Clip description
Fayleen and her family are walking through parts of her mother’s country. Paintings show people sitting on rocks and eating bush meat. Images show the rock hole where the old people used to live, and the place where they were when they were shot. The voice-over narration tells us what the old people were doing when the police arrived, and about the ghost gums that have grown from the spirit of the slain.
Curator’s notes
Technically, the emotion of this story is conveyed through images that have been created in the absence of photographic or film imagery. The creation of the paintings contributes to the story, which is the oral history of this particular family. The beauty of this clip is in the intimacy that is being shared about a family tragedy. The murder of family members by police during what is now known as the Coniston Massacre is shared in detail, and it is powerful imagery of the family members returning to their country that this clip explores through the physicality of the family being in the place that is their country; a place that is also the site where many lives were lost. The familiarity of the family with this country is evident, and it is a poignant moment to observe as an outsider to this family story, that the rocks they climb over, is the same place where many people died. In a western context, it would be like returning to a physical place where many family members died, which is also your home and dealing with grief in order to do this.