Musselroe Bay

Abstract

Places hold memories of those who lived there, for themselves and for those who come after. Musselroe Bay on the tip of North East Tasmania is part of my Traditional Country, my memory. Mt William National Park adjacent to Musselroe Bay is my retreat, a place where even a mobile phone won't work and where layers of time peel away...only interrupted by the summer intrusion of an eco-tourism venture, daily, like clockwork, 10 visitors walk along these Bay of Fires beaches for a 'wilderness experience'; there is also the likelihood of their airplanes landing regularly. Last year the local Dorset Council approved 1900 hectares of Musselroe Bay to be developed into an eco-tourist resort comprising a "100-room resort, 320 accommodation units, eco-tourism activities, conference facilities, airstrip and an 18-hole links-style golf course." Many dozens of Aboriginal women, our forebears, were kidnapped from this coast by sealers during the first 30 years of the 1800s, including one of my ancestors and many relatives. Today the region beyond the National Park is fairly barren, due to overgrazing for several generations. Musselroe Bay also has a sleepy fishing-shack town, with a phone box and no shop, so it's now being bought-up by those who can afford a weekender. This exhibition brings together, in different mediums, stories that interrelate for me, particularly in terms of north east Tasmania; stories of disturbance, removal and return.