Daniel O’Connell was born near Cahirciveen, Co. Kerry, on 6 August 1775. His wealthy childless uncle adopted him at an early age and brought him up at Derrynane. He spoke Irish and was interested in the traditional culture of song and story still strong in Kerry at the time. He also understood how the rural mind worked which served him well in later years. In 1791 he was sent to school at St. Omer and Douai and what he saw there of the French Revolution left him with a life-long hatred of violence. He read law at Lincoln’s Inn (1794 -96) and continued his studies in Dublin where he was called to bar in 1798. He had soon built up an enormous practice. The 1798 rising and the terrible butchery that followed it confirmed his horror of violence. While he approved of the principles of the United Irishmen, their call for reform and for Catholic Emancipation, he disagreed with their methods. In 1815 O’Connell criticised harshly the Dublin corporation. O’Connell was challenged to a duel by one member D’Esterre. In the exchange of shots D’Esterre was killed and O’Connell vowed never to fight again. O’Connell was soon drawn into political action. Hopes of Catholic emancipation had been raised by promises given while the act of union was being passed. In 1823, O’Connell founded the Catholic Association. The aim of the organisation was to use all the legal means available to secure emancipation. It turned into a mass crusade with the support of the Catholic clergy. All members of the association paid a membership of a penny a month (the Catholic rent). This helped to raise a large fund. The Clare election in 1828 was a turning point. O’Connell, with the support of the forty-shilling freeholders, managed a huge victory against the government candidate. He was well supported by the clergy whose influence on the poor uneducated peasant class was enormous. The polling took place in Ennis at the old courthouse where the O’Connell monument now stands. At the final count, O’Connell was elected by a majority of about eleven hundred votes. The ascendancy party had suffered its first big knock since 1798. The whole country was aflame. The British Government feared a rising and granted Catholic emancipation in April 1829. The franchise was, however, raised to 10 pounds which excluded the forty-shilling freeholders. O’Connell was now the undisputed leader in Ireland and he gave up his practice at the bar to devote his time entirely to politics. At the King’s insistence, O’Connell was not allowed to take his seat until he had been re-elected for Clare. In February 1830, O’Connell became the first Catholic in modern history to sit in the House of Commons. For the rest of his life, he was supported by “The O’Connell Tribute”, a public collection out of which O’Connell paid all his expenses. O’Connell now decided to concentrate on winning repeal of the act of union and getting an Irish parliament for the Irish people. British political leaders feared repeal as they did not fear emancipation. They saw repeal of the Act of Union as the first step in the break-up of the act of union, as the spirit of the repeal movement was revived when the young Ireland writers wrote about it in the Nation. In 1841, O’Connell was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin and in 1843 the subscriptions to his Repeal Association, the Repeal “Rent” came to 48,400 pounds. He now began to organise monster meetings throughout the country. It is thought that three-quarters of a million people gathered on the hill of Tara to hear the man they called the “Liberator”. The government became alarmed at the strength of the Repeal Movement and a meeting which O’Connell had planned for 8 October 1843 in Clontarf, Dublin was banned. Huge crowds were already on their way when O’Connell called off the meeting to avoid the risk of violence and bloodshed. He was charged with conspiracy, arrested and sentenced to a year in jail and a fine of 2,000 pounds. The sentence was set aside after O’Connell had been three months in prison. When he was released he continued with his campaign for repeal. However, a turning point had been reached. The tactics that had won emancipation had failed. O’Connell was now almost seventy, his health failing and he had no clear plan for future action. There was discontent within the Repeal Association and the Young Irelanders withdrew. There was also some failure in the potato crop in the 1840’s, a sign of things to come in the Great Famine of 1845-1847. Aware of the fact that he had failed with his great goal, (the Repeal Movement), O’Connell left Ireland for the last time in January 1847. He made a touching speech in the House of Commons in which he appealed for aid for his country. In March, acting on the advice of his doctor, he set out to Italy. Following his death in Genoa on 15 May 1847, his body was returned to Ireland and buried in Glasnevin Cemetery. [http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/people/daniel.htm, accessed 13/12/2013]Portrait of a man known as Daniel O'Connell.ballarat irish, daniel o'connell, o'connell

