Images(3)

Indian Head

Artist Peter Hudson

Date2013

Object number00054553

NameDrawing

MediumWatercolour on paper

DimensionsDisplay dimensions: 630 × 600 × 40 mm
Overall: 634 × 597 × 40 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionA set of two drawings titled 'Indian Head' by Peter Hudson featuring two views of Indian Head on Fraser Island, Queensland. The view on the top depicts a view of Indian Head with the ocean in the background and the view below, features a close-up of Indian Head seen from the island's beach with white sand and the movement of the tide. In this work, Peter Hudson looks at the two world views and marks the spot were the Aboriginal people stood and watched the ENDEAVOUR limp into view and marks the spot that James Cook called 'Indian Head' due to the amount of Aboriginal people he saw standing on top even though he later went on to declare Australia as Terri Nullius. Fraser Island is known as K'gari to the Butchulla/Badtjala people who are the traditional owners of the land.HistoryThis work by Peter Hudson 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. Peter Hudson was the initiator of the East Coast Encounter concept and was a passionate advocate for the project. 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. Of 'Indian Head', Peter Hudson comments: "These images were made on site at Indian Head, K'gari (Fraser Island). The work is made up of two images because this place has more than one powerful and important story. Cook gave this place a new name, Indian Head, because of the many Badtjala people who were there on the high ground watching his strange vessel sail past." - Peter Hudson [www.eastcoastencounters.com.au] SignificanceThis painting by Peter Hudson is significant in providing an alternate view of first contact and European occupation of Australia.