Thank you for your email and I’m sure that you are aware that I’m quite well informed about most of what you lay out here – and especially so as I’ve been an agitator in regard to this matter for well over a decade.
Of course you’ve provided details that I’m unaware of but without taking anything away from all that, what you’ve seemed to miss is the point that I was making. Either the issue is not on anyone’s radar at all or there is something else at work that I’m totally unaware of and that is driving what appears to be discriminatory decision making – decision making that diminishes the QVMAG’s Community of Ownership & Interest!
I do ‘acknowledge’ that the work you talk about is going on; I do acknowledge that it is significant; but it is just the case that the ‘acknowledgement’ of Tasmania’s Aboriginal cultural realities, currently, is somewhat invisible at the QVMAG either on site physically, or online.
As you say we’ve discussed this before and over many years now – so by extension, enough time has passed for the issue to be addressed.
A memorable occasion for us both would be late 2012 early 2013 when I was preparing my papers for COOLABAH – published out of the Australia Studies Unit at the University of Barcelona:
- Interrogating Placedness: Tasmanian Disconnections – http://www.ub.edu/dpfilsa/coola11raynorman20.pdf.
- Necklace making and placedness in Tasmania – http://www.ub.edu/dpfilsa/coola11raynorman22.pdf
Interestingly, at the opening of ‘Tasmanian Connections’ – clearly not your curatorship – I drew attention to the ‘missing people’ compared to say the ‘celebrated convict presence’, colonial shipwrecks, etc. That critique went straight through to the keeper as if it was a ‘no-ball’. Interestingly at that opening there was no acknowledgment of ‘country’ nor ‘the palawa elders past and present’. That kind of omission persisted for too long albeit that ‘country and palawa people’ are currently consistently acknowledged.
Yet the ‘missing people’ are still relatively invisible despite all that you say is going on, and again I do acknowledge its importance and significance ... It’s just the case that its going on invisibly in the background somewhere ... Well out of sight ... Publically out of mind ... Apparently too hard to deal with ... Not unlike other kinds of discrimination.
Before now I’ve been offered the explanation that the current situation, whenever that was, was due to a “lack of resources”. Any professional operation with an operating budget the size of the QVMAG’s could not, I suggest would not, offer that explanation with a straight face in the context of 21st C Aboriginal acknowledgement, inclusion and reconciliation.
So it’s against that background that I invoked David Morrison. I’m sorry, but it is all too clear that there are standards here that have been, and arguably are still being, “walked past”.
When competing for space, resources and attention currently its clear walking through the door on either campus that the Tasmanian Aboriginal stories just do not cut it compared to say European wasps, blue and white ceramics, colonial family portraits, colonial and convict histories, etc. that all have found ‘available niches’, sometimes in apparently quick-smart time.
On my Friday Jan 29 visit to both campuses I did not find one single example of a manifestation of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people’s own story or storytelling. For several years, typically there’ve been less than 10 examples of Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural production on show – and then, typically in a colonial context. The time has come when it is no longer a sustainable proposition, nor an ethical one, to hold the view that the Tasmanian Aboriginal community ‘is not really there’ nor not really a part of Tasmania’s cultural reality.
As for the posters you mention, I forgot to seek them out on Friday so I’m assuming that they’re indeed there and that I missed them. Nonetheless, all this ‘tis-tisn’t finger pointing’ takes us nowhere interesting. Therefore, I submit yet again that the time for excuses is well and truly over and that:
These are things the institution must do on its own initiative!
- It would be a positive move to urgently, immediately and obviously, use the QVMAG’s substantial collections to present an image of inclusion and reconciliation on both sites; and
- It would likewise be appropriate to put the Internet, and specifically social media, to work to present and market Launceston’s commitment to proactive inclusion and reconciliation in respect to Tasmania’s Aboriginal community via the QVMAG’s sites.
This wouldn’t need to be a grand gesture right now but I submit it would need to be something realistic, something significant and something much more than a tokenistic poster.
In amongst the omissions and avoidance, Stan Grant's recent and incredibly poignant speech is right there with its many echoes ... and for me at least, with its very loud and reverberating echoes. And then there is Noel Pearson’s recent Press Club address.
I reiterate that I believe there’re “win-wins” to be had here that would flow through to the community in multi-dimensional ways. Therefore, I again call upon Council to use its good offices and the QVMAG’s collections to address this lingering issue and without delay.
I look forward to a response to the position I’m presenting with considerable interest.
Regards,
Ray
Ray Norman <zingHOUSEunlimited> PH: 03-6334 2176 EMAIL 1: raynorman7250@bigpond.com 40 Delamere Crescent Trevallyn TAS. 7250
WEBsite: http://www.raynorman7250.blogspot.com
“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.” Thomas Paine
“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept ” David Morrison
CLICK HERE: http://www.launceston.tas.gov.au/lcc/index.php?c=69
On 29/01/2016 8:19 am, "Richard Mulvaney" <Richard.Mulvaney@launceston.tas.gov.au> wrote:
Dear Ray
Your email of yesterday was passed onto me by the General Manager, Robert Dobrzynski, to reply. We have discussed the matter of Tasmanian Aboriginal representation at QVMAG before and we are working to redress the situation.
