Exhibitions

Biography­­­­­­

Cheryl Mundy tremanya (echidna) is a pakana activist, singer/songwriter and cultural educator. She has performed in Australia and overseas and has an extensive background in Aboriginal health, wellbeing and mental health.

In Cheryl’s words: “My mother Joyce Honner was born at Cheverton and my father Bert Mundy was born in Nicholls Rivulet. I grew up in Bothwell with two older sisters, an older brother and a younger brother who has passed away. As cliché as it sounds, we didn’t have much, but we were pretty happy most of the time.

“My first music memory is mum humming quietly and rocking me. At maybe five I was singing in the crowded kitchen. I was always encouraged to sing. My son Conan, my grandchildren and family encourage and inspire and motivate me. My own songs come randomly, inspired by country, people and events that emotionally impact me. What initially emerges is either a stream of words or a melody. Rarely do the two coincide.

“I live in Primrose Sands in the traditional land of the Mumirimina people. I walk gently by their middens, gather food and fibres, pick up plastics and watch the swans in the wetlands. Oyster catchers peep away after sunsets and the old tawny frogmouth joins in later toward dawn. Great-great-great grandmother ‘Sarah’ was from Mussel Roe, Layrappenthe country, not too far from home as the bird flies. Her ‘real’ name is Tanganooturra. Grandfather ‘Eugene’ was from Robbins Island and his ‘real’ name is Nicermenic, the ‘Fire Tailed Finch’. Their daughter Fanny, my great-great-grandmother, was born at Wybalenna. She became known as Fanny Cochrane Smith[1].

“Fanny was the last survivor of the Oyster Cove Settlement. Her parents died there. When granted land by the government in 1858, she chose land at Nicholls Rivulet close to the Oyster Cove settlement. I feel deeply connected with putalina (Oyster Cove) and was involved in the community campaign and reoccupation in 1984, and the campaign for the return of the remains of our ancestors.

“Truth telling and treaty is a critical pathway to healing. I would like my performances and songs to be received as truth telling and to be hopeful.”

Artist statement

If These Walls Could Talk, 2022

Conversation between Cheryl Mundy tremanya and Jillian Mundy (2022) with three a cappella songs written by Cheryl Mundy tremanya, except ‘Spiritual Places’ lyrics (poem) written by puralia Jim Everett. Recorded in 2022 by Cheryl Mundy tremanya.

Cousins, Cheryl Mundy tremanya (echidna) and Jillian Mundy, reflect on the TMAG First Nations ‘collections’, including the audio installation of their great great grandmother Fanny [1] Smith.

“Grandmother sings in language at the press of a button.
Her original voice recordings on wax cylinders are locked away by TMAG to this day.
Do some consider her legacy a curated ‘object’ in the museum?”

If These Walls Could Talk is a soundscape of a cappella songs by Cheryl and conversational threads between Cheryl and Jillian outside the walls of the TMAG. The installation is both symbolic and a literal conversation of the continuing campaign and work by pakana to reclaim ownership and control of narratives, creations, heritage and much more.

Three original songs carry stories connecting the audio installation with other ‘objects’ held over time by TMAG and QVMAG, including the Aboriginal human remains described as the Crowther Collection,[2] and the Bothwell Cup.

Bring ‘em Home was written in 1985 after talking with Michael Mansell on his return from overseas with remains of our people, and from personal experiences.

Spiritual Places is a poem written by puralia meenamatta Jim Everett in 1988 and I put the melody and phrasing into song. In a storm around a fire about 1993, at a crucial time of destruction of our heritage.

Don’t Cry Mother emerged in an emotional release of the experience being encountered, affirmation of spirit and connections – continuing songlines.

“As a pakana First Nations woman, I share the recordings of my songs with full copyright and control to carry through to my son and family. It is also symbolic action for grandmother Fanny.”

“At the end of this journey, I had an epiphany! TMAG is the ‘object’. A colonial obstruction in a living cultural landscape. The creations from First Nations artists inside are culture not ‘objects’.”  – Cheryl Mundy tremanya

“As a photographer and journalist, I have a large photographic archive of our community’s contemporary story. I grapple with how to care for it for continued and ethical access after I have passed.  When an opportunity came to respond to said ‘objects’ in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery I thought about Fanny’s songs and how she had the foresight to record them for future generations, the role the museum plays and ‘ownership’ by colonial institutions. I also thought of Cheryl’s beautiful and poignant songs. I hope this artwork adds to the conversation on more ethical models to care for these legacies such as these.” – Jillian Mundy

The essence of this installation lays in the realisation of the work and the audience's personal experience with it.

[1] We reject the Cochrane name that was imposed on her as a stolen child.

[2] We do not consider our peoples' remains as objects but the institution did/does.

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