Colebrook Reconciliation Park
For our first assignment we were asked to look at a few pieces created by a variety of Indigenous artists. My room mate and myself decided to venture to the Colebrook Reconciliation Park in Blackwood, South Australia to see the variety of pieces displayed openly to the public.
The succession of superintendents who followed at Colebrook enforced a strict discipline. Many children were to suffer from this harsh regime. Having been removed from their families and land ties, because of the government's policy on assimilation, some were never to see their parents again.
I found this poem and it really moved me. The simplicity of the language and the message so clearly conveyed was truly heart wrenching. The helplessness of the children was very clearly shown through such a short and precise poem.
To remember the Aboriginal children of the Stolen Generation, the 'Fountain of Tears' and the 'Grieving Mother' statues, sculpted by Silvio Apponi, have been created.
On the particular day that we went, the weather had been terrible and it was really overcast which really added to the mood of all the pieces. The Grieving Mother statue was probably the piece that affected me the most, because it had been raining and it honestly looked like the rain drops were tears streaming down her body.
References:
http://www.mitchamcouncil.sa.gov.au/page.aspx?u=1249
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