Long Journey

The river feels like home, it’s hard to explain but I will miss it if I move away from here.

I prefer drawing over painting. Drawing is relaxing and calming and you can lose yourself in it. You have no care in the world about what is going on around you because you are in a completely different world, not in reality anymore, somewhere else. Not all Aboriginal artists use dot painting, many people think all Aboriginal artists paint the same way but that’s not true. You try to find your own way of doing it, what style suits you. I chose colours that were realistic to the water and the fish and the tree, the stones, the river environment.

The fish represents me. I used to go fishing a lot for older family members that couldn’t go places that they used to go. I would fish for them because they no longer could. I can just see the smiles on their faces when I brought the fish back for them. The feeling was out of this world.

I want to go places but I can’t, not really. Even though I want to go and try something new, I don’t last, I need to come home.

Growing up with your cousins and brothers, being with family, watching the young ones grow and seeing the old one’s faces, it brings me home. I don’t want to stay in the one spot. I want to fly away but I can’t, the pull of home is too strong. The bird I drew is like that, it represents what I want but can’t have. I want to fly free and fly high, fly away, try new things, go somewhere different….. but the call of home is too strong.

Andrew Lindsay

Kelpie Farm Dog

When I think of this dog, it brings back good memories. When I was young, I would always sit on my motorbike with the dog. My Pop would drive around while my brother was always helping out in the shearing shed. When I was old enough to ride all by myself me and my Pop would spend all day long riding, trying to bring the sheep around, cleaning wool and racing to not let the sheep out of the gates. It brings back good and sad memories. I will never forget my Pop and my dog Fly. They will always be in my heart forever. I named her Fly when I was little because she was fast and she would round up the sheep really quickly too. My nan would always have the BBQ going with a heap of food; they were good times and I wish I never had to let them go so quickly.

I have chosen this piece of artwork because it relates to me and my family. I made it by using a bit of wood. I asked Mr. Cresp if he could help me do my art. When he said yes I went to the wood station and got a large piece of wood. I then went on the internet and selected a photo of a Kelpie dog that looked like how I remember Fly looked like, and then put it on a program called ‘V Carve.’ I saved it onto a USB and plugged it into a machine called a ‘CNC router’ that then carved it into my wood and then there was a dog on my wood. I then stained it with varnish and let it dry on the table. I wood burned my name into the wood and then I let it cool.

I’m proud of it and that I didn’t give up when things went wrong. Next time I create something I like this, I might make it stand up.

                        Written by Lachlan McGee