MODERN DANCE. FIRE AND WATER Climate Change, Drought, Floods, Bushfires, Rainstorms. Australia 2020 BLACK SUMMER. ALL VIDEO AND MUSIC BY CHRISTOPHER LAWRIE. PLEASE USE HEADPHONES
The videos below are intended to be presented in a gallery situation. Projection 6 ft in height.
These Artworks consist of juxtaposed elements of visual, audio and text. They are not necessarily intended to be illustrative of each other.
MD VIDEO ART/MUSIC FIRE and WATER
MDO 187. If You Could See Mary Now If you could see Mary now I am sure you would not know her, she is so stout again as she was, and has not had a days sicknefs since she came here, she many a time pities you when she thinks of you all confined in the Gallowgate up three stairs while we are under a fine climate, with plenty of parrots flying over us, and in as delightful a country as any one could wish to live in.
John Kelly's Letter to his mother in Glasgow. 1839. From the book ‘From Weavers to Wapstraws’ by Ben Evans and Doug Hooper. The Story of Margaret Maxwell Kelly, Her Family and Her Descendants
James Kelly (c. 1785-1837) married Margaret Maxwell (c. 1787-1862) in about 1810. They had fifteen children. In 1839 the eldest son John wrote to her from Adelaide detailing her needs for the voyage. In 1840 the widowed Mrs. Kelly emigrated from her home in the Gallowgate, Glasgow, Scotland with her children to Adelaide Sth Australia.
I am one of her descendants.
Mary PDF
MDO 186. Great Fire at Alma 5 It is now apparent that all our penal statutes are inoperative to prevent bushfires. Some suggest as a precautionary measure, that our district roads should be taken advantage of and by ploughing two furrows along each side, and burning the grass on them when it would be safe to do so. This would effectively guard us against such widely spread destruction by fire as we have been subjected to.
Adelaide Chronicle 11 June 1868
John Kelly's Letter to his mother in Glasgow. 1839
MDO 181. RIVER 1
In 1884, after a series of droughts, the Victorian Government began investigating large-scale irrigation. The Chaffey brothers had built a successful irrigation colony in California before deciding to investigate Australia’s potential. In 1887, the Chaffeys started building Australia’s first ‘irrigation colony’ at Mildura and Renmark on the Murray River. The first harvests in the mid-1890s were exceptionally good but by 1896 the Chaffeys’ Mildura Irrigation Company was in liquidation and hundreds of settlers faced foreclosure. 1887: Chaffey Brothers introduce irrigation on Murray River.
national museum australia
John Kelly's Letter to his mother in Glasgow. 1839.
MDO 171. THE LAKE The life of the spirit may be fairly represented in diagram as a large acute-angled triangle divided horizontally into unequal parts with the narrowest segment uppermost. The lower the segment the greater it is in breadth, depth, and area.
The whole triangle is moving slowly, almost invisibly forwards and upwards. Where the apex was today the second segment is tomorrow; what today can be understood only by the apex and to the rest of the triangle is an incomprehensible gibberish, forms tomorrow the true thought and feeling of the second segment.
At the apex of the top segment stands often one man, and only one. His joyful vision cloaks a vast sorrow. Even those who are nearest to him in sympathy do not understand him. Angrily they abuse him as charlatan or madman.
But despite all this confusion, this chaos, this wild hunt for notoriety, the spiritual triangle, slowly but surely, with irresistible strength, moves onwards and upwards.
The Lake PDF
MDO 182. GREAT FIRE AT ALMA 1 Beside the great bush fire that decimated such an extent of country in the Hundred of Alma, and which started on Mr Joseph Kelly's farm, there have been four other fires on these Plains on a smaller scale. viz. on the farms of Messrs McKenzie, Odea, Greