanban 2008 Soozie Coumbe Chapter 1 3 Aboriginal family displaying uses for paperbark Dailan Pugh 4 Aboriginal tribal boundaries 5 Cedar getters east of Armidale NSW 1890,s 6 Practice of ringbarking 1895 7 Dorrigo timber camp (undated) The state records authority of NSW. 8 Portable mill Tanban, (undated) The state records authority of NSW. Chapter 2 9 Views of Australia (1824-1825) Joseph Lycett 10 Whelan on the log (1890) Arthur Streeton 11 Dance at the conclusion of the Cawarra ceremony, Yarrahappinni tribal group (1843) Clement Hodgkinson 1818-1893 12 Up in smoke (2006) Nambucca Guardian News Chapter 3 13 Racoon (2000) Louise Weaver 14 Cell Culture (2001-2002) Fiona Hall 15 Understorey (1999-2004) Fiona Hall 16 River Leaf Stone (1999) 17 Clay Wall (1998) Andy Goldsworthy 18 Fall Creek (2000) Andy Goldsworthy 19 Raddle (1984) Antony Hamilton 20 Edge of the Trees (1995) Janet Laurence and Fiona Foley 21 Floating Island (1970) Robert Smithson 22 Monaro (1989) Rosalie Gascoigne 23 Set Up (1984) Rosalie Gascoigne Chapter 4 24 Fragile Nature (2007) Soozie Coumbe 25 Arboreal (August 2008) Soozie Coumbe 26 Woodchop competition Bellingen, 27 Habitat - Arboreal (2008) Soozie Coumbe 1 Installation works 28 Blackbutt Horizon (2008) 29 Embedded (2007) 30 Nature - Culture (2008) 31 Habitat - Arboreal (2008) 32 Habitat - Arboreal (2008) 33 Fragile Nature (2007) 34 Going, Going, Gone! (2008) 35 Axes – proto types (2008) 36 Axes – proto types (2008) 2 Introduction My aim in this research has been to produce a body of installation sculptural works that explore the boundaries and connections between nature art and culture through the physicality of the Australian Landscape, in particular the forested landscape of the north coast of NSW, within the regions of the Nambucca River. I am interested in the ideas of ‘place’ and connection, and in this instance, place being the forested environs which I call home. As I have lived in this region for a large part of my adult life my own ‘lived experience’1 of this physical environment underlies my investigation. My aims were not to add to Post Colonial discourse, but the work does touch upon this topic, especially in relation to the Indigenous connection to this landscape, and historical aspects in respect to material culture – the use of hand tools used in the Colonial forest environs. This particular landscape is the source of the iconic timber tree, red cedar (toona ciliate) which once flourished amongst the coastal rainforests of NSW, a natural resource that brought a culture and industry of timber harvesting, an industry that survives to this day. 3 1 View of Tanban, from the summit of Mt Yarrahapinni (Nambucca Shire) The forest landscape holds the marks and traces of human endeavour, and is a site of conflict and survival; imbued with memories deeply seated in the cultural identity of the region. Traces of Indigenous and European culture are mixed with the soil here; European farming tools stone and metal axes, 4 grindstones and various cultural objects often appear as discards of past endeavours. Large scattered weathered tree stumps stand as sentinels to and memorials for the conflicts of settlers; and axe marks of age old timber cutting practices lay embedded in their surfaces. It is these marks and traces of connection that are physical reminders of past endeavours, metaphors of destruction and survival. Remnants of once old forest giants and the landscape they pervaded. Discussions regarding nature seem outmoded and passé in today’s ever changing world, but contemporary modes of art discourse on this subject are still relevant and ever changing. Nature reflects humanity’s connections and with recent awareness of environmental destruction and global warming, pollution and scarcity of water, forests and trees are playing an ever-important role. No longer can we ignore nature and no longer can we see nature only as an economic aid to our civilization. With these installation sculptural works I am attempting to investigate the enigmatic space between nature, culture and place, a void of new interpretation through the engagement in the physicality of nature – the forest environment. I am interested in the balancing act of finding ones place of belonging, through the examination of the space between; an understanding of place and belonging. My previous research led me on an investigation of the space, the place we call home, a place of belonging. Seen through the eyes of the immigrant, the in- between cultural space – as artist and writer Paul Carter calls ‘the gap’2 many immigrants traverse in trying to find a new home a new sense of belonging. This Masters research builds on this investigation through the physicality of place, the forested valley I call home. As much of Australia was explored and developed with the aid of immigration, the Nambucca region was not immune to this thesis. From the early days of settlement influxes of population invigorated the economic and cultural life of the region, as it still does today, evidenced by influx of tree and sea – change urban immigrants. 5 The forest of tall timber eucalypts was the attraction when I moved from South Australia in the mid 1970’s. The contrast was huge, the bushy red green trees of the harsh South Australian landscape did not compare with the rich dark green towering giants of Northern NSW. The climate in this northern region was gentler, with a much higher rainfall than what I was used to in South Australia. Childhood memories of rich green English countryside came flooding back to me here, and for the first time since arriving in Australia as a child, I felt a connection, a pervading sense of belonging. The chapters in this exegesis are divided into three areas of discussion: Nature, Culture and Place. Chapter I sets the grounding on Place in a description and discussion of the layered history of the region I call home. Chapters two, three and four widen the discussion and encompass the historical into a contemporary framework referencing various Artworks, Artists practices and my creative response to the research. 6 2. Views of Tanban – Soozie Coumbe 1 Lippard Lucy Lure of the Local, sense of place in a multicentered society, New York 1997, page 5. 2 Carter Paul Hossein Valamanesh, NSW 1996, page 7. 7 Chapter 1 Forests - an understanding of Place History and culture of the Nambucca Region of Northern NSW The Nambucca Valley on the North Coast of New South Wales lies half way between Sydney and Brisbane covering an area of approximately twenty- three kilometres long by twenty-three kilometres wide1. The rolling hills, river flats and forested terrain fan out from the escarpment of the New England Plateau of the Great Dividing Range, eastwards to the Pacific Ocean, and traversed by the Nambucca River and its tributaries. The valley has three major townships: Nambucca Heads situated at the mouth of the Nambucca River, Macksville, situated upstream, and Bowraville, which lies further up stream. Today tourists play a large role in the culture and economic growth of the valley, alongside traditional agricultural industries of cattle, dairy, tropical fruit and nut farms.