As you are aware we are working on a new permanent gallery tilted The Gallery of the First Tasmanians to be located in the Art Gallery. It will open during NAIDOC Week in July 2017.
The consultant curator is Greg Lehman a Tasmanian Aboriginal academic. The exhibition is being developed through the QVMAG Aboriginal Reference Group who are actively involved. Damien Quilliam, QVMAG Curator of Contemporary Art, also a Tasmanian Aboriginal, is the liaison between the ARG and QVMAG. It is a multi-discipline exhibition that is involving a lot of our staff that are very committed to finally having a permanent place in QVMAG where the continuing story of Tasmanian Aboriginal culture can be told.
We received $293k in grant funding from the Tasmanian Community Fund for this. The maximum you can apply for is $300k. They were very moved by our application and as with the grant conditions we are keeping them informed of developments. We have since put up a poster at both sites that outlines our intentions to open the gallery in 2017.
We are also working collaboratively with La Trobe University on our stone tool collection on a major three year study of manufacture, trade and people movement in north-east Tasmania. The Plomley Foundation has sponsored another Tasmanian Aboriginal, Julie Gough, to review our Aboriginal collection in readiness for the Gallery of the First Tasmanians.
Lastly QVMAG will be acquiring the entire collection of the Lola Greeno exhibition that is currently touring Australia until 2018. As you know, Lola is a respected Tasmanian Aboriginal Elder and contemporary artist from Launceston. The exhibition was a collaboration with the Australian Design Centre and they have agreed to donate the exhibition furniture once the tour is completed.
We are working in cooperative and close consultation with our Aboriginal Reference Group. That is how it should be. They will continue to guide us on what we can do on an ongoing nature with the aim to have a continuing and meaningful dialogue with the Aboriginal community. I hope in doing so we more than meet the sentiments expressed by David Morrison.
As a courtesy to them I will forward your correspondence to them.
Regards, Richard
Richard Mulvaney I Director I City of Launceston Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery and Princess Theatre
T 03 6323 3700 I M 0409 744 392 I www.qvmag.tas.gov.au <http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/>
From: Ray Norman 7250 [mailto:raynorman7250@bigpond.com]
Sent: Thursday, 28 January 2016 8:07 AM
To: Robert Dobrzynski
Subject: QVMAG Inclusive Programming & Presentation.
Good morning Robert,
Given Noel Pearson’s speech at the Press Club yesterday (see below); the Tasmanian Government’s reconciliatory approaches to Tasmania’s Aboriginal community; and myself being reminded yet again that QVMAG’s representation of Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural realities being tokenistic, I’m writing today bring these things to your attention.
Moreover, given that Launceston City Council declares loud and clear, that it “owns and operates the Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery” the tokenism exhibited towards the Tasmanian Aboriginal community on display at the QVMAG is, I submit, diminishing to all Launcestonians.
Therefore against this background I put it to you:
- It would be a positive move to urgently, immediately and obviously, use the QVMAG’s substantial collections to present an image of inclusion and reconciliation on both sites; and
- It would likewise be appropriate to put the Internet, and specifically social media, to work to present and market Launceston’s commitment to proactive inclusion and reconciliation in respect to Tasmania’s Aboriginal community via the QVMAG’s sites.
Australian of the Year, David Morrison’s now famous ‘comment’ (see below) would seem to apply, and somewhat poignantly, here. As someone who has found myself unable to “walk past” the situation as it pertains at the QVMAG for as long as I’ve been aware of it I can only say there are significant win-wins to be had by urgently addressing this issue.
I also suggests that these “wins” would flow through to the wider community. I therefore call upon you to use your good offices as the QVMAG’s ultimate Executive Officer to address this issue.
Regards,
Ray
Ray Norman <zingHOUSEunlimited> PH: 03-6334 2176 EMAIL 1: raynorman7250@bigpond.com 40 Delamere Crescent Trevallyn TAS. 7250
WEBsite: http://www.raynorman7250.blogspot.com
“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.”
Thomas Paine
CLICK HERE: http://www.launceston.tas.gov.au/lcc/index.php?c=69
NOEL PEARSON STORY
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/i-was-35-and-made-the-wrong-turn-noel-pearson-reveals-his-greatest-regret-20160127-gmezc7.html
<https://twitter.com/LtonCityCouncil> <http://www.youtube.com/user/LauncestonCtyCouncil> <http://www.launceston.tas.gov.au> <http://yourvoiceyourlaunceston.com.au/>
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