... because we humans can only work for a future we can imagine.

One of the virtual 'skins' from Imagine The Future Inc's re-interpretation of a traditional Kulin possum skin cloak created by Csaba Szamosy from images contributed by project partners, Painting the future real, 1996. Please note: the indigenous designs remain the cultural property of the people of the Kulin nation and are subject to a moral rights agreement.

[2002 version and the accompanying story First peoples of the basalt plain.]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This photograph of Kulin people (probably Wurundjuri) wearing possum skin cloaks, was taken by an unidentified photographer somewhere around Melbourne in the second half of nineteenth century. It was contributed to the project by the Museum of Victoria with the permission of the Wurundjuri Tribal Land Compensation and Cultural Heritage Council. Archaeological deposits at the confluence of Arundel Creek and the Maribyrnong River at Keilor indicate that Aboriginal people have inhabited the basalt plain for more than 40,000 years, a time period which represents more than 2,000 generations. Over this time, they would have witnessed and been affected by the changes in climate and sea level associated with the last great ice age, and volcanic eruptions and lava flows associated with the creation of the basalt plain itself.


This pattern was adapted by consultant artist Csaba Szamosy from a clan design incised into a traditional Kulin shield that is believed to have been manufactured in pre-European days or before the full impact of European colonisation was felt by Aboriginal people in Victoria. The design was copied at the Museum of Victoria under the supervision of Bill Nicholson, Chairperson of the Wurundjuri Tribal Land Compensation and Cultural Heritage Council, and Indigenous Studies curator Mark Grist. The design remains the cultural property of the Kulin people and is subject to a moral rights agreement.

[Page history: created and first published on www.ecoversity.org.au as part o f Painting the future real (1995-97), the prototype for Redreaming the plain (1998-2002); taken off-line in 1998 and re-posted ina slightly modified form in July 2004 as a web archive. For more information contact redreaming@rmit.edu.au.]