How Lonely Lies this Land, Once so Full of People.

3 sculptures

each 5m high, by 2.4m square

about hope and lament and healing a broken relationship.

  • Remember

    I lament the reality that we Non_Indigenous People broke trust with the Tasmanian Aboriginal Nations. That dispossession of these nations was so violent, so comprehensive and so devastating that we are unable to pay our respects to known descendants of all those nations today.

    Right remembering and truth telling is the way toward healing a broken relationship and developing trust. This involves active listening. I lament that we have not listened, that we gave our wisdom and finances and policies without love and trust in our hearts.

    If I can summon all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I give away all I possess, but do not have love, I am only noise, just a clanging cymbal..

    There is no us and them; there is only a broken “family” relationship; we long for this relationship to heal.

    This was originally installed in St Georges Anglican, Battery Point, Hobart, June 2022.

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  • Welcome

    I will humbly offer a genuine welcome in love, without force or coercion, and be prepared to listen and wait for a welcome to be offered back from the Tasmanian Aboriginal people.

    Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, or boast. It is not to proud to say sorry. It does seek to not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth being told.

    If we are to repair our relationship we need to build trust and love for each other.

    This was originally installed in Hobart Baptist Church, North Hobart, June, 2022.

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  • Courage

    I will be both brave and vulnerable. I will resist defensiveness, accept what I hear with grace, and choose to use my imagination and courage to create the world I want to see.

    Courage always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, until we achieve a healthy relationship.

    Together, with courage, we can build a new loving relationship.

    This was originally installed in C3 Hobart, South Hobart, June 2022.

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Michael Henderson read out this statement at the opening of the series,

“Welcome to the exhibition of How lonely lies this land, once so full of people.

The 3 churches involved in hosting the exhibition and the artist Michael Henderson acknowledge the Tasmanian Aboriginal people of lutruwita / trouwunna as the traditional owners and custodians of the island on which this exhibition takes place, and pay their respect to the many nations who nurtured this land for millennia and whose sovereignty over it was never ceded.

We lament the reality that we broke trust. That dispossession of these nations was so violent, so comprehensive and so devastating that we are unable to pay our respects to known descendants of all those nations today. However, we are blessed that through profound resilience a remnant of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people survived, passed on their cultural, creative expression and spiritual traditions, and is today thriving. We long for the day when we can embrace each other in wholehearted trust and love. We pay our deep respects to their elders past, present and to the many generations to come.”