Victorian Aboriginals and war implements
(c. 1883)
Medium
albumen silver photograph
Measurements
13.2 × 20.0 cm (image)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Mrs Beryl M. Curl, 1979
Public domain
Gallery location
Gallery 8
Level 2, NGV Australia
About this work
In 1863 a group of Aboriginal people settled on a piece of land between the Watts River and Badger Creek, near Healesville, which became Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve. Between 1877 and 1883, Fred Kruger was commissioned by the Board for the Protection of Aborigines (BPA) to photograph the station. His images were not neutral or merely picturesque, but primarily served the BPA’s need for visual propaganda to present the station as well managed. Today, for the descendants of the people of the Kulin nation associated with Coranderrk, these photographs act as powerful documents of survival.
Artwork Details
Inscription
printed in ink on accompanying paper label: Victorian Aboriginals and War Implements.
Accession Number
PH230-1979
Department
Australian Photography
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Professor AGL Shaw AO Bequest