Noel Murphy
RON MILLIGAN’S back yard has been Wathaurong country for 2000 generations.
He lives near West Park, where a creek once ran from Herne Hill down toward Gordon Ave through Johnstone Park and into Corio Bay.
The back yard, in the Milligan family for eight or nine generations, is the subject of his forthcoming exhibition on the bigger Wathaurong neighbourhood.
The paintings begin with an unusual backyard barbecue at his Yuille St home – with blackfellas around a fire preparing to roast a kangaroo.
A swing, a garden shed, fence, neat garden and well-clipped lawn remind the viewer what’s replaced the hunter-gather’s traditional homeland.
Ron’s works are a poignant statement on the settlement of whites in the district, from John Murray in the Lady Nelson and two shootings of the locals to William Buckley, bunyip sightings, John Batman’s treaty, squatters, ineffective protectors and the loss of hunting grounds.
“From Fyans’ count in ’37 only four in 10 remained, their living was denied them, their hunting grounds were claimed,” Milligan writes in accompanying texts.
“Just 20 camped at Tooim Be-al, where the river redgum grew, on land no use to Stewart, in 1852.
“Banished from the town each night, they walked in every day, sold their boomerangs in Yarra St for the pittance they were paid.”
Milligan’s paintings show the stars of the southern sky, Wathaurong with Buckley and Batman’s camp, on the plains around the You Yangs and along the Barwon River, at Portarlington and on the coast.
One verse is especially telling of the last Wathaurong’s fate:
“Dan Dan Nook and Willem Ba Nip,
“Kings of nothing they surveyed,
“On the road to Bellarine,
“With nothing left to trade.
“Help Me Through The World,
“Was the name of the Moolap Inn
“But its patrons wouldn’t feed them,
“The last two of their kin.”
Gordon Gallery will host Milligan’s My Back Yard from 7 to 10 July.
