Portraits of Lawrence - rough sleeper and self-described ‘metal head’. Martin Place, Sydney.
Shot on Tri-X 35mm black and white film, Nikon F2AS.
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Vittorio Turns 84
A reflective Vittorio Bianchi sits in The Piccolo Bar on his 84th birthday.
‘Vitto’ has been working at the Piccolo Bar, Sydney’s oldest existing cafe, since 1956.
Shot on 35mm Tri-X film, Nikon F2AS.
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Aunty Jenny Munro Revisits The Block
Tonight, a meeting was held at the Redfern Community Centre to discuss the future of the development of The Block. Contrary to agreement, the plans now do not seem to include low cost housing for Aboriginal families, a condition set on the project after court proceedings in 2015. Leading the meeting were Aunty Jenny Munro and daughter, Lorna Munro, who have been spearheading opposition to the development.
From 2014 to late 2015, Aunty Jenny Munro led a 15 month protest on the site by establishing the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy. Since its closure over 3 years ago, the site has been fenced off and left vacant as development plans proceed.
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Remembering Aboriginal Digger, Douglas Grant
Douglas Grant was an Aboriginal digger who fought on the battlefields of Bullecourt in France in World War 1.
Born in the Atherton Tablelands in far north Queensland, Poppin Jerri (his original cultural name) survived as an infant after his parents were killed in a massacre launched by miners from Cairns. Poppin Jerri was fostered out to a white family and renamed Douglas Grant. Eventually, he was taken to NSW, where he grew up, trained and excelled as a draughtsman.
In 1916, he tried to join the Australian army to fight in Europe but was barred because Aboriginal people were not allowed to serve overseas in the military. Nevertheless, after a second attempt, he managed to enlist, possibly because the extreme casualty rate amongst Australian soldiers resulted in the relaxing of drafting regulations. While in France, Grant was captured by German soldiers and served out the rest of the war as a POW. While interned, he was singled out by his captors for his ability and intellect, surprised them by reciting Shakespeare and tasked with being the camp’s liaison with the Red Cross.
After being repatriated to Australia at the end of the war, Douglas Grant worked in a small arms factory in Lithgow and eventually moved to Sydney. He began to write and advocate for Aboriginal rights, speaking out against the 1928 government sanctioned Coniston Massacre of Warlpiri people in the Northern Territory.
Grant also began agitating for better treatment for returned soldiers. In his published work, ‘The Broken Pledge’, he wrote, “What we want most, and above all, is the pledging in every deed and work, the honoring of the pledges of the Government of Australia to the returned soldier, who gave his all in the honouring of the pledges he made, when he carried the honour, integrity and fair name of Australia, unblemished and untarnished, through four years of horror, blood and unspeakable hell."
Grant became well regarded in social and cultural circles and even mixed with the likes of Henry Lawson. But he eventually fell to depression, probably suffering from post-traumatic stress, still suffering from the ravages of war, alienated from his original culture and never fully accepted in a country which still denied the existence of Aboriginal peoples under ‘terra nullius'. He was moved to the Callan Park Hospital for the Insane, as both inpatient and where he continued to apply his draughting skills. While there, he designed and built a war memorial, modelled on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and dedicated to the victims of war. The memorial still stands today. He lived out his last days in a war veterans hospital in La Parouse, passing away in 1951.
Despite his services and those of other ‘black diggers’ during World War 1, it wasn't until 16 years later, in 1967, that Aboriginal people were given the right to vote in Australia and a further 25 years in 1992 that the Mabo case succeeded in the High Court, overturning the notion of ‘terra nullius’.
In the photographs below, Wangkangurru man, Raymond Finn pays tribute to Douglas Grant at his memorial on the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day.
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Vitto's 84th Birthday at The Piccolo Bar
Some images from the 84th birthday of Kings Cross identity Vittorio Bianchi (Vitto), who celebrated his big day at the legendary Piccolo Bar, where he has worked since 1956.
Locals gathered to watch performers including Cindy Pastel, Christa Hughes and Pete Van Strat. Photographed here are also actor and community activist, Simone Davison, Piccolo bartender extraordinaire, Claire and photojournalist Glenn Lockitch.
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Silent March - Manly
Today, a group of Aboriginal families and their supporters conducted a Silent March from Circular Quay to Manly (via ferry), down The Corso to Manly Beach and then to the office of Tony Abbott, the local federal member for Warringah and the current government appointed Aboriginal ‘envoy’.
The Silent March is a concept organised by the Indigenous Social Justice Association (Sydney) - ISJA. The aim of these marches is to parade quietly through the streets of Sydney with large placards showing the photos of Aboriginal people who have died or been killed in police custody, bringing urgent attention to the issue of Aboriginal deaths in custody.
It has been 27 years since the report from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody was handed down. Since then, only around two-thirds of the 339 recommendations have been implemented, while the incarceration of Aboriginal people has doubled.
There have recently been silent marches in Kings Cross, Campbelltown, Circular Quay and elsewhere around Sydney.
Today’s Silent March was led by the families of David Gundy, Nathan Reynolds, Mark Mason, T.J. Hickey and Eric Whittaker - who all died in police custody.
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Waverley Cemetery
Photos taken at Waverley Cemetery, Sydney.
35mm colour film, Kodak 400.
