Exhibition labels: Windows on Collections
Windows on Collections
The Rural and Regional Photography Commission
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What are the unique issues facing rural and regional Victorians? What do our communities hope for and how will recent events shape the future?
The events of 2020 have had a huge impact on rural and regional Victorians. A devastating bushfire season, preceded by years of drought, was followed by the arrival of the COVID-19 global pandemic and its far-reaching effects.
Throughout our history, State Library Victoria has built a record of Victorian lives through our collecting practices. From important events to everyday experiences, contemporary collecting ensures we connect with Victorians and their stories in real-time.
Following an approach by Melbourne-based photographer John Rodsted, in 2020 we developed a plan to engage photographers to work with the regional Victorian communities they were connected to. These photographers were Tiffany Garvie, Fabiana Guerreiro, Aldona Kmieć and James Wiltshire.
The works on display have been selected from over 350 images captured during the project.
A work in progress, the project is one that we hope to extend to more communities across Victoria, adding oral histories to sensitively document rural and regional Victorians’ stories and lives. These images and oral histories will become part of the State Collection for current and future generations.
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Adam’s a bit of a horseman. He’s a regular competitor in the Man from Snowy River Festival. After the fires, the whole community was behind the festival. They thought it’d be the biggest one ever because everyone will come up and support the community and make a big deal, and help the town to get back on its feet. Obviously COVID cancelled that. With both the fires and then losing the festival, they’ve been in a bad way up there. – James Wiltshire, February 2021
James WILTSHIRE
Adam Wheeler on his horse
June 2020
Cudgewa, north-east Victoria
Exhibition print
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Cudgewa was one of the worst hit places. It was early days and all communications were cut off because of the fires – they burnt out all the phone towers. The first couple of days before people got in there, everyone was saying that Cudgewa was basically blown off the map. They eventually got in and found a few of the buildings were lost. Adam saved his house but all the farmland was burnt out. They then had to put down the injured stock – I mean, that sounds like one of the worst things for farmers to do, to have to put down their stock. – James Wiltshire, February 2021
James WILTSHIRE
Adam Wheeler feeding his horses
June 2020
Cudgewa, north-east Victoria
Exhibition print
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Corey has a small boxing business on the side, which didn’t run for nine months in 2020 because of the physical contact required. He had a fleet of local boxers that were doing alright on the circuit, but none of these fighters could train and obviously there’s no matches and bouts. His business and the people in his gym had a pretty rough 2020. – James Wiltshire, February 2021
James WILTSHIRE
Corey Pyle sanitising boxing bags
November 2020
Wodonga, north-east Victoria
Exhibition print
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Here on the border, basically 50 per cent of business is on either side. Corey is a cabinetmaker by trade. He lives in Wodonga but a lot of the time he’ll do installs in Albury. During the first month or so, it took forever to get across the border. Initially, the rushes in the morning took two or three hours, just to go 500 metres. In the end, the morning rush might have been an hour and a half. One of the worst things was for the truck drivers doing their trips – it threw their logbooks out. They didn’t get paid because they get paid per K and they’d be sitting at the border waiting to get through. – James Wiltshire, February 2021
James WILTSHIRE
Corey Pyle driving through the border checkpoint
November 2020
Wodonga, north-east Victoria
Exhibition print
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Aunty Charmaine Sellings was a founding volunteer for the CFA Lake Tyers Trust, satellite station of the Toorloo Fire Brigade. They’ve been going for about 20 years. The artwork on this ultralight fire truck was created especially for them by Wemba Wemba artist Emma Bamblett. The artwork is about everyone coming and working together. – Tiffany Garvie, February 2021
Tiffany GARVIE
Gunggari
Aunty Charmaine Sellings and Aunty Rhonda Thorpe, both proud Kurnai women from CFA Lake Tyers Trust, satellite station of the Toorloo Fire Brigade with their ultralight fire truck
October 2020
Lake Tyers, East Gippsland
Exhibition print
