Place | Oceania: Australia, Victoria, Lake Condah |
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Accession Number | AWM2020.156.2 |
Collection type | Art |
Measurement | Sheet: 80 x 100 cm |
Object type | Photograph |
Physical description | Inkjet on cotton rag |
Maker |
Millar-Baker, Hayley |
Place made | Australia: Victoria, Melbourne |
Date made | 2018 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: AWM Licensed copyright |
Untitled (The best means, of caring for, and dealing with them in the future)
'Untitled (The best means, of caring for, and dealing with them in the future)' comes from artist Hayley Millar-Baker's 'A Series of Unwarranted Events', created in 2018.
'A Series of Unwarranted Events' relates to the frontier violence faced by Millar-Baker's ancestors, the Gunditjmara people, in the 19th century. These events include the destruction of the ancestral lands, and murders of her ancestors, and the forced indoctrination to Christianity.
'Untitled (The best means, of caring for, and dealing with them in the future)' depicts a church's facade emerging from the rubble of fallen houses and other buildings in the forefront. The composition speaks to the common trend of colonists trying to convert Aboriginal people to Christianity - a practice that they thought was "[t]he best means, of caring for, and dealing with [Aboriginal people] in the future."
The artist states:
“The Lake Condah Aboriginal Mission Station was built in 1867 under the leadership of the Church of England. The Church of England saw the mission as a means to ‘civilise’ the Gunditjmara people through the compulsion of Western education and Christianity. The missions’ governance executed brutal policies through denying work permits to the residents, providing rations as rewards rather than a right, and operating as an institution to house stolen children. Untitled (The best means, of caring for, and dealing with them in the future) speaks to the fatal absorption policies and mission remains, on Gunditjmara County – all in the name of Australia’s European and religious overthrow.” Artist statement 2018