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When a nation learns to listen
Tony Urquhart reports on a major exhibition of Australian indigenous art that is helping to provide impetus for a cultural revival and sustainable social change.

On the polished floor of an echoing atrium in the Queensland Art Gallery is a group of 15 neck-thick poles. Each is coated with rust red ochre and daubed with a mesmerizing pattern of coin-sized white dots. These are law poles - Thuuth thaa' munth 2002-03, an installation by artist Ron Yunkaporta - one of more than 80 artists who contributed the 300 works to Story Place: indigenous Art of Cape York and the Rainforest.

The law poles, made of trunk sections of the cotton tree, are in human proportion. Visible through the Gallery's glass eastern wall are the office towers of Brisbane's central business district, dominant and immovable. The two Australian cultures represented by the poles and the office towers are estranged by a history shared for over 200 years. The Gallery's soundproof glass walls symbolize, poignantly, the reluctance of a nation to hear its indigenous voices.

At the opening of Story Place in 2003, Sam Walsh, chief executive of Comalco, the exhibition's principal corporate sponsor, drew on the company's experience to talk about this selective national deafness. He recalled that when Comalco began building its mine at Weipa in the late 1950s, "the opinions of the local Aboriginal community were not sought directly. Instead, others spoke on their behalf."

Then, pointing to the 2001 Western Cape Communities Co-existence Agreement (WCCCA), he explained how Comalco, almost half a century later, now has a formal commitment to consult and work co-operatively with the indigenous peoples of Western Cape York.



When a nation learns to listen Tony Urquhart reports on a major exhibition of Australian indigenous art that is helping to provide impetus for a cultural revival and sustainable social change. On the polished floor of an echoing atrium in the Queensland Art Gallery is a group of 15 neck-thick poles. Each is coated with rust red ochre and daubed with a mesmerizing pattern of coin-sized white dots. These are law poles - Thuuth thaa' munth 2002-03, an installation by artist Ron Yunkaporta - one of more than 80 artists who contributed the 300 works to Story Place: indigenous Art of Cape York and the Rainforest. The law poles, made of trunk sections of the cotton tree, are in human proportion. Visible through the Gallery's glass eastern wall are the office towers of Brisbane's central business district, dominant and immovable. The two Australian cultures represented by the poles and the office towers are estranged by a history shared for over 200 years. The Gallery's soundproof glass walls symbolize, poignantly, the reluctance of a nation to hear its indigenous voices. At the opening of Story Place in 2003, Sam Walsh, chief executive of Comalco, the exhibition's principal corporate sponsor, drew on the company's experience to talk about this selective national deafness. He recalled that when Comalco began building its mine at Weipa in the late 1950s, "the opinions of the local Aboriginal community were not sought directly. Instead, others spoke on their behalf." Then, pointing to the 2001 Western Cape Communities Co-existence Agreement (WCCCA), he explained how Comalco, almost half a century later, now has a formal commitment to consult and work co-operatively with the indigenous peoples of Western Cape York.
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Review is published by Rio Tinto, 6 St James' Square, London SW1Y 4LD, England Telephone +44 (0)20 7930 2399 Editor: Cherry DeGeer