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Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning had been working on this fire and there was still some flame. It was a really good opportunity to see how they worked together with the Lake Tyers CFA satellite station. – Tiffany Garvie, February 2021
Tiffany GARVIE
Gunggari
Aunty Rhonda Thorpe and Aunty Charmaine Sellings, both proud Kurnai women from the CFA Lake Tyers Trust, satellite station of the Toorloo Fire Brigade, work with Joshua Kennedy and Chris Odd of the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP)
October 2020
Near Bruthen, East Gippsland
Exhibition print
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Maggie has been surviving on the kindness of strangers contacted via social media. She has been accessing donations via the Salvos and St Vinnies charities. At times she has supported herself, working as a dog-sitter but COVID made this unfeasible. With public facilities closed, she didn’t have access to toilets. She was feeling completely locked out of everything. Trying to imagine her situation, I think she developed some kind of very strong survival persona to cope with all this. – Aldona Kmieć, February 2021
Aldona KMIEĆ
Maggie Marriott applying lipstick
December 2020
Sale, Wellington Shire
Exhibition print
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Maggie told me about her experience of living and working out of her 4WD, due to domestic abuse that has left her devastated. During the 2019–20 bushfires, she helped with administration work at the Veterans Operation Assist in Buchan, where she helped administer 80 pallets of donated goods at the Buchan SES shed. – Aldona Kmieć, February 2021
Aldona KMIEĆ
Maggie Marriott in her 4WD
December 2020
Sale, Wellington Shire
Exhibition print
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This was taken just after the state of disaster was declared for Victoria. Amy Harbour is a single mum trying to balance working from home and home schooling, which wouldn’t have been easy. She has two children and meeting her obligations as a mother and the requirements of her job was quite a challenge. – Fabiana Guerreiro, February 2021
Fabiana GUERREIRO
Amy Harbour working from home while home schooling
August 2020
Apollo Bay, south-west Victoria
Exhibition print
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When the restrictions had lifted a little bit, when people were allowed to engage in recreational activities, Amy and Hank were allowed to spend time as a family outside of their home. – Fabiana Guerreiro, February 2021
Fabiana GUERREIRO
Amy and Hank fishing
September 2020
Apollo Bay, south-west Victoria
Exhibition print
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One of the biggest problems Matt Gledhill faced was making sure his hives survived because there was no bush, no flowers in bloom, no wildflowers – all gone. He had to move his bees further away to find flowers. – James Wiltshire, February 2021
James WILTSHIRE
Bees from Mountainbee Honey
November 2020
Pine Mountain, north-east Victoria
Exhibition print
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A lot of the farmers up here have properties on both sides of the river, and many got stuck with the border closures. Matt literally lives on the river. He has bees on both sides and was a couple of hundred K up in NSW dropping off beehives when the first lockdown hit. When he returned and crossed at Jingellic, they asked for his permit, which he didn’t have. Luckily, he got through with his Victorian licence. – James Wiltshire, February 2021
James WILTSHIRE
Matt Gledhill with some of his beehives in New South Wales
November 2020
Jingellic, New South Wales
Exhibition print
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Di is a prolific painter, art teacher and woodworker. Her house in the bush at Clifton Creek miraculously survived the bushfires. Here, Di is showing me how close the fire came to the house, before it turned, leaving the surrounding area completely burned,and her house untouched. And I said, ‘How come it didn’t burn?’ She said, ‘I just don’t know. It was the wind change or something.’ – Aldona Kmieć, February 2021
Aldona KMIEĆ
Di Deppeler at her bush property
December 2020
Clifton Creek, East Gippsland
Exhibition print
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The Mount Hotham CFA saved Dinner Plain. Apparently the fire was coming straight at them and they thought they were gonna get wiped out, but I think a late weather change saved them. One side of Terry is that he’s a CFA volunteer, but he also works at the ski field. The whole season was shut down because of COVID. – James Wiltshire, February 2021
James WILTSHIRE
Captain Terry Crisp kitting up
June 2020
Mount Hotham, north-east Victoria
Exhibition print
