The painting of the didgeridoo was one of the activities the students at Bulla Primary School engaged in on their Colonial Dress Day.A coloured photograph of two children painting a didgeridooart activities, colonial dress day, bulla primary school

This work is from a series centred around the Chinese proverb “to hold a book in one’s hand is to hold a house of gold” in which the artist positions himself within sites of colonial power. Set within the National Wool Museum gallery, the artist references the pose of an exhausted shearer after a long day of arduous labour. However he is reclining while reading The Fire Stick by Wulla Merrii, a novel set against the 1891 Queensland Shearer’s Strike, questioning cultural stereotypes and how they pertain to concepts of work and leisure. Dressed in sub fusc, his official uniform as an Oxford scholar, Thompson is a defiant intellectual challenging past and continued misperceptions of First Nations people, while embracing both the intersections of his identity and his ancestral heritage. Dr Christian Thompson AO is a Bidjara man of the Kunja Nation with Irish and Chinese heritage. His practice spans across video, photography, sculpture, textiles, performance and sound, evolving through a process of auto – ethnography. While employing various modes of research, he connects his own experience to larger social, political, cultural meanings and understandings. His doctoral research and art practice has had a critical impact on International and Australian art, making global history as one of the first Australian Indigenous students at Oxford University. In 2018 he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished services to the visual arts and as a role model to young indigenous artists in the Queen’s Birthday honours list.Framed photograph showing a man dressed in an academic gown, laying on their back holding a book. The setting is a reconstructed shearing shed, inside the galleries of the National Wool Museum.dr christian thompson, first nations, artwork, photography, oxford, heritage, national wool museum

The children were learning to do some folk dances as part of the school's colonial day celebrations, which were part of their history studies.A coloured photograph of children in colonial dress with their teachers learning to do a folk dance in the school yard. bulla primary school, colonial days, history studies

Students and staff Bulla State School had a dress-up day when they arrived at school in colonial costume to celebrate the 150th anniversary of European settlement in Victoria. In this photograph the entire school and staff assembled in the school yard.A non-digital coloured photograph of the students an teachers from Bulla Primary School assembled in the school yard. Everyone was dressed in colonial costume to celebrate an important local event.bulla primary school, bulla

The children were encouraged to join in singing Australian ballads as part of their Colonial Day celebrations. The day was also included in their history studies.A coloured photograph of a man seated in the school courtyard playing a guitar while children dressed in colonial dress gather around to listen to him.bulla primary school, colonial days, history studies

who are enjoying the colonial day. Some have had their faces painted while others are wearing party hats.A coloured photograph of nine students from Bulla Primary School in various styles of dance dress and face-painting.