Arone - Possession Island

Artist Euan MacLeod

Date2012

Object number00054574

NamePainting

MediumAcrylic on paper

DimensionsDisplay dimensions: 535 × 730 × 40 mm
Overall: 537 × 730 × 35 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionA painting by Euan Mcleod titled 'Arone - Possession Island' depicting a man walking on a beach towards the bush on Possession Island in Torres Strait. The figure in the painting is likely Arone Meeks who was a fellow artist on the East Coast Encounter journey. This painting by Euan Macled reflects upon the traditional owners of the land at Bedanug/ Possession Island. He makes note of the old mixed with the new. A contemporary look at first contact and European occupation. It reflects upon things being bought together but not quite fitting in with each other. Cook landed here in the Torres Strait in August 1770 and took 'possesssion' of the east coast of Australia for King George III. HistoryThis work by Euan Macleod was produced for East Coast Encounter, a multi-arts initiative involving Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, writers and songwriters to re-imagine the encounter by Lieutenant James Cook and his crew with Indigenous people in 1770. Cook's voyage along the Australian east coast has become central to national historical narratives. The East Coast Encounter project asked artists to re-envisage this seminal journey by imaginatively exploring moments of contact between two world views during these encounters. It also brought these events into the present by incorporating artists' reflections on their relevance today, and their responses to visits to significant contact locations. Topics such as encounter, impact, differing perspectives, nature and culture and views of country are investigated. On 22 August 1770 after making his way up the east coast of Australia from Botany Bay, James Cook landed on Possession Island in the Torres Strait. In his log of the event, Cook wrote: "..to this place I am confident was never seen or Visited by any European before us & notwithstanding I had in the Name of his Maj.st taken possession of several places upon this Coast I now once More, hoisted English Colours & in the Name of His Maj.y King George the Third took possession of the whole Eastern coast from the above Lat.de down to this place by the Name of New Wales together with all the Bays Harbours Rivers & Islands situate upon the same Coast after which we fird 3 Volleys of small Arms which was answer’d by the like number from the Ship, this done we set out for the Ship.." He later wrote of seeing "...upon all the Adjacent lands & Islands a great number of smokes a certain sign that they are inhabited & we have daily seen smokes on every part of the Coast we have lately been upon."SignificanceThis painting by Euan Mcleod gives a contemporary perspective on first contact and the impact of European colonisation. The painting, as part of East Coast Encounters, is a voice in a shared story, re-imagined by Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, to encourage cultural dialogue and promote reconciliatory understanding.