Set of two Newspaper clippings from The Courier, Ballarat, 8 July 2021 .1 - titled "Congratulations to the Ballarat Tramway Museum on receiving $1.2m from the Andrews Government for track replacement.". Item sponsored by Juliana Addison MP. Has a photo of 10 people alongside Geelong No. 2 at the time of the announcement. .2 - "First Nations Art on the move" - featuring a photo of a B class tram, by Deanne Gilson (local Ballarat artist) and Thomas Marks. Photo by James Morgan.art work, transporting art, b class

This canvas pennant was produced by the Portuguese YCW and given to participants on the 'pilgrimage' to Rome in 1957, for the first gathering of the International Young Christian Workers. YCWs from various nations exchanged pennants in Rome, gathered as souvenirs of the event. This is a rare piece, collected by Bill Armstrong, AO who was one of the young workers who visited Rome in 1957. When situated along side the pennants of other participating nations, it symbolises the internationalism of the YCW movement.Small canvas pennant featuring a caricature of people praying at the base of the Virgin Mary with a small village in the background.The tip of pennant features the words 'Fatima Portugal'.

Standing proud, still here, the spirit of ten ancestral matriarchs adorned in contemporary ceremonial cloaks. Representing our women past, present and future, her Spirit, our culture, our Country (spelt with a capital for its importance and this is part of First Peoples protocols on acknowledging Country, our strength, our resilience and healing towards a sustainable future).The sacred banksia tree was a favourite for Wadawurrung people. Flowering before deep Winter, the banksia was used for spear making and other wooden tools. The sap was drunk as a sweet drink and the seed pods used for water straining and fire sticks. The banksia tree flowers at the time when fire sticks farming is practiced marking the days before the coldest days and nights and the hotter days.White, orange, and yellow banksia design on outer cloak, yellow and white circle and diamond design in lining. Solid black trimming. Cloak is machine sewn and handstitched with hand stitching on shoulder seam.deanne gilson, wadawurrung dja, first nations art, cloak

Standing proud, still here, the spirit of ten ancestral matriarchs adorned in contemporary ceremonial cloaks. Representing our women past, present and future, her Spirit, our culture, our Country (spelt with a capital for its importance and this is part of First Peoples protocols on acknowledging Country, our strength, our resilience and healing towards a sustainable future). Waa the Crow Totem Cloak (Waa represents our ancestors watching over us). Waa and all the birds get their names by the sounds the bird makes.Blue feather motif with blue star background on outer clock, blue and black feather design in lining. Solid black trimming. Cloak is machine sewn and handstitched with hand stitching on shoulder seam.deanne gilson, wadawurrung dja, first nations art, cloak

Standing proud, still here, the spirit of ten ancestral matriarchs adorned in contemporary ceremonial cloaks. Representing our women past, present and future, her Spirit, our culture, our Country (spelt with a capital for its importance and this is part of First Peoples protocols on acknowledging Country, our strength, our resilience and healing towards a sustainable future). This cloak represents a traditional shield and stands for strength, resilience and standing proud. It protects us as we move forward. The gold represents the gold fields of Ballarat and Golden Plains shire. It also represents fool’s gold (pyrite) as First People had no use of gold, instead the people are the gold.Black, white, and red stripe design with flower and stem motif on outer cloak. Lining is a red and white stripe motif. Trimming is solid black. Cloak is machine sewn and handstitched with hand stitching on shoulder seam.deanne gilson, wadawurrung dja, first nations art, cloak, murnong

Standing proud, still here, the spirit of ten ancestral matriarchs adorned in contemporary ceremonial cloaks. Representing our women past, present and future, her Spirit, our culture, our Country (spelt with a capital for its importance and this is part of First Peoples protocols on acknowledging Country, our strength, our resilience and healing towards a sustainable future). Deanne states that this is her favourite season and she loves painting the small orchids as they flower after the cold season begins to clear.Black cloak with pink and purple toned flower motif on outer cloak, purple and black diamond, and circle design in lining. Solid black trimming. Cloak is machine sewn and handstitched with hand stitching on shoulder seam.deanne gilson, wadawurrung dja, first nations art, cloak, murnong

non-fictionAn illustrated account of the experiences of people who migrated to Australia from Holland in the 1950s and 60s and passed through the Bonegilla Reception Centre before settling in their new land. Presents reminiscences from the people involved about their journey to Australia, conditions in Bonegilla and their impressions of life in Australia. Published as an accompanying volume to the exhibition 'Where Waters Meet'bonegilla, dutch migration, bonegilla reception centre

