It is no secret to our Aboriginal communities that our Ancestors were enslaved. JULIE DOWLING
From left Julie Dowling, Great Uncle Sam, 2017, Acrylic, red ochre and mica gold on canvas, 152 × 101.5cm. Image courtesy of the artist. Julie Dowling, Tuppence (my great-grandmother), 2005, Acrylic, red ochre and plastic on canvas, 80 × 49.8cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
JULIE DOWLING BIDYA GURLBARL (OPEN SECRET) 11 FEBRUARY–20 MARCH 2022 Julie Dowling is an internationally acclaimed Badimia (Yamatji) First Nation artist and activist who creates iconic pictorial critiques of contemporary and historical Australian narratives. Through the stories of her own First Nation family, Dowling re-presents the violence and power imbalance in settler-colonial and contemporary Western Australia. Her portraits of family members reference archival photographs of Aboriginal people in which the abuse of power is stark. These portraits speak to the strength of Aboriginal spirituality and connection to Country and kin. Dowlings’ own ancestors, and those of other Aboriginal people, gaze directly at the viewer, challenging them to acknowledge Australia’s colonial history and protest the ongoing injustices experienced by Aboriginal people. This strategy emphasises the personal impact of the conditions of slavery while celebrating the beauty, strength and dignity of those gone and those still living. Aboriginal workers were denied wages for their work until well into the 1970s, receiving rations of flour, tea and sugar. Aboriginal slavery has underpinned the development of mining and pastoral successes in the State of Western Australia and all other States and Territories. Indentured Aboriginal workers, listed as chattels on property deeds, could not legally leave the employment of their white bosses. Children stolen from their families were deployed as free labour in the missions and native settlements where they were detained. The intergenerational trauma experienced today from such injustice impacts the health and well-being of all Australians. Although Aboriginal people may no longer be possessed and
traded, Dowling comments on the legacy of how Aboriginal people were posed as ethnographic exhibits on postcards in the 19th and 20th centuries. Such voyeurism meant that those who were photographed were unidentified and continue to be unclaimed and unknown centuries later. The same could be said for the thousands of body parts and sacred objects that await repatriation from overseas institutions. All should be returned to their people for proper burial and to give their spirit peace.
ARTIST STATEMENT It is no secret to our Aboriginal communities that our Ancestors were enslaved. Yet the existence of slavery in Australia has been downplayed and conveniently ignored at the highest level. It was a pretty brutal place, but there was no slavery in Australia.
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AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER, SCOTT MORRISON, 11 JUNE 2020
Australia’s white colonial administration was one of the most brutal systems of slavery in the world. Our people were captured, chained around their necks, and made to walk hundreds of kilometres to work as slaves on cattle stations, pearling boats, and in the kitchens and gardens of English gentry. Our leaders were forced to be the ‘chattels’ of white people. That’s called SLAVERY!!! The wealth and prosperity of this nation was founded on such brutality. The denial of this history calls on white Australia to grow up and be honest. In doing so, this secret becomes knowledge and empowers whoever is willing to learn. 1
This quote is taken from a radio interview on 11 June 2020. It was widely circulated and caused public debate about the mistaken idea that there was no slavery in Australia.