untitled (seven monuments) is a publication celebrating the intersecting histories of Coranderrk, one of Australia’s most significant sites of Aboriginal heritage, and the role it plays in our contemporary context. The book is based on the public artwork untitled (seven monuments) by Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin, Jonathan Jones and Tom Nicholson, launched in 2019 after six years of development by the artists with TarraWarra Museum of Art in Healesville, Victoria.
The recently launched public artwork consists of seven monuments that mark the historical boundary of Coranderrk Aboriginal Station at its largest, in 1866 when it was some 4,850 acres. Established by Wurundjeri people for their community and other displaced Aboriginal people in 1863, Coranderrk Aboriginal Station quickly becomes both a thriving economic community and a powerful base for Aboriginal self-organisation and political advocacy. Coranderrk was reduced and undermined by the Victorian Colonial Government, ultimately leading to the dispersal and forced removal of the community to Lake Tyers in 1924, leaving only a handful of determined elders. Today, Coranderrk continues to be an important living place for Wurundjeri and for the wider Aboriginal community.
The untitled (seven monuments) publication is both a visual art catalogue and history book, telling the story of the artwork’s genesis, design and development, while also exploring the continuing influence of Coranderrk Aboriginal Station through an investigation of ideas relating to the environment, literature, history, leadership, policy and law.
untitled (seven monuments) brings together leading and award-winning Australian academics, authors, poets and artists. Following the national curriculum, this publication considers the way that Aboriginal knowledges are present within science, literature, legal frameworks, political studies, among other disciplines, and as such the authors have been specifically selected and commissioned to interpret how these knowledges sit within the broader discourse. The essays and texts tell seven stories of Coranderrk: historian and poet Jeanine Leane will chart the history of Coranderrk Aboriginal Station; author Bruce Pascoe will discuss by the role of leadership, as particular to Coranderrk; journalist and author Stan Grant will explore the meaning of monuments and remembering; lawyer and author Larissa Behrendt will investigate the legal issues arising from Coranderrk, addressing Aboriginal understanding of country and investigating the legal framework underpinning the station’s reduction and closure; TarraWarra Museum of Art curator Anthony Fitzpatrick will chart the evolution of the artwork untitled (seven monuments) through a conversation with Aunty Joy, Tom and Jonathan; and poet and author Tony Birch will create a new poetic response to walking the seven sites of the artwork, an act that pays homage to the establishment of Coranderrk Aboriginal Station.
Just as the untitled (seven monuments) artwork resituates and reinterprets Coranderrk history for a new generation of Australians, this publication will not only honour the story of Coranderrk but create new knowledge about one of Australia’s most iconic and influential historical sites.
The book will be structured in seven parts, echoing both the seven markers of the artwork and the seven Wurundjeri seasons. An essay by Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin discussing the Wurundjeri seasonal calendar will lead the book, setting the tone for a suite of texts that are both intimately related to the site and its significance, and connected to the broader national discussion about Aboriginal history and culture.
Hardcover: 176 pages
Dimensions: 1240 x 170 mm portrait