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Melissa said that the biggest challenge of losing everything in the fires has been the suddenness and totality of the loss – in terms of replacing and redoing infrastructure, including greenhouses and irrigation, and then the time and money needed to replace the plants and grow them on to harvestable age and size. We are talking 10,000 plants and kilometres of drip. Melissa knows the job ahead is physically, mentally and financially enormous, and can only be done one step at a time. Melissa said it can feel overwhelming, so she tries to focus on today’s tasks rather than the years of work ahead. – Tiffany Garvie, February 2021
Tiffany GARVIE
Gunggari
Melissa Churchman from the Sarsfield Wildflower Farm holding a melted flower tag
October 2020
Sarsfield, East Gippsland
Exhibition print
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Bruce’s boat, Nadgee IV, was used to travel up and down the river during the bushfires and was Bruce’s only way in and out at one point. He was up and down that river for six weeks, taking supplies to people who needed them, helping people up and down the river while the fires were going on. He was at the frontline fighting the fires. His property was mostly untouched – he didn’t lose any buildings or anything like that. A lot of land was burnt but Bruce was OK, leaving him free to help others. – Tiffany Garvie, February 2021
Tiffany GARVIE
Gunggari
Bruce Pascoe, Yuin, in front of his boat Nadgee IV
October 2020
Wallagaraugh, East Gippsland
Exhibition print
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Bruce sometimes supplies local cafes with native foods and is aiming to supply seasonal native produce. He lost every native plant on his property. But the plants bounced back very quickly, being native and used to bushfires. – Tiffany Garvie, February 2021
Tiffany GARVIE
Gunggari
Bruce Pascoe, Yuin, indicating the bushfood, Cunjim Winyu
October 2020
Wallagaraugh, East Gippsland
Exhibition print
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Healthcare workers have to clean these face shields after every use. They’re then individually tagged and assigned to decrease the risk of cross-contamination. It was interesting to see what happened with personal protective equipment during the different phases of COVID. – Fabiana Guerreiro, February 2021
Fabiana GUERREIRO
Face shields at Great Ocean Road Health facility
December 2020
Apollo Bay, south-west Victoria
Exhibition print
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On that day, they didn’t catch much. The weather conditions were good – blue skies, not too much swell – but every time they brought in the pots, most were empty. Three to four years ago seismic testing began taking place in the area, and Simon says that empty pots are, unfortunately, too common these days. – Fabiana Guerreiro, February 2021
Fabiana GUERREIRO
Jarrod Bullen hauls in yet another empty rock lobster pot
September 2020
Port Campbell, south-west Victoria
Exhibition print
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Simon Nash operates out of the small township of Port Campbell. Unfortunately, as a result of the global pandemic and the economic fallout, the rock lobster commercial-fishing industry has been heavily impacted. This is primarily due to the breakdown in international trade relations as approximately 90 percent of all rock lobster caught commercially in Victoria is exported overseas, predominantly to Asian markets. – Fabiana Guerreiro, February 2021
Fabiana GUERREIRO
Simon Nash and Jarrod Bullen, rock lobster fishermen, onboard the Believer
September 2020
Port Campbell, south-west Victoria
Exhibition print
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Don’s house completely burnt down. He lost everything except a small section of his back fence, which he turned into an artwork. Before the fires, he was teaching kids stilt-walking at the school – he’s a much loved character in the community. His home is not far from the centre of Mallacoota – which is a stark reality check on how close the fires came to destroying the town. – Tiffany Garvie, February 2021
Tiffany GARVIE
Gunggari
Don Ashby
October 2020
Mallacoota, East Gippsland
Exhibition print
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Don’s mate Phil Piper is taking time out to help Don rebuild his house. The community is coming together – friends are helping friends, just to try and get back on their feet. Don is lucky enough to be able to rebuild himself, but so many others are still waiting to rebuild. – Tiffany Garvie, February 2021
Tiffany GARVIE
Gunggari
Don Ashby and Phil Piper rebuilding Don’s house
October 2020
Mallacoota, East Gippsland
Exhibition print
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That’s their family there with Greg and Sandra. Those T-shirts are an indication of country resilience. ‘Drought, bushfires, COVID-19 – down but not out’, these are all the things that have happened in the last 18 months to two years. And they’ve just looked at it and gone, we’re not giving up. – Tiffany Garvie, February 2021
