| The
Sand Goanna |
The Goanna was the subject
of a story in
the Sydney Morning
Herald.
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| This
was commissioned by Moree
Council for its cultural festival in 1997. |
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Built
of steel, ply, hessian, chicken wire, solar flex and paint, it was the
reconciliation float that lead the parade down the main street of Moree.
It represents collaboration
between Mardi Gras artists and Kamilaroi
artists at the Nindetharna Co-operative in Moree. The goanna is a totem
for local Aboriginal people. Not only is the goanna a beautiful construction,
it also represents an example of the processes that can be involved in
reconciliation. |
Design for the front
of the float by Jack from Nindetharna Co-operative in Moree
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| The project
of building the goanna
involved skill sharing between Mardi Gras artists and Aboriginal artists
and represented positive links between indigenous and non indigenous communities. |
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Steven and Jen painting
the sides to go with the Goanna - designed by Jack, one of the Moree artists
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Bringing the
goanna and two of the Aboriginal artists responsible for its construction
to Mardi Gras highlighted the many different ways in which reconciliation
can occur at local levels and between diverse communities and particularly
one way in which gays and lesbians can participate in acts of reconciliation
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L-R: Cecil (aka Icy
Pole), Jen, Margaret, Madelline.
At rear: Sandy with
Goanna.
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Dancers |
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L-R: Christy, Philip,
Madeline, Jen, Maurice, Gina
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"Getting
the dancers happening was my highlight. I was worried we couldn't get in.
That they'd be no space. But it was happening by Whitlam Square. Working
out it was going to happen was the highlight."
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Dancing
is an essential part of the Mardi Gras parade and Queers for Reconciliation
were no exception! Working with experienced choreographers and dance teachers,
this group devised a simple routine which utilized the motif of fences
and hands
The dance enacted the construction
and destruction of fences in order to convey the ways
in which non indigenous people have used the land, as well as the barriers
which prevent reconciliation, and which must be broken down in order to
achieve it. |
Devina
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"When
the crowd went wild, that was my highlight. We'd turn to the side and walk
to the crowd. They loved the personal attention. They wanted to touch you."
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The
hand motif is an established motif of reconciliation, which has already
been used widely by groups such as Australians
for Native Title and Reconciliation. |
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"When
we went past the BGF Stands everyone stood up. Someone ran over to them
and the compere said stand up and we got a standing ovation."
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Windmill with
Smell-o-rama
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Jam and Icy Pole - Cecil
- at work on the Windmill at the Mardi Gras Workshop.
Cecil is from Nindetharna
in Moree and helped construct the Goanna.
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| The
windmill is the kind found in the outback, used for pumping water from
artesian
bores. It was a steel structure on wheels. It's blades replaced by
hands from ply and painted in the colours of the Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander flags. One side of the tail was an Aboriginal
flag and the other a Torres Strait Islander flag. |
The windmill designed by
Idis at the Mardi Gras Workshop
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| The windmill
symbolized non-indigenous uses of land in Australia, evoking a history
and mythology about cultivation of the bush. The windmill is a spunky
structure which, rather than celebrating a past of rapacious unsustainable
land cultivation and appropriation, spoke to a synthesis between indigenous
and non indigenous land uses. |
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The front of the the walking
group pushing the Windmill |
The smell-o-rama
pumped a eucalyptus
scented spray high into the air to waft over the crowd. part of a desire
to incorporate smell into the sensual assault that is the Mardi Gras parade,
smell being very evocative, memorable and often under-utilized in public
spectacle. The crowd were transported to the Australian bush by a scent
which was familiar and yet, in central Sydney, unexpected. |
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<
Walking
group
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"The
positive feeling, positive energy - the whole thing was a highlight. There
was a good feeling amongst the group and the level of the indigenous presence
was just great." |
Another part of the walking
group with the Melbourne Queers for Wik banner in the background |
This
group incorporated those people who didn't want to dance but who nevertheless
wanted to show their support for reconciliation in a queer context.
A fairy for Reconciliation
There were
approximately 350 people walking in the float with groups from Penrith,
Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane.
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"I've
never worn make-up, so that was a highlight. But really the entire parade
was. Just the buzz we got."
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Girrrl Bears
for Reconciliation
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| Many
walkers wore tee-shirts printed with the Queers
for Reconciliation logo and carried plastic hands which were decorated
at the Mardi Gras Fair Day stall. |
"My
highlight was seeing the ideas come into fruition over the two weeks before,
when we were sharing building the float with Jack and Cecil (from Moree)."
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Hermione and Marcia |
The colours
of the hands invoked all the sparkle, fluff and frou-frou of Mardi Gras,
a "camping up" of the motif that was so successful at the Sea
of Hands outside Parliament House in Canberra
last year.
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Support from the crowd
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The walkers
gave spectators mementoes of the float in the form of stickers with pro-land
rights messages.
Ruby
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Many
other people - and one mermaid - joined us as walkers on the night!
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on
Citysearch featured coverage of Queers for Reconciliation's float and some
great commentary including the story of the Goanna. This video is no longer
on line but we hope to add footage of our float to this site soon.
