Exhibitions

Biography

Lillian Wheatley is a saltwater woman (muka luna) from the Trawlwoolway nation, North East Tasmania. She is a senior cultural practitioner, knowledge keeper, artist/designer and respected Elder in her community.

Lillian’s work is inspired by her country and life growing up on an island in the Bass Strait. This was the very island where her Ancestors were subjected to enforced displacement from their homelands. They were forbidden to practise their cultural ways as attempted genocide of her Ancestors continued. Today, Lillian’s people are continuing the cultural practices that were taken from her Old People.

Lillian’s life growing up on an island has instilled a deep respect for Country, for her peoples’ livelihoods depending on the tide, seasons, moon, wind, just as the original custodians of this land did. As a young child, Lillian would gather cuttlefish, kelp, shells, driftwood, treasures washed up from the sea and topaz washed down from the mountains. This childhood pastime grew into a way of life for her.

The influences of Lillian’s cultural upbringing inspire her to create her pieces. Today when she gathers traditional materials to create her work, she is honouring her people, culture and customs by continuing the thriving, living ancient practices. Her connection and love of her island home and ancestral lands resonate in the exquisite pieces she creates, both contemporary and traditional.

Artist statement

Unravelling Weave, 2022

Each of these woven circles represent family groups in Tasmania within their 9 nations, once living in harmony with sea and country, respecting boundaries for thousands of years until a dominant species, the British, invaded in the early 1800s to unravel our Ancestors.

Destroying almost everything our Old People had ever known; they were inhumanly violated then exiled to an inescapable Island in the Bass Strait to be whitewashed. After several failed attempts on other islands ‘the powers that be’ eventually set up the mission at Wybalenna, Flinders Island.

Mathinna is represented by the bright red string stretching from Wybalenna to Oyster Cove.

Mathinna was born in captivity at Wybalenna in 1835. Her mother was Wongeneep and father Towterer, chieftain of Lowreenne people from the South-west of Tasmania. Both Mathinna’s parents died at Wybalenna when she was a young girl. When she was five years old, she was sent to Hobart at the request of Governor Franklin and his wife, Lady Jane, who had taken particular interest in the “bright young girl with an appealing manner” on their previous visit to Wybalenna.

When the Franklins returned to England Mathinna was left behind and sent to the Queens Orphan School in Hobart, unaware that she was living in the same institution as her older sister who she had never met.  After a year in the orphanage Mathinna was then sent back to Wybalenna, then on to Oyster Cove with a handful of her remaining people when the mission had been deemed unsuccessful.

Mathinna died a broken young woman.

Despite the attempted genocide of our people and culture we have survived and are living proof of the resilience and strength continuing our cultural practices today.

Strong Black Womin – Forever Culture, 2022

Despite the incredibly inhumane actions towards and treatment of the palawa/pakana – the First Nation Peoples of lutruwita (Tasmania), our Mob have survived generation after generation, and continue to grow stronger as time goes on.

The story we grew up with was that we didn’t exist – that we and families no longer existed. Of course, that also encompassed the fallacy that there were no longer any continuing histories of our Cultural activities.

The exhibit we present today clearly demonstrates that we are a continuation of our Ancestors – 30,000+ years, including our ancient history, stories, families and Culture.

The stories presented for you represent the survival of an ancient People. Stories passed on, dance continued around camp-fires, tools to gather food and protect ourselves and family, changes and evolution of Ceremony, Dance and Story, ways of living whilst protecting our Country, evolution in ways of living to survive within an alien people from Britain.

We have struggled to be recognised and acknowledged as the continuing First Nation Peoples of this Ancient and Sacred Country, now known as Tasmania. We continue our Cultural activities, the foods our Old People ate, our Sacred historic Yarns from Old Times, etc, without ever retreating from our Sacredness as the First People of this ancient land.

Our exhibition clearly and strongly demonstrates that we have survived and remain strong in family, Culture, story – these aspects make us the strong People we are today.

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