19 May 2021
Today, the ALEC students went out to visit the Griffith War Memorial and the Griffith Art Gallery. It was an opportunity for the students to learn about Aboriginal contributions to art, culture and history.
Although the trip was originally organised to view the exhibit dedicated to Indigenous ANZACs from the region, the excursion was lucky enough to coincide with the exhibition of the 2020 Archibald prize. The winner of which, as you may remember, was Vincent Namatjira’s powerful portrait of Adam Goodes. Excursion supervisor Allison Stewart took the opportunity to recount the Adam Goodes story to the students and discuss the racism that Goodes faced.
Next door, the students were shown around the fantastic exhibition that the Griffith War Memorial have created honouring Indigenous servicemen from the area. Curator Theo Bollen took the project on after a visit to the Canberra war memorial in 2011. He then engaged the help of Indigenous Community Liaison Officer Roger Penrith, who championed the project and was instrumental in collecting names and stories of the soldiers, as well as building the physical display.
The exhibit covers the approximately 250 regional Indigenous servicemen who fought in Australian wars. There are stories of servicemen extending from the First World War through to the present, and the piece is constantly being built upon.
After a presentation from Mr. Toll and a short film on Indigenous ANZACs, the students were then allowed to explore the museum and read the stories of the many Indigenous soldiers who fought and sometimes died for the country in armed conflicts.
“There’s a lot of hidden history that doesn’t get mentioned enough.” explains Mr. Toll, ”What is important is that as time goes on, more and more people are educated about this history.”
Both the Archibald Prize and the Indigenous soldiers exhibit are open to the public. Both are well worth a look if you have the time.
