Horso Creek killings

Place Oceania: Australia, Western Australia, Kimberley
Accession Number AWM2017.665.1
Collection type Art
Measurement framed: 64.6 cm x 95.2 cm x 5.9 cm
Object type Painting
Physical description natural earth pigments on canvas
Maker McKenzie, Queenie Nakarra
Place made Australia: Western Australia, Warmun
Date made 1996
Conflict Period 1930-1939
Copyright

Item copyright: AWM Licensed copyright

Description

Queenie McKenzie was a Gija elder and a respected leader in her community. She was a law woman, teacher and artist, born on Old Texas Downs, a cattle station east of Turkey Creek (Warmun) in the East Kimberley. Her paintings reveal an intimate knowledge of this country, explored through landscapes and dreamings. Accounts of the experience of violent frontier conflict were passed down the generations, and these too informed her painting. 'Horso Creek killings' represents an incident from the 1880s in which a group of Gija people were shot by white men for driving off bullocks. Their bodies were burned to hide the evidence. One boy escaped by hiding in the carcass of a bullock, and was later found by his mother. Here, the white men hold rifles and wear white hats. Marks around the boab tree represent dead bodies.