‘The Dying Darling’ was a joint project between myself and
my partner Sarah Moles to document the plight of the Darling River after a long
period of drought. The title was a response to ‘The Living Murray’ government
initiative and was intended to highlight the lack of government interest in
this river. We chose to focus on the people of the river in an attempt to
appeal to anthropocentric orientations. Sarah did the text and I did the
drawings in charcoal on gesso panels and the book was published by Enviropress
in 2006. We did four trips along the
river to collect the material.
The portraits were done while Sarah engaged the subjects in
conversation, resulting mostly in candid portraits as they usually forgot I was
there. On many occasions several drawings were done in one day.
“Dying Darling
coverart”
“Owen Sees the Writing on the Wall”
Owen Betts was
struggling to stay afloat at Balgi after all the upstream water diversions of
Cubbie Station. The writing on the wall is a map of these diversions.
“James, Rob, Brian and Gemma Crutching at Balgi,
Australia Day 2006”
What’s more Aussie
than drawing in a Shearing shed on Australia Day?
“Pop Bent Her Glasses Yesterday”
Pop Peterson managed
Brenda Station on the Culgoa River and was concerned about the large number of
ancient River Red Gums that were turning up their toes on her property. She was
a bit embarrassed about having her portrait done as her glasses were bent. She
thought I’d straighten them out in the drawing. She’s now retired to the coast.
“Brenda, Pop's Oasis”
The garden at Brenda
was Pop’s pride and joy and the lawn was a buffer of sanity between the house
and the sea of dust.
“Floodpain”
Dead trees on Bill
Hagarty’s property Talawanta on the Birrie, north of Brewarrina.
“Bill's had a Gutful”
His expression says
it all. Bloody hot. He’s since sold up and retired to Dubbo. This drawing won
me the Hugh Sawrey Art Award in 2012.
“Angelo Remembers”
Angelo Pippos runs
the amazingly intact Café Deluxe, handed down from his grandfather, in the sad
town of Brewarrina.
“Aunty Liz - Speaking for Kamilaroi”
Aunty Liz Wallace and
Uncle Allan Hall lived at Lightning Ridge. The Narran Lakes was their country.
Alan was part of this portrait, but insisted on wearing his hat, which was
annoying as his hair was impressive. During the sitting his position constantly
changed, making it impossible to get a good likeness. So I cut his end off and
came back a few months later to draw him again.
“Uncle Allan Hall – Speaking for Yuwaaliaay”
See what I mean about Allan’s hair. A real gentleman and
defender of his country and people, now deceased.
“Janey Adams, Carbon Cyclist”
Janey was a research
scientist working for the Northern Basin Freshwater Research Laboratory at Gundiwindi,
shortly to be unemployed.
“Hamish Goes Against the Flow”
Hamish Holcombe is a
fourth-generation woolgrower on the Whalan Creek floodplain. He’s since been
forced to sell up.
“Sue Speaks Up”
I did Sue Jones’
portrait in a pub in Dubbo. One portrait I regret not painting, beautiful
swarthy skin and intense green eyes.
“Dirran Town Weir”
The Dirranbandi town
weir, just a small river blockage as far as blockages go.
“Mal Turnbull Tests the Waters”
We attended a meeting
at Dirran where the newly appointed Parliamentary Secretary assisting the Prime
Minister on Water Policy was trying to get up to speed.
“Ed Fessey Gesture”
A quick (2 mins)
sketch of Ed, drawn in the waiting shed at Dirran airport. He was at the
meeting, but wasn’t interested in sitting, so I had to content myself with a
sketch.
“The Disarming John Grabbe”
Much discussed
manager of Cubbie Station and consummate politician. In the sky is the text of
section 100 of the Australian constitution, giving control of river water to
the states, drawn in brown with half-baked charcoal.
“Sarah at Bifurc 2 on Donegri Creek”
A bifurcated weir is
a way of controlling stream flow at a fork in the river. Sarah appears to be
moonwalking.
“Jacked Up”
A section of the massive
Jack Taylor Weir at St. George.
“The House of God”
The offices of
Sunwater at St. George. They decide.
“Beardmore, Nee Ups'n'Downs”
Beardmore Dam, also
at St. George, once known as the property Ups’n’Downs.
“Peter Andrews, Restoring the Balance”
I travelled a long way to draw river restoration guru
Peter Andrews. He wasn’t very accommodating and I had to chase him all over the
property in the rain as he worked in order to capture this portrait. I drew him
from several different angles on the same panel until this profile finally
resolved, at which point I erased the others and filled in the background.
“Bill
Chaining Ponds”
Bill
was operating the excavator under Peter’s direction. He was chuffed to think
anyone would bother drawing him at work.
