Boilershop Cockatoo Dockyard 1986 [2]
Artist
Mary Rosengren
Date1986
Object number00018050
NamePainting
MediumAcrylic paint, canvas
DimensionsOverall: 1560 mm, 21.3 kg
Display Dimensions: 2160 x 1700 mm
Display Dimensions: 2160 x 1700 mm
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from the Amalgamated Metals and Engineering Workers Union
DescriptionAn acrylic painting on canvas titled 'Boilershop Cockatoo Dockyard 1986 [2]' by Mary Rosengren.
The painting depicts a small area of the boilershop at the Cockatoo dockyard, small pieces of metallic type objects are seen including a small section of a thick rope.
Located in Sydney Harbour, Cockatoo Island is known to the Eora people as Waremah. It was used by Europeans intially as a penal settlement and later as a naval dockyard.HistoryThis painting was one of a series of works painted by Mary Rosengren, who in the mid 1980s undertook a number of union based residencies. In 1984 Mary Rosengren received an "Artist in the Community" commission from the Victorian Ministry of the Arts and spent three months in 1984 and six months in 1985 at the Jolimont Train Maintenance Depot working on a series of murals.
In 1985 Mary Rosengren approached the then Amalgamated Metal Workers Union for assistance to set up an artist in residency program at Cockatoo Island Dockyard, the Union approached the Australia Council for financial assistance but an early submission was unsuccessful. A further revised submission was then made and subsequently accepted.
Mary Rosengren's six month artist in residency program was jointly funded by the Amalgamated Metal Workers Union and the Australia Council under their Art and Working Life Policy. The Art and Working Life Policy was developed in 1982 to encourage art and cultural practices which are concerned with and informed by issues affecting workers' lives. The program is administered by The Community Arts Council division of the Australia Council, and in 1984, following Stephen Cassidy's report, "Art and the working life in Australia", was amended so as to offer funding directly to union based cultural activities. Thus the financial support Mary Rosengren received jointly from the then Amalgamated Metal Workers Union and the Australia Council was significant as it represented a relatively new initiative in the funding and cooperation between artist, trade union and Federal government. Until the implementation of such schemes professional artist and union interaction had been on a relatively informal basis and more often than not the artist would volunteer services for little or no financial gain. Consequently such collaborative efforts were rare. Until the advent of such Federal schemes the scope and time that a professional artist could give to union based projects was severely limited. Mary Rosengren's works are therefore important for they are the result of six months fulltime work in the service of the Union.
The Cockatoo Island paintings were exhibited at Artspace (Sydney) between 6 and 23 May 1987 and from 1987 to 1992 hung in the Sydney offices of the AMEWU. They deal with The Cockatoo Island Dockyards and specifically document its industrial environment in 1985/86. This period in the history of Cockatoo Island Dockyard was significant as the then Leaseholders, Cockatoo Dockyard Pty Ltd, were busy building HMAS SUCCESS, which unbeknown to the contractors at the time, was to be the last vessel built on the island. In 1987 The Federal Government announced that the lease for Cockatoo was not to be extended and the island was to be sold.
SignificanceThese paintings by Mary Rosengren are significant for the subject they depict and their association with the union that represents shipwrights.The seven paintings illustrate the industrial environment of Cockatoo Dockyard in 1986.