Tony Albert’s 2022 solo exhibition at Sullivan+Strumpf, Remark, continues the artist’s investigation into the imagery and identification of appropriated Indigenous Australian iconography in domestic decoration and design. Incorporating fabric from his extensive collection of ‘Aboriginalia’, Remark sees Albert expand on his acclaimed Conversations with Margaret Preston series dimensionality, critically engaging with the fabric in his own right. Like the fabric of Australian society, the appropriated Indigenous imagery printed on souvenir tea towels intertwines in a complicated web of national identity. These are not images by Aboriginal people and our voices and autonomy continued to be silenced through the object’s inauthenticity. As a country we must reconcile with these objects’ very existence. They are painful reiterations of a violent and oppressive history, but we also cannot hide or destroy them because they are an important societal record that should not be forgotten. As an artist this juxtaposition and tension fascinates me. Tony Albert’s multidisciplinary practice investigates contemporary legacies of colonialism, prompting audiences to contemplate the human condition. Drawing on both personal and collective histories, Albert explores the ways in which optimism can be utilised to overcome adversity. His work poses important questions such as how do we remember, give justice to, and rewrite complex and traumatic histories. Albert’s technique and imagery are distinctly contemporary, displacing traditional Australian Aboriginal aesthetics with an urban conceptuality. Appropriating textual references from sources as diverse as popular music, film, fiction, and art history, Albert plays with the tension arising from the visibility, and in-turn, the invisibility of Aboriginal People across the news media, literature, and the visual world. australian first nations art, colonialisation

Tony Albert’s 2022 solo exhibition at Sullivan+Strumpf, Remark, continues the artist’s investigation into the imagery and identification of appropriated Indigenous Australian iconography in domestic decoration and design. Incorporating fabric from his extensive collection of ‘Aboriginalia’, Remark sees Albert expand on his acclaimed Conversations with Margaret Preston series dimensionality, critically engaging with the fabric in his own right. Like the fabric of Australian society, the appropriated Indigenous imagery printed on souvenir tea towels intertwines in a complicated web of national identity. These are not images by Aboriginal people and our voices and autonomy continued to be silenced through the object’s inauthenticity. As a country we must reconcile with these objects’ very existence. They are painful reiterations of a violent and oppressive history, but we also cannot hide or destroy them because they are an important societal record that should not be forgotten. As an artist this juxtaposition and tension fascinates me. Tony Albert’s multidisciplinary practice investigates contemporary legacies of colonialism, prompting audiences to contemplate the human condition. Drawing on both personal and collective histories, Albert explores the ways in which optimism can be utilised to overcome adversity. His work poses important questions such as how do we remember, give justice to, and rewrite complex and traumatic histories. Albert’s technique and imagery are distinctly contemporary, displacing traditional Australian Aboriginal aesthetics with an urban conceptuality. Appropriating textual references from sources as diverse as popular music, film, fiction, and art history, Albert plays with the tension arising from the visibility, and in-turn, the invisibility of Aboriginal People across the news media, literature, and the visual world. australian first nations art, colonialisation

Tony Albert’s 2022 solo exhibition at Sullivan+Strumpf, Remark, continues the artist’s investigation into the imagery and identification of appropriated Indigenous Australian iconography in domestic decoration and design. Incorporating fabric from his extensive collection of ‘Aboriginalia’, Remark sees Albert expand on his acclaimed Conversations with Margaret Preston series dimensionality, critically engaging with the fabric in his own right. Like the fabric of Australian society, the appropriated Indigenous imagery printed on souvenir tea towels intertwines in a complicated web of national identity. These are not images by Aboriginal people and our voices and autonomy continued to be silenced through the object’s inauthenticity. As a country we must reconcile with these objects’ very existence. They are painful reiterations of a violent and oppressive history, but we also cannot hide or destroy them because they are an important societal record that should not be forgotten. As an artist this juxtaposition and tension fascinates me. Tony Albert’s multidisciplinary practice investigates contemporary legacies of colonialism, prompting audiences to contemplate the human condition. Drawing on both personal and collective histories, Albert explores the ways in which optimism can be utilised to overcome adversity. His work poses important questions such as how do we remember, give justice to, and rewrite complex and traumatic histories. Albert’s technique and imagery are distinctly contemporary, displacing traditional Australian Aboriginal aesthetics with an urban conceptuality. Appropriating textual references from sources as diverse as popular music, film, fiction, and art history, Albert plays with the tension arising from the visibility, and in-turn, the invisibility of Aboriginal People across the news media, literature, and the visual world. australian first nations art, colonialisation