Tiffany GARVIE
Gunggari
Greg and Sandra Huggins with their family in front of the Nowa Nowa General Store
October 2020
Nowa Nowa, East Gippsland
Exhibition print
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Greg and Sandra are incredibly big-hearted and generous, they own the Nowa Nowa General Store. The store was a key contact point during the bushfires. Greg and Sandra put on a breakfast each morning. There was food set up in the front of the store so that people could eat and then go and fight the fires. When the power went out, they opened their shop cool room to the local community so they could store their food until the power came back on. – Tiffany Garvie, February 2021
Tiffany GARVIE
Gunggari
Greg and Sandra Huggins
October 2020
Nowa Nowa, East Gippsland
Exhibition print
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There was quite a change at Colac regional sales yard. Their operations adapted to install a number of sanitising stations and they implemented social distancing guidelines throughout the premises. When people from the industry get together it’s usually such a social occasion. It was interesting to see it changed in that instant – everybody had to be separate to observe. – Fabiana Guerreiro, February 2021
Fabiana GUERREIRO
A group of men practise social distancing, while observing the stock pens on sale day
August 2020
Colac, south-west Victoria
Exhibition print
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The local council made 30 seats available in this dairy ring so potential buyers could participate in the monthly sale. Facilitators and workers painted dots to make sure that everybody was maintaining a safe social distance. – Fabiana Guerreiro, February 2021
Fabiana GUERREIRO
A group observes cattle being showcased in the saleyard
August 2020
Colac, south-west Victoria
Exhibition print
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Mark and Jane saw the smoke in the distance. When they woke up in the morning they couldn’t hear a single sound. Not a single sound – no birds, nothing. So they packed what they could in the car and left. They came back to utter destruction. They lost absolutely everything, except a car, wheelie bin and solar panels. And their septics were still working. They’re feeling grateful because even though they lost everything, they’ve got running water and electricity, two of the things we need most. Although, Jane says she does miss cooking in a real kitchen! – Tiffany Garvie, February 2021
Tiffany GARVIE
Gunggari
Mark and Jane Oakley
October 2020
Wiseleigh, East Gippsland
Exhibition print
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This train carriage was a bed and breakfast they had built up over the years. It was filled with antiques, gramophones and collectables; a 30-year Star Trek collection. All the wonderful things they had collected are gone. Grocon was going to take the train away and they said, ‘No, leave it. We’re going to rebuild.’ – Tiffany Garvie, February 2021
Tiffany GARVIE
Gunggari
Mark and Jane Oakley’s burnt-out train carriage
October 2020
Wiseleigh, East Gippsland
Exhibition print
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When this photo was taken, the aged care facilities had been recently reopened to the public. It was really beautiful to see the nurses and staff caring for their residents during a time that was increasingly challenging for all. Here I was able to capture a really nice moment and see the dedication of the nurse, Alison, with Jean. – Fabiana Guerreiro, February 2021
Fabiana GUERREIRO
Nurse Alison Sedgwick wears a face mask to be COVID-safe while tending to Jean Woolley, a resident of Lorne Community Hospital aged care facility
December 2020
Lorne, south-west Victoria
Exhibition print
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In a time of uncertainty, the nurses were really friendly and welcoming. I asked them how they felt, with everything that’s happening. They answered that it’s just part of their job. – Fabiana Guerreiro, February 2021
Fabiana GUERREIRO
Mary Kennedy wearing personal protective equipment at the COVID-19 testing station in Apollo Bay
December 2020
Apollo Bay, south-west Victoria
Exhibition print
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James is from Thowgla, just over the back of Corryong. When the fires hit, all the resources went to Corryong. Thowgla didn’t have a CFA shed, and they didn’t get any trucks up their way. James, his family and a few others are trying to campaign for their own CFA shed and truck. Half the fires up this way are just fought by farmers, with their utes and slip-on units. – James Wiltshire, February 2021
James WILTSHIRE
James Paton showing images of the 2019–20 fires behind his property
November 2020
Thowgla, north-east Victoria
Exhibition print
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