Illuminated contact stories | National Museum of Australia

In a stunning display of colour and light, artists from the Hopevale Arts and Culture Centre created a series of works reflecting on moments when Cook and his crew came into contact with Guugu Yimidhirr people in 1770.

Explore the works by Hopevale artists

A light box made from plywood and medium density fibreboard [MDF]. An acrylic painting on the front of the box features a tree, a boat, a body of water, some human figures and kangaroos. There are two paintings of Kangaroos on the left side of the box and hand painted text on the right that begins 'WHEN CAPTAIN SAW A BIG ANIMAL / HE ASKED THE BAMA WHAT WAS IT? / A GANGURRU THEY SAID / ...' Very small holes have been drilled into the painting around the prominent features. - click to view larger image

A light box made from plywood and medium density fibreboard [MDF] with an acrylic painting on the front of the box that features two groups of people with a campfire in the centre, a tree on the left and water in the background. Text on the left side of the box reads ' COOKS MEN ARMED WITH GUNS / THEY WERE SCARED OF ALL THE BAMA / THE BAMA WERE VERY ANGRY / OF THE TURTLES THAT WERE TAKEN / IT WAS FAR TOO MANY.' The right side of the box has text that reads 'THERE COULD HAVE BEEN BLOOD SHED / BUT THE LITTLE OLD MAN / WHO WAS THE HEAD OF THE TRIBE / BROKE THE TIP OF A SPEAR / HE WAS SAYING IN HIS OWN LAUNGAGE[sic] / NO BLOOD WILL BE SHED HERE'. Very small holes are drilled around a central aboriginal figure. - click to view larger image

A light box made from plywood and medium density fibreboard [MDF]. An acrylic painting on the front of the box features a boat with three masts. It has 12 turtles and three aboriginal men inside the boat and three white men on the shore. very small holes have been drilled into the painting around the prominent features. - click to view larger image

A plywood and medium density fibreboard [MDF] lightbox featuring an acrylic painting of three Aboriginal men in a canoe with a colonial man standing on shore with a telescope. There is a tree at bottom the bottom left side of the front of the box. The one the left side of the box reads ' ONE OF COOK

A plywood and medium density fibreboard [MDF] lightbox featuring an acrylic painting of a sail boat with an Aboriginal man on it and a canoe with seven figures in it next to a turtle in the water. A tree on the right side of the painting has three black birds or bats flying away from it. text on the left side of the box begins 'Cook's men would / go out...' and text on the right side begins 'Bama would only / take what they / needed.' Very small holes have been drilled into the painting around the prominent features. - click to view larger image

A plywood and medium density fibreboard [MDF] lightbox with a painting in acrylic on the front of captain Cook standing in front of a river that has a crocodile in it. There are hills in the background. Hand painted text in the river reads 'GANHAARR GOING PAST CAPTAIN COOK'. Text on the right side of the box reads 'CAPTAIN . COOK. NYUNDU / WALAA'. Text on the left side reads 'NHAYUN GANHAARR / GADAARA'. Text on the back reads 'Hopevale Arts + Culture / Daisy Hamlot / 205/19'. There are very small holes drilled into the painting along the river and the background. - click to view larger image

A light box made from plywood and medium density fibreboard [MDF]. An acrylic painting on the front of the box features a sail boat on the water with a colourful reef underneath. hand painted text on the left hand side begins 'THE. BAMA / KNEW.THE / REEF'. The right side begins 'CAPTAIN / COOK.WRECKED / IS SHIP / ON THE REEF...' Very small holes have been drilled into the painting around the prominent features. - click to view larger image

A plywood and medium density fibreboard [MDF] lightbox featuring a painting of a group of Aboriginal people being shown a knife by a white man in a hat who is depicted three times. The sun is shining in the sky and it's rays shine through trees to the ground. Hand painted text on the left side of the box reads 'ONE OF COOK'S CREW / WONDERED IN THE BUSH AND FOUND / THE BAMA'S CAMPSITE...'. Text on the right side of the box reads 'THE BAMA'S HANDED THE KNIFE BACK / ...' Very small holes have been drilled into the painting around the prominent features. - click to view larger image

A plywood and medium density fibreboard [MDF] lightbox featuring an acrylic painting of a boat up the shore. There is a dark body of water behind it and hills beyond that. The sky is yellow, orange and grey. There is a tree in the bottom right corner of the painting. There is hand painted text on the left side of the box that begins 'Captain Cook now had to / work on the ship..' and the right side begins with 'After placing men around / their camp for safety...' Very small holes have been drilled into the painting around the prominent features. - click to view larger image

A plywood and medium density fibreboard [MDF] lightbox featuring an acrylic painting of a sail boat and two canoes on the water, a group of four white people on the shore with two pigs and two Aboriginal on the other side of the river. Very small holes have been drilled into the painting around the prominent features. - click to view larger image

A light box made from plywood and medium density fibreboard [MDF] with an acrylic painting on the front of the box that features a shore in the foreground, a body of water with a ship on it, a beach and hills in the background. There are five people on the beach, two Aboriginals and three white men. The boat is flying three flags and has the word 'ENDEVOUR' painted on the side. Words painted in the sky read 'THE BAMA CHASING AWAY' and 'CAPTAIN COOK AND CREW / BECAUSE THEY WERE, OVER / THE BOUNDRY LINE.' There are very small holes drilled into the painting along the hill lines. - click to view larger image

Workshops on country

This body of work was created at a series of workshops hosted on country in Hopevale, 46 kilometres north-west of Cooktown.

Curator Shona Coyne from the National Museum of Australia and Indigenous Art Centre Alliance educator Edwina Circuitt read James Cook and Joseph Banks's journals with the artists.

This was the first time many of the artists had read the journals. There was much robust discussion about how life would have been for their ancestors who were on the shores of Waalumbaal Birri in 1770.

Colour photo of an elderly woman standing next to wooden framed light boxes of which some contain paintings. - click to view larger image — Daisy Hamlot

Colour photo of three elderly women sitting at a table and discussing an image of a boat carrying three people. - click to view larger image — Wanda Gibson, Dora Deemal and Grace Rosendale

Colour photo of an elderly woman sitting in a chair and painting images of people onto a canvas. - click to view larger image — Esmae Bowen

Colour photo of a large supply of coloured pigments on a shelf. - click to view larger image — Hopevale Arts and Culture Centre storeroom

Colour photo of wooden framed light boxes. - click to view larger image — Lightbox frames

Lightboxes on display

Artists created lightboxes by painting text and imagery on the front and sides of plywood lightbox frames. Fine holes were then drilled though areas of the paintings to highlight special elements of the story. Lighting systems were mounted behind the boxes so that light can shine through the holes.

Eight of the 12 Hopevale lightboxes on display

Turtle trouble

Revising the script

Through children's eyes

9 places up the coast

Endeavour reflections

Sky stories

Aboriginal language game

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