Invasion places an imaginative eye in Australian colonial history and turns around the dominant view, taking alien creatures into iconic London-based cityscapes, with white urban residents their victims. Cook's images express the shock that enveloped the Australian continent when European people appeared on Aboriginal shores. Aboriginals as aliens, sci-fi scaled animals - featherless birds, super sized grubs, giant lizards, possums on ufo's, laser shooting fembots, and clouds of rainbow lorikeets - arrive into urban London, the 'mother' country, and wreak havoc. Within the broad narrative are mini narratives that speak to the past, historical references that tease out and reverse the racist practices imposed on Aboriginals. The drama of such an event heightened with the use of vintage-inspired B-grade horror movie aesthetic - an ironic 'spoofy' edge.australian first nations art, photography, colonialisation, sci-fi

Invasion places an imaginative eye in Australian colonial history and turns around the dominant view, taking alien creatures into iconic London-based cityscapes, with white urban residents their victims. Cook's images express the shock that enveloped the Australian continent when European people appeared on Aboriginal shores. Aboriginals as aliens, sci-fi scaled animals - featherless birds, super sized grubs, giant lizards, possums on ufo's, laser shooting fembots, and clouds of rainbow lorikeets - arrive into urban London, the 'mother' country, and wreak havoc. Within the broad narrative are mini narratives that speak to the past, historical references that tease out and reverse the racist practices imposed on Aboriginals. The drama of such an event heightened with the use of vintage-inspired B-grade horror movie aesthetic - an ironic 'spoofy' edge.australian first nations art, photography, colonialisation, sci-fi

This photograph was taken on the first 'Australia Day', held 30 July 1915. Across Australia, this day was set aside for a nation-wide fundraising effort for the Patriotic Relief Fund, raising money to assist wounded soldiers returning to Australia during WWI. Other days had been set aside to raise funds for specific nations, e.g. 'Belgian Day' had been held earlier in 1915.. In Linton Australia Day 1915 was celebrated with a jumble sale, raffles, and collection of donations. There was also a stall near the Shire Offices, attended by a group of girls dressed as Red Cross nurses, which sold flowers, postcards, toys etc. People identified in photograph: Standing slightly behind the group - Mr Smith (Alf J. Smith, Grenville Shire Secretary). L-R, standing: Kathleen Nicol, Violet Smith, Jean Gascoigne, Elva Ball, Miss Barry, Millie Todd, Effie Gascoigne, Stella Todd, unnamed. L-R, seated - Stella Ralf (spelled Ralph), Rita Morgan, three girls in centre are unnamed, Daisy Smith. The girls were pupils of the Misses Barry, who were assisted in costuming the girls by Mrs A. J. Smith. The stall raised eight pounds for the Patriotic Relief Fund. See article from the 'Grenville Standard', Saturday August 7, 1915, p.1. A copy of this article is in the "Australia Day 1915" file, kept with "Linton" files in the drawer underneath the photocopier in Room-01.Black and white photograph showing school girls dressed as Red Cross nurses. Older lady in middle of back row (Miss Barry) and three gentlemen wearing suits and hats at left hand side of photograph.kathleen nicol, mr smith, violet smith, daisy smith, jean gascoigne, effie gascoigne, elva ball, miss barry, millie todd, stella todd, stella ralf (ralph), rita morgan, world war 1914-1918, australia day 1915, red cross, nurses, patriotic relief fund, fundraising

