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I've created this in an attempt to draw further focus to these images AND go into some detail about my family history.
In truth, I found out last year that I am part Native Australian. I went to Dalby because my family's tribe, the "Wakka Wakkas" were part of that land before colonialism.
That said, I do not personally identify as a Native Aussie because I'm aware that, while my life has problems, a Native Australian's problems will be different and need different methods to help them.
This was a part of a driving holiday I did with my mother in an attempt to discover what we could about the tribe.
I also had an interest in photography and used to take other photos but wanted to flex that creative muscle again.
It was weird to be there because I know full well I'd never be able to take a country lifestyle. Knowing just 3 generations of a gap was all it took.
I've also heard that the original language of that tribe has long since died out and as the tribe communicates stories orally, there is a part of me that wonders how much original intent was lost when English became the primary language to tell them in?
I am also told that the mapping for where the land of that tribe actually was is in dispute because some follow word of mouth from actual Native Aussies, others follow the word of colonialists of the time who were aware said land had oil on it and so, redrew the lines.
It might sound weird in these photos but on the drive up, my mother listened to Nick Cave for the first time on a Greatest Hits CD she had bought and he fit the tone perfectly, in a weird way.
Now this is, from what I understand, the site of a massacre that claimed the lives of many a tribe member.
Before said massacre, I'm told this was a sacred place.
Given the history of what we were up there doing, I've always thought of this image as being rather poetic in a way I can't really describe.
And my attempt at making a horror movie image. Very Nosferatu-like.
One thing I, as a city-Aussie, find both beautiful and terrifying about this part of the country (a place close to the Outback) is how barren it is. No one and nothing for miles. I tried to capture that in this photo.
My inspiration for this was actually a Windows XP wallpaper - "Autumn".
This was the only photo I could get of the main mansion that has been built on said massacre site. There was an event on and I had run out of ways to shoot around it.