An Artback NT Education Resource ITINERARY 2018 2020 Godinymayin Yijard River Arts and Culture Centre, Geraldton Regional Art Gallery, Geraldton, WA Katherine, NT Fremantle Arts Centre, Perth, WA Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, Katoomba, NSW 2019 2021 Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, NT Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, ACT South Australian Museum, Adelaide, SA For up-to-date itinerary information visit artbacknt.com.au/what-we-do/visual-arts/currently-touring AUTHORISATIONS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS WARNING: Indigenous people are respectfully Still in my mind: Gurindji location, experience and advised that names and images of deceased visuality was developed and curated by Brenda L. Croft people may appear in the Still in my mind as practice-led doctoral research, funded through an catalogue and Education Resource. Australian Research Council Discovery Indigenous Award (2012 – 15), in partnership with Karungkarni All images are subject to copyright and have been Art and Culture Aboriginal Corporation, UNSW reproduced with authorisation from the relevant Galleries, UNSW Art & Design, UQ Art Museum, and lenders, photographers and agencies, including supported by the Australian Research Council Centre Karungkarni Art Centre, the representative body of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, UQ. The for the artists of Kalkaringi and Daguragu. touring exhibition is presented by Artback NT with The artists in Still in my mind are from various support from Visions of Australia. language groups including Mudburra, Bilinarra and Gurindji, however only Gurindji and English are used in this document. These materials were developed by Artback NT for use in schools and at exhibition venues. The activities may be reproduced for teaching purposes. Permission to reproduce any material for all other purposes must be obtained from Artback NT. Project Manager: Jo Foster, Artback NT Visual Arts Manager Writers: Angus Cameron, Nomad Art Productions; Jo Foster, Visual Arts Manager, Artback NT; Brenda L Croft, Curator Editorial Support: Felicity Meakins, Linguist UQ; Brenda L Croft, Curator; Kate Rendell, Communications Manager, Artback NT; Liz Rogers, Acting EO, Artback NT Cover Images Design: Oscar Waugh Biddy Wavehill Yarnawurr Nagala and Jimmy Wavehill Ngawanyja Japalyi, Aerial View of Jinparrak (Old Wave Hill) Station, synthetic Video: Elise Fredericksen and Yasmin Smith polymer paint on canvas, image courtesy of Karungkarni Art and Photographers: as credited Culture Aboriginal Corporation Brenda L Croft, Self-portrait at Malyalyimalyalyi/Lipanangku (original Translators/transcribers: as credited Wave Hill Station site, 1883 – 1925), 2014, Inkjet print on archival paper, image courtesy of the artist and Niagara Galleries, Melbourne An Artback NT Education Resource for School Students TEACHERS’ NOTES CONTENTS Introduction Resource Sheets The Exhibition Maps The Education Kit • Language groups Curriculum Links • Massacre sites • Gurindji Walk-Off track Background Information • Jinparrak memory-map Gurindji Country • Memory-map key • The People Song Lyrics • The Place • The Gurindji Blues • Karungkarni Art and Culture Aboriginal Corporation • From Little Thing Big Things Grow Colonisation • Brown Skin Baby (They Took Me Away) • Took the Children Away • Killing Times • Blacks’ Camps and Station Labour Gurindji/English Language List • Life on Cattle Stations • People • Place Stolen Generations • Object Activism – fighting for country • Plants • Vincent Lingiari and the Gurindji Walk-Off • Animals • From Walk-Off to land rights Gurindji Bush Foods • National Aboriginal Land Rights Movement Key Words and Concepts Q&A with Brenda L Croft Quotes for Discussion Recommended References Timeline INTRODUCTION on earlier strike action at Newcastle Waters near Elliott, NT, and three years after the Yirrkala Bark The Exhibition Petition in north-east Arnhem Land. Acknowledged as one of the ‘100 Defining Moments in My name is Vincent Lingiari, came from Australian History’ by the National Museum of Australia, Daguragu, Wattie Creek station. the Gurindji Walk-Off is an event of localised significance Yala-ngurlu nguna yanana, Wattie-Creek- that carries national and international relevance. ngurlung, nguna yani, murlangkurra; Croft collaborated with family and community ngunanyjurra yani. Ngunayini yani jarrakapku members from the Kalkaringi and Daguragu jangkakarni kartiya-wu, murlangkurra, well communities while consecutively working closely nyawa na nguna marnana jarrakap [Then I’m with family and community members whose lived travelling, I came from Wattie Creek, here; I came experience of the continuing negative impacts of to all of you. I came to talk to the big (important) assimilationist policies echoed her own family’s kartiya here, well this is what I’m saying] experiences of cultural dispossession. Weaving That means that I came down here to ask these elements together, the exhibition is a profound all these gentleman here about the land mix of the personal and the political combining rights. What I got story from my old father or intra- and intercultural and cross-generational grandfather, that land belongs to me, belongs perspectives and experiences. to Aboriginal men before the horses and the cattle come over on that land where I am sitting now. That is what I have been keeping on my mind and I still got it on my mind. That is all the words I can tell you. Gurindji/Malngin leader Vincent Lingiari spoke these words as the introduction to the song, ‘Gurindji Blues’, written by Ted Egan in 1969 and recorded by Yolngu leader, Galarrwuy Yununpingu in 1971. Listen to ‘Gurindji Blues’ by downloading audio [MP3 2918kb] For curator, artist and researcher, Brenda L Croft, whose patrilineal heritage is Gurindji/ Malngin/ Mudburra/ Chinese and Irish, Lingiari’s succinct, yet profound declaration of connection to his Country was the inspiration for the exhibition Still in my mind: Gurindji location, experience and visuality. For Croft, the descendant of Stolen Generations’ family members, Lingiari’s statement is the exhibition’s Vincent Lingiari, 1970. Photo Hannah Middleton. touchstone, providing the framework upon which to build her collaborative, practice-led doctoral The exhibition encompasses history paintings on research exhibition project, which, among many canvas and board, works on paper, textiles, photo- issues, considers the ongoing impact of the Gurindji media and an experimental audio-visual installation. Walk-Off, a seminal event in national history that These works are shown alongside significant materials continues to resonate today. drawn from extensive private and public archives, from the early 20th century to the present day, comprising The Walk-Off began in 1966 when Lingiari led over historical still and moving images, oral recordings and two hundred Gurindji and associated people off repatriated cultural material and objects. Jinparrak (Old Wave Hill Station) in the Northern Territory to protest against poor wages and deplorable Through this richly layered tapestry of diverse media living and working conditions. the artists and their communities reflect on distinct, yet connected experiences of dispossession of their This initial strike action grew into a nine-year act of homelands, languages, families and communities sovereignty and self-determination, sparking the over many decades. Manifest of long-standing political birth of the national land rights movement, building An Artback NT Education Resource STILL IN MY MIND — TEACHERS’ NOTES PG. 4 activism, the exhibition also highlights how Gurindji The Exhibition Activities facilitate students to gather people sustain and adapt cultural practices and a broad range of material during their visit to kinship connections, ensuring their shared history the gallery through looking, discussing and then not only reflects on significant events of the past, but recording their observations, thoughts and insights. encompasses the experiences of contemporary and This collected material may then be used for further future generations. engagement back in the classroom. Croft’s work as an artist, curator and creative-led The Pre-Visit Activities introduce students to some researcher - combining visual representation and of the key themes and concepts underpinning the theoretical methods - highlights complex concepts of exhibition while the Post-Visit Activities facilitate community and connection to Country, challenging the further engagement and exploration of these themes. context of a single geographical location denoting ‘home.’ The classroom activities can be linked or sequenced in a variety of ways to develop units of study or used Croft developed the exhibition in partnership with as independent activities. Karungkarni Art and Culture Aboriginal Corporation, UNSW Galleries, UNSW Art & Design and UQ Art The Background Information has been written Museum, with support from the Australian Research to enable direct use with senior students. Council Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Three broad themes can be drawn out for Language. student engagement: ART and IDENTITY • Family Heritage • Stolen Generations • Mapping Home • Seeing Self ART and SOCIAL HISTORY • Life at Wave Hill Still in my mind on exhibition at UNSW Galleries, Sydney, 2017 • Aboriginal Activism • Aboriginal Leaders The Education Kit ART and STORYTELLING The Still in my mind education kit includes: • Unwritten Histories Teachers’ Notes • Exhibitions as storytelling • Background