2019

Gumnuts and Buttons

As a child, I first learned the history of Australia through the symbolism and metaphors of children’s books. These allegories’ woven with animals and objects alike, enabled me to begin to understand what colonisation was and how it happened. Although I didn’t fully comprehend what it meant at the time, I knew how it made me feel. As I have continued to learn of the atrocities committed against the first nations during the colonisation of Australia, the stories of my childhood have continued to haunt me, leaving me with the desire to connect to the land in which I live but with the inability to do so.

As I have begun to seek out my ancestors and to learn of their stories, I have gained a greater understanding of not only who they were but of the part they played within the history of Australia. Soldiers, convicts and settlers alike, each has had an impact on my development as a person and in learning of and connecting with them through their stories, I have been able to begin to connect to the land in which I live.