bangayadilinya
for Dhuluny: the war that never ended.
Aunty Wirribee Leanna Carr and Henry Simmons
…Inside the gallery, there is a desk mounted to the wall. It is made from polished red cedar, fitted with short, ornate legs. The desk is chipped in a few places but is otherwise in good condition. On the promotional material for Dhuluny: The War that Never Ended, the desk is bathed in red light, creating a sinister effect. In the exhibition, it’s installed in conjunction with a series of photographs. Each one stages the desk against a different backdrop in Bathurst—outside the wrought iron gates and stone pillars of the Bathurst Court House, on a manicured lawn in front of a grand Victorian-style mansion, under the patio of the local bowling club, and on the ceremonial grounds of the Wahluu, otherwise known as Mount Panorama. In this last photograph, the desk sits atop the entire township of Bathurst; it’s a striking nighttime scene with a ribbon of orange tinging the horizon. The figure of Wirribee Aunty Leanna Carr is woven through the photographs, moving between the foreground and the background, wearing a possum skin cloak. She designed these photographs in collaboration with Henry Simmons, capturing scenes where colonial violence was enacted in the past, and is still being enacted in the present. In doing so, she reveals Bathurst as one big massacre site.
The desk is understood to be Governor Lachlan Macquarie’s transportable writing desk, moving with him from Sydney to Bathurst. He wrote innumerable deeds and legal documents from this desk, producing devastating and far-reaching ramifications for First Nations people across what is now known as New South Wales and Tasmania. It is a potent symbol for the translation of words into actions, and the extent to which those actions are protected under the rule of law. Curated by Carr and Wiradyuri/Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones, Dhuluny: The War that Never Ended is a significant, multi-layered exhibition at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery commemorating the two hundredth anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law in Bathurst on 14 August 1824. This laid the groundwork for the indiscriminate killing of Wiradyuri people with little to no legal repercussions. The title of the exhibition comes from local Elder and traditional owner Dinawan Uncle Bill Allen. Dhuluny (pronounced “dhu-loin”) is the Wiradyuri word for “truth,” “rightness,” and “gospel.”…
— Anastasia Murney.