“Howie's Tractor's Got a Flat”
Howard Blackburn
lived on the Gwydir floodplain between Mungindi and Moree. The flat tyre on his
tractor echoed his mood.
“Crinolyn Ramsar Wasteland”
Howard’s wasted
property, Crynolyn, RAMSAR listed, but not watered.
“One Ton Post at Mungindi”
We just had to pay
our respects to the One Ton Post, a surveying marker at the end of the straight
line border between NSW and Queensland.
“Jen and Sarah, Birds of a Feather”
Jen Southeron was a
committed birdo who lived near Howard. She really stiffened up while I was
drawing and it shows.
“Lefty”
An old friend of
ours, Colin Lethbridge had a pecan farm at Moree. I made some pecan (hickory)
charcoal while visiting, and used it in all the following drawings.
“ECAOAC Sets Off”
On a visit to the
Gwydir River with the Environmental Contingency Allowance Operations Advisory
Committee (!) to inspect the Gwydir raft on the Gingham River, an immense
blockage of timber and assorted whitegoods.
“The Gwydir Raft”
“Snag”
“The Gingham”
“Rocky”
An aboriginal
attending a community consultation meeting at Lightning Ridge. After finishing
this candid sketch, I showed it to him and his wife laughed and said that if
he’d known I was drawing him, he would have put his hat on to cover his bald
spot.
“Hot Dog and Sherrie”
At the same meeting.
“Rory”
Rory Treweeke was speaking at the meeting.
“The Artesian Pool at the
Ridge”
“Eric and Wilga”
Eric Fisher is a
landholder in the Macquarie Marshes.
“Lock 10 at Wentworth”
One of the many locks
along the Murray River.
“Confluence”
The confluence of the
Murray (left) and Darling (right) rivers. The Murray is river colour, the
Darling is reddy brown.
“Canoe Tree at Wentworth”
A scarred tree where
aboriginals had removed the bark to make a canoe.
“P.S.Industry”
A Paddle steamer in
retirement at Renmark.
“Howard, Greening the Wetlands”
Howard Jones, at
Wentworth, one of those rare people who actually do something to rehabilitate
river wetlands.
“(Lake) Mungo”
The famous Lake Mungo,
bereft of water, but raining. The roads turned to slush and we were very lucky
to get out.
“Bringing Rain to Menindee”
The dry Menindee
Lakes at Sunset Strip, where it was also raining.
“Marie - d.r.a.g. Queen”
Marie Wecker,
president of the Darling River Action Group at Broken Hill.
“Barney - Mending a Broken Hill”
Barney Stevens was a
d.r.a.g. member who set up an arboretum in Broken Hill.
“Bill - Speaking for Barkindji”
Bill Riley, a ranger
at Mutawintji National Park and another d.r.a.g. member.
“Neville Over the Darling”
Neville Crisp lives
on the banks of the Darling near Wilcannia. He wasn’t too happy about me doing
his portrait, but was pleased with the results.
“The Darling at Idalia”
Infested with feral
plants.
“Cole's New World”
Ian Cole is a very
savvy irrigator who lives near Bourke. The title is the name of his property.
“Culgoa...Going...Gone”
This is a piece of
the Culgoa floodplain on Ed Fessey’s property north of Brewarrina. The ants
were the only noticeable form of life.
“Richard and Clarissa, Bringing Native Fish Back”
Richard Ping Kee has a fishing shop at Moree and does what
he can to remove carp from the Gwydir River and restore native fish stocks. In
the background is his pet Murray Cod, called Clarissa, who had an amazing party
act that involved changing colour rapidly.
“Peter Glennie - Not Just a Farmer”
Peter is an irrigator
in Moree with a collection of rally cars.
“Barnaby and Bill – Boys Behaving Badly”
Barnaby Joyce and Bill Heffernan at a Senate enquiry into
water policy initiatives that we attended in Toowoomba. Barnaby just scowled at
me, but Bill wandered over and had a chat. They were continually having a go at
each other.
“The Enigmatic Leith Boully”
Leith chaired the Water Futures reference panel that got
nowhere in Toowoomba.
“Aunty Grace - Speaking for Kooma”
We met Aunty Grace Wetherall at her home in Toowoomba.
“Hadley Faces the Future”
A rare thing – a
young person interested in the health of the rivers.
“Topograph – Flat”
A topographic map of
the Darling River Catchment. I used layers of tissue and gesso to accurately
describe the elevation of the landscape. It’s flat.
“Electrograph – Flow”
A circuit board I
made showing the water storages (capacitors) and town weirs (diodes) in the
Murray-Darling Basin. The large clump top centre is around St. George and the
Snowy Mountains Scheme is bottom right. St. George and Cubbie are bigger than
the Snowy.
