A RADF PROJECT. MAY

Housed at the Boathouse on Charlotte Street, COOKTOWN.

This mural comprises of 13 panels, acrylic on canvas (2.5 x 1.5mtr and .9 x 1.5 mtr). Commissioned by the Cooktown Re-enactment Society and the Regional Arts Development Funding body the mural tells of Cook’s 1st adventure on the barque ‘Endeavour’ and his contact with the first Australians. Using both his and Bank’s journals combined with traditional knowledge past and present. I have attempted to favour the experience from the indigenous point of view seeing Cook, Banks and crew as innocent and naive…who arriving in a strange Eden only to realize they are not alone. Banks, Solander and the young apprentice Parkinson explored this cornucopia meticulously preserving samples and sketches to be returned to England. Their work was translated onto botanical ‘book plates’ some displayed at Nature’s Powerhouse, Cook Shire Botanical Gardens. The Mural was opened on the Discovery Weekend by Warren Entsch.

Ironically the project took 47 days to complete.