Aunty Marlene Gilson is a Wathaurong (Wadawurrung) Elder who lives on Country in the Ballarat area. A self-taught artist, Gilson has received considerable acclaim and attention for her painting of historic encounters, in particular with regard to the retelling of events in which early colonial depictions excluded First Nations people. Marngrook Football depicts the first game of Australian Rules football played between Ballarat and Geelong while a parallel game of Marngrook takes place within view.

Jenna Lee dissects and reconstructs colonial 'Indigenous dictionaries' and embeds the works with new cultural meaning. Long obsessed with the duality of the destructive and healing properties that fire can yield, this element has been applied to the paper in the forms of burning and mark-making. In Without Us, Lee uses charcoal to conceal the text on the page, viewing this process as a ritualistic act of reclaiming and honouring Indigenous heritage while challenging the oppressive legacies of colonialism. Lee explains in Art Guide (2022), ‘These books in particular [used to create the proposed works] are Aboriginal language dictionaries—but there’s no such thing as “Aboriginal language”. There are hundreds of languages. The dictionary just presents words, with no reference to where they came from. It was specifically published by collating compendiums from the 1920s, 30s and 40s, with the purpose to give [non-Indigenous] people pleasant sounding Aboriginal words to name children, houses and boats. And yet the first things that were taken from us was our language, children, land and water. And the reason our words were so widely written down was because [white Australians] were trying to eradicate us. They thought we were going extinct. The deeper you get into it, the darker it gets. But the purpose of my work is to take those horrible things and cast them as something beautiful.’Framed artwork

merri-bek public art collection

The Queen: The Ladies Newspaper and Court Chronicle or simply The Queen was a magazine created in 1864 in London. The title became "Queen in the 1950s, then "Harpers and Queen" in the UK and then part of the British Harper's Bazaar. In 1861 Samuel Orchart Beeton ("Mrs Beeton"'s husband) had founded a paper named "The Queen" about fashion and culture for upper class women of society. Edward William Cox bought the title the following year and at the same time he bought the Queen's rival that was named "The Ladies' Paper". He merged the two publications into "The Queen: The Ladies Newspaper and Court Chronicle" in 1864. The Queen, The Lady's newspaper was delivered to Australia from UK during colonial times. The fashion page shows designs of dresses that were worn in late 19th century.A rectangular hardboard with a page from a newspaper atatched to one side of it, and a very small one line cut out from a newspaper glued to the other side. There are marks from sticky tape and old paper around the page. The page is of 3 fashion design drawings, titled Smart Autumn Gowns, sketched by our artist at Messrs Redmayne's, 19 , new bond street, w. flagstaff hill maritime museum and village, great ocean road, shipwreck coast, the queen, the lady's newspaper, fashion drawing, messrs redmayne, 1891

Press Cuttings. Three manila folders containing articles of historical interest: A. Life in Australia's capital cities in colonial days. Six 'Dear Diary' articles by Margaret Carlyon in 'New Idea' from Oct 1967 to Aug 1968. B. The Artie Fadden Story. A series of 12 newspaper articles told by Sir Arthur Fadden to Elgin Reid of the Melbourne Herald. July 1968. C. 'Men at Work' stories by Anthony Hill, artist Gerry Lants of the Melbourne Herald, Aug to Nov 1968. Fourteen articles on various occupations. The compiler of these 3 folders is not identified.Details of articles handwritten in ink on the cover of each foldernewspaper, margaret carlyon, elgin reid, anthony hill, colonial life, arthur fadden, occupations

From Victorian Heritage: The single storey mansion house with enclosed glass verandah, Burswood was built in 1853 on a site overlooking the Portland Bay for English born pioneer colonist Edward Henty. John Barrow of Adelaide was the architect for this exceptional Australian regency style residence which he designed as a central block of fine axed basalt ashlar and slate roof (now replaced) with flanking brick wings forming an enclosed rear courtyard. Burswood is the most important early mansion house in western Victoria, being an exceptional Australian regency design by distinguished colonial architect James Barrow. Edward Henty, a member of one of Australia's most remarkable colonial families and the founder of Portland, established the first permanent settlement in Victoria on 19th November 1834, and Burswood is testimony to his success as an early colonist. Henty lived in his mansion for 17 years in a semi-regal state. Burswood has been little altered since completion in 1853. A glasshouse conservatory to the side of the present enclosed verandah was demolished prior to 1895 and the slate roof replaced with iron. Johnstone, O’Shannessy & Co was a leading photographic studio located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was active from 1865 to 1905. Henry James Johnstone was also an artist and studied at Louis Buvelot's school and with Thomas Clark.Painting of a sandstone coloured building. A grand house with a driveway and well-kept gardens to the front. There is a horse and cart with a man standing to the side of it. There is a female figure exiting the building and another female and a man further along the driveway with a dog. The building has a glass conservatory attached to the side. The sky is blue with several fluffy clouds.Bottom right: Johnstone O'Shannessy & Co Melbourne (in white paint)homestead, henty, historic buildings, colonial, burswood house