MEDIA RELEASE - 7 June 2007
Cooee: Australia in the 19th century is a unique opportunity to view rarely seen collection highlights spanning the period from our convict past through to our first international celebrity, Nellie Melba. The exhibition is an eyewitness account of Australians at work and play over a century.
All regions of Australia are depicted in Cooee from the first European settlers in Tasmania to Chinatown in Darwin after a cyclone in 1897.
Drawn entirely from the National Library's Pictures Collection, the exhibition covers: colonial scandals, a convict cannibal, mateship in the bush, the boom and bust of the gold rushes, the rise of 'Marvellous' Melbourne, horseracing—the sport of kings!, bushranging, bushfires, pub life, and children tragically lost in the wilderness.
Watercolour images capturing household interiors of the era, people shopping in the age before supermarkets, playing sport, going to church, travelling and working—Cooee depicts in intimate detail the texture of life and people's interests in another century.
The 150 watercolours, drawings and early photographs in Cooee give a tantalising glimpse of 19th-century Australia. The exhibition is curated in five themes—Contact, Community, Toil, Land and Australians All.
Martin Terry, the Curator of the exhibition said, "The exhibition tells the story of dawning nationhood as the colony moves from a rough-hewn settlement in 1800 to a land of gleaming cities in 1901, linked by a network of stock routes and railways. It is a visual document of life as it was lived two centuries ago, seen through the eyes of the people who lived it, using the technology and artistic formats of the day.
"As the century advanced and Federation drew closer, watercolours were superseded by the increasing ease of photography. The exhibition features a number of impressive photo-albums showing booming Australian cities and the bustle of urban life.
"Often the handiwork of townsfolk, anonymous settlers or convicts, the works are first-hand evidence of what colonists found interesting, novel and worth recording about life in Australia."
Cooee opens at the National Library on 14 June.
EXHIBITION DETAILS
Cooee: Australia in the 19th century, 14 June - 9 September 2007, open daily 9 am - 5 pm, free
FLOORTALKS
Wednesday 4 July and Wednesday 15 August, 12.30 pm, Exhibition Gallery
Media contact: Yvonne Kennedy, Tel: 02 6262 1353; 0411 753 891; ykennedy@nla.gov.au