Townsville centre Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artwork video transcript.
When that painting got unveiled, I knew. I knew in my heart that it'd be special. But I didn't think it'd be that special.
I wanted to share an incredible culture with Mates and families. We don't know enough about it in Australia. So, the least I wanted was that people would get a basic understanding of the dots, what it means, the symbolism used in the paintings. But then I also wanted to get some connection too, connection between non-Indigenous Australians and Indigenous Australians whether they've served or not, it doesn't matter to me. But have them come in and leave this place and understand that they've just learned something about indigenous art, but they've also been able to contribute to it and actually put their own story on a canvas that's going to be up forever.
I wanted it to be a collaboration piece between Mates, guests, walk-ins, working with an incredible artist.
My name is Chris Gray. I'm a proud Goori man from Bundjalung nation. I'm also a veteran. I was approached by Coco. I’ve known Coco for a very long time through Defence days, Rugby League and a few other things throughout the community.
So, he approached me about doing an art piece, but more or less doing an art piece with some veterans from the Townsville community. So, the buy-in was from the start, and I think that in itself just showed that this had some meaning behind it and it had purpose.
The paints are really important to get right. You know, the customary colours that we see: the browns and the golden browns and the yellows to represent the land and the oranges for the Mates4Mates circle, Chris was going to use that to tie in and represent the land that we are on. It's really important to me to not just think about Aboriginal Australians because Torres Strait is part of us and the way that they use their blues and greens is absolutely beautiful up there.
I didn't want to overdo it with my style of art or my art in particular. You know, it is a lot about, the veterans and people who took place for this art piece, and I wanted it to be more centered around them. So, I did create a part in the middle, which was just to signify everyone coming together, sitting on country, yarning and being able to feel comfortable in a safe place. To be able to have the discussions that they wanted to but also to share their stories that they wanted to paint. And from this, I've been able to try and connect all those stories together by using white dot art. So, I used it to a sense where I've panelled each piece, so everyone had their piece but then at the end I got to join the dots together, so it made it feel like it was connected and everyone, everyone was on that journey together.
That moment in itself, when everything was quiet and everyone was being able to sit there and view the art piece, you can really feel a connection, not only with everyone but also the art piece. And I think the special part about it is that they had their moment where they can connect with the art piece. But also people who didn't, so all the organisations and people from the community who came in, just seeing them viewing it and then talking about it just shows that this came from a positive and a good place.
When that painting got unveiled, I knew. I knew in my heart that it'd be special, but I didn't think it'd be that special.
I get emotional seeing things like this come together, because I individually want to be an active contributor to closing the gap and being a part of reconciliation, and I think it's really powerful to be able to see our organisation's intentions come to life as well.
There was a palpable silence in the room, and I was on the verge of maybe having some dust in my eye, because I see how much work went into it from all the Mates and the staff that came together and it's a true representation of what Mates4Mates is for me.
Reconciliation is important because we want to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people get the respect and recognition that they deserve. We also need to ensure that we acknowledge the history and are active contributors to bringing together reconciliation and closing the gap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our communities.
Mates4Mates want to be an active contributor to that for not only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander veterans and their families, but for the wider community at large.
The fact that Mates4Mates were happy to let me run with this project on a whisper at the start. It was just a question, “can I do this?”. They backed me from absolutely day one which is a credit to the organisation. It's a credit to the people in the organisation. It's a credit to the leadership of the organisation and all the people that came together to pull this together. It's been a massive team effort.
I think it's important to recognise that we are still at the beginning of our reconciliation journey. And as an organisation and staff members, we have a lot to learn, but we really hope that we can learn with our clients and with local community, and we can grow our reconciliation efforts across the organisation and within community. And that all begins with days like today and taking those learnings and moving forward.
I wanted to share an incredible culture with Mates and families. We don't know enough about it in Australia. So, the least I wanted was that people would get a basic understanding of the dots, what it means, the symbolism used in the paintings. But then I also wanted to get some connection too, connection between non-Indigenous Australians and Indigenous Australians whether they've served or not, it doesn't matter to me. But have them come in and leave this place and understand that they've just learned something about indigenous art, but they've also been able to contribute to it and actually put their own story on a canvas that's going to be up forever.
I wanted it to be a collaboration piece between Mates, guests, walk-ins, working with an incredible artist.
My name is Chris Gray. I'm a proud Goori man from Bundjalung nation. I'm also a veteran. I was approached by Coco. I’ve known Coco for a very long time through Defence days, Rugby League and a few other things throughout the community.
So, he approached me about doing an art piece, but more or less doing an art piece with some veterans from the Townsville community. So, the buy-in was from the start, and I think that in itself just showed that this had some meaning behind it and it had purpose.
The paints are really important to get right. You know, the customary colours that we see: the browns and the golden browns and the yellows to represent the land and the oranges for the Mates4Mates circle, Chris was going to use that to tie in and represent the land that we are on. It's really important to me to not just think about Aboriginal Australians because Torres Strait is part of us and the way that they use their blues and greens is absolutely beautiful up there.
I didn't want to overdo it with my style of art or my art in particular. You know, it is a lot about, the veterans and people who took place for this art piece, and I wanted it to be more centered around them. So, I did create a part in the middle, which was just to signify everyone coming together, sitting on country, yarning and being able to feel comfortable in a safe place. To be able to have the discussions that they wanted to but also to share their stories that they wanted to paint. And from this, I've been able to try and connect all those stories together by using white dot art. So, I used it to a sense where I've panelled each piece, so everyone had their piece but then at the end I got to join the dots together, so it made it feel like it was connected and everyone, everyone was on that journey together.
That moment in itself, when everything was quiet and everyone was being able to sit there and view the art piece, you can really feel a connection, not only with everyone but also the art piece. And I think the special part about it is that they had their moment where they can connect with the art piece. But also people who didn't, so all the organisations and people from the community who came in, just seeing them viewing it and then talking about it just shows that this came from a positive and a good place.
When that painting got unveiled, I knew. I knew in my heart that it'd be special, but I didn't think it'd be that special.
I get emotional seeing things like this come together, because I individually want to be an active contributor to closing the gap and being a part of reconciliation, and I think it's really powerful to be able to see our organisation's intentions come to life as well.
There was a palpable silence in the room, and I was on the verge of maybe having some dust in my eye, because I see how much work went into it from all the Mates and the staff that came together and it's a true representation of what Mates4Mates is for me.
Reconciliation is important because we want to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people get the respect and recognition that they deserve. We also need to ensure that we acknowledge the history and are active contributors to bringing together reconciliation and closing the gap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our communities.
Mates4Mates want to be an active contributor to that for not only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander veterans and their families, but for the wider community at large.
The fact that Mates4Mates were happy to let me run with this project on a whisper at the start. It was just a question, “can I do this?”. They backed me from absolutely day one which is a credit to the organisation. It's a credit to the people in the organisation. It's a credit to the leadership of the organisation and all the people that came together to pull this together. It's been a massive team effort.
I think it's important to recognise that we are still at the beginning of our reconciliation journey. And as an organisation and staff members, we have a lot to learn, but we really hope that we can learn with our clients and with local community, and we can grow our reconciliation efforts across the organisation and within community. And that all begins with days like today and taking those learnings and moving forward.