BOUND FOLDER, BLACK CARDBOARD COVER 152 PAGESnon-fictionFred Cahir tells the story about the magnitude of Aboriginal involvement on the Victorian goldfields in the middle of the nineteenth century. The first history of Aboriginal–white interaction on the Victorian goldfields, Black Gold offers new insights on one of the great epochs in Australian and world history—the gold story. In vivid detail it describes how Aboriginal people often figured significantly in the search for gold and documents the devastating social impact of gold mining on Victorian Aboriginal communities. It reveals the complexity of their involvement from passive presence, to active discovery, to shunning the goldfields. This detailed examination of Aboriginal people on the goldfields of Victoria provides striking evidence which demonstrates that Aboriginal people participated in gold mining and interacted with non-Aboriginal people in a range of hitherto neglected ways. Running through this book are themes of Aboriginal empowerment, identity, integration, resistance, social disruption and communication. For more information on Aboriginal History Inc. please visit aboriginalhistory.org.au.first nations history, australia's victorian goldfields

merri-bek public art collection

The Queen's Baton Relay has been the traditional curtain-raiser to the Commonwealth Games since 1958. It symbolises the gathering of people from across the Commonwealth. On 14 March 2005 Her Majesty placed a message in the baton at Buckingham Palace, signalling the start of a journey of almost 180,000 kilometres. The baton's journey to the opening ceremony took exactly one year and one day, arriving at the Melbourne Cricket Ground during the opening ceremony of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games on 15 March 2006. It was the first baton relay to visit all 71 nations of the Commonwealth. Athletes and non-athletes alike shared the privilege of carrying the baton. In Bendigo two sites were chosen for events. Bendigo Stadium: Basketball and Wellsford Rifle Range: Full Bore Shooting.Baton in display box. Reproduction of actual object. Front panel has 36 inserts, base is narrower than top. Queens message button near top which unlike the original is not removable. Top is gold coloured, back is dark green. Box is black with black inner liner.Top of box: Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games / Queen's Baton Relaycommonwealth games 2006, city of greater bendigo tourism, city of greater bendigo sport

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

The sarcastic title of this work pokes fun at the old fashioned idea that race should not be the subject of polite conversation. Deacon uses a white and a Black dolly to represent the unequal power dynamics that exist within Australian society. The dolls stand in for people who, based on the colour of their skin, experience the impact of racial inequality in vastly different ways. The cracked head of the white doll reveals an empty void. Symbolically violent, perhaps this emptiness suggests the dolls will never be able to fully comprehend one another’s experiences.This work was curated in RACE 2016 at Wyndham Art Gallery. Destiny Deacon (1956–2024) was a descendant of the KuKu (Far North Queensland) and Erub/Mer (Torres Strait) people. She exhibited nationally and internationally since the early 1990s in solo and group shows. Deacon held two major retrospectives, in 2004 and 2020, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney and at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne respectively. Her 2004 survey show, Walk & don’t look blak, toured to the Metropolitan Museum of Photography in Tokyo, the Tjibao Cultural Centre in Noumea, New Caledonia and Wellington City Gallery in New Zealand. In 2022, she was the recipient of the Red Ochre Award for Lifetime Achievement at First Nations Arts Awards. In the same year, Deacon’s work was shown at the Australian Embassy in Paris in an exhibition titled Destiny - The art of Destiny Deacon. In 2023, Deacon was included in the Sharjah Biennial 15, Thinking Historically in the Present, conceived by the late Okwui Enwezor and curated by Hoor Al Qasimi. In 2024, Deacon's work was exhibited in the 24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, curated by Cosmin Costinas and Inti Guerrero. Deacon’s work is held in most major public collections in Australia as well as Tate, London, Museum Moderner Kunst (MUMOK), Stifting Ludwig, Vienna, Austria and Museum Sammlung Essl, Austria.first nations photography, australian photography, australian indigenous art, race, racism, colonisation

Indigenous or First Nation Person beside a large Red River Gum and next to a river (Richardson River) with aboriginal tools. Photo taken at Carrs Plains. Holford Wettenhall, took over as Protector when William Dennis left the Station. Observed during this time indigenous people mainly hunted possum. At the turn of the century the last surviving indigenous people at Carrs Plains were moved to Lake Tyers Mission in East Gippsland 588Km away. Photo said to be of "Blind Tommy" but unsure of this information. Black and white photograph of a large River Red Gum, with a man standing holding a boomerang, killing stick and shield. Copyright Museum of Victoriastawell aboriginal portrait