Nikon F2AS
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Zombie Walk 2018
More than 1,000 people gathered today in front of Sydney’s St. Mary’s Cathedral for the annual Zombie Walk, to raise funds for The Brain Foundation.
The Brain Foundation funds research in Australia into neurological disorders, brain diseases and brain injuries.
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Rally: Kids Off, Everyone Off! Close Nauru Close Manus!
Around 2,000 people gathered at Hyde Park North today to protest against the indefinite detention of asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Islands by the Australian government. There are currently 52 children languishing in these detention camps. Many are suffering from mental and physical stress. The government has been accused by psychiatrists of ignoring evidence of the unfolding mental health crisis of children on Nauru.
Mandatory and indefinite imprisonment on these islands for refugees attempting to escape from persecution to Australia by boat has been a bipartisan policy of both the Liberal-National coalition and the Australian Labor Party for years.
Today’s speakers - including Reverend Rod Bowers, lawyer George Newhouse, Hazara community leader Najeeba Wadefadost and Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Collective - all denounced the major parties for their cruel approach to asylum seeker policy, which is increasingly being looked to as a model by right-wing and far right governments around the world.
Recently, 6,000 Australian doctors signed an open letter calling for children to be removed from these camps. Médicins Sans Frontierés was recently removed from Nauru, having also called for the immediate evacuation of all asylum seekers from detention on Nauru. The United Nations has condemned Australia’s policy on refugees and asylum seekers, calling it ‘unlawful’.
Pressure is mounting on the Australian government as the next Federal election approaches and as its refugee policies come under increasing scrutiny. Further rallies are planned in the coming weeks and months.
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R.I.P. Uncle Cecil Bowden
A tribute to Uncle Cecil Bowden, who has passed.
He was an elder, artist, Redfern identity and staunch champion of the Stolen Generation, to which he belonged. His story, through the Kinchela Boy’s Home, can be read here.
The image below was taken in 2015 at the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy.
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No More Harm: Academics for Refugees Readings
Today, academics and students held simultaneous actions on university campuses around Australia to protest against the government's ongoing and indefinite detention of refugees, including children, on Manus and Nauru Islands.
At the University of Technology Sydney, academics read from Behrouz Boochani’s, ‘No Friend But the Mountains’, a book about his long years in Manus Island Detention Centre. Boochani, a Kurdish Iranian journalist, artist and refugee, is still being held on Manus, after 5 years of imprisonment, with no sign of release.
The action was organized by Academics for Refugees and the National Teachers and Education Union (NTEU).
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Portraits of the Cross
A few impromptu portraits in Kings Cross and surrounds, Sydney.
35mm Tri-X film, black and white.
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Defend The Sydney Opera House - Rally
Several thousand people filled the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House after the NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, caved into the demands of right-wing shock-jock, Alan Jones to allow the projection of horse racing advertising onto the sails of the world heritage building.
In response, protesters concerned about the integrity of the Opera House, brought with them torches, projectors and lights to disrupt the advertising and called for the end to government through vested interests, including the undue influence of the broadcaster, Alan Jones.
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Community Demand Retrial of Bowraville Murders
Simultaneous community protests were held in northern NSW and in Sydney today to demand the NSW government take unprecedented action to appeal to the High Court for the retrial of the murders of three Aboriginal children, Colleen Walker-Craig, Evelyn Greenup and Clinton Speedy-Duroux, in Bowraville almost 30 years ago.
Below are images from the Sydney rally which was held outside the NSW Parliament and then marched to the Supreme Court, where a retrial was ruled out last week.
Speakers included Gavin Walker, Jasmine Speedy, Leone Duroux, Vanessa Turnbull Roberts, Leetona Dangay (mother of murdered Aboriginal man, David), NSW Greens MP, David Shoebridge, Tasman Keith and other family members of the Bowraville Three.
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The Goods Line
A conveyer belt of human capital at peak hour.
Bowraville Murders Appeal Dismissed
Today, the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal to have the murders of three Aboriginal children from Bowraville retried.
Over a period of five months in 1990-91, Colleen Walker (16), Evelyn Greenup (4) and Clinton Speedy-Duroux (16) disappeared. Two of the bodies of these children were later recovered. Because Colleen Walker’s body was never found, a trial of an accused man only focussed on the murders of Evelyn and Clinton. Family members of the children had hoped for a retrial so that all three murders could be considered in one trial.
Today’s decision, after a ten month delay, was devastating to the community and to the Walker, Greenup and Speedy-Duroux families. Justice, they say, has not been served.
Here, family member, Ronella Dolly Jerome, breaks down while addressing the media after the court’s verdict.
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Silent March - Kings Cross
Below are images of one of a series of 'Silent Marches' through different suburbs of Sydney, yesterday, this particular one through Kings Cross. The Silent Marches aim to bring attention to ongoing Aboriginal deaths in police custody.
As the public looked on, photographs of Ms Dhu, David Dungay, T.J. Hickey, Rebecca Maher, Eric James Whitaker, John Pat and many others were quietly paraded around the streets of Kings Cross to highlight their deaths.
The marches are organised by the Indigenous Social Justice Association (ISJA), Sydney Branch.
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Fragmented Topographies
Architectural fragments, surfaces and textures collected from dismantled public housing estates, Canberra.
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Defend The Right To Protest Rally
A rally outside NSW Parliament this morning urging the repeal of legislation that will diminish the right to assembly on public (Crown) land, thereby reducing the right of protest and freedom of speech.
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