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Dirt Road Bordered by Salstbush

Frank Hurley (1885–1962) Dirt Road Bordered by Saltbush, Grey Chevrolet in Foreground, Central Australia [between 1955 and 1962]
digital print from 35 mm colour transparency, printed 2007
nla.pic-an24153287

Introduction

Australians are used to distances—we have to be. Ours is a country of large distances and often difficult terrain, with a small population strung out along thin coastal belts, or scattered inland in smaller communities.

Over at least 40 000 years, Indigenous people developed communication systems and travelling and trade routes. European settlers set up communication systems such as roads, railways and the telegraph to establish and maintain their settlements, support agriculture and industry, and allow people to travel for work and pleasure.

Our land is ancient, and our nation a blend of Indigenous people and those who have arrived from many other cultures since 1788. We have all had to adapt to the land and learn to work with it, and we have had to find practical and inventive solutions to the challenges posed by distance and terrain.

This exhibition examines the question of distance and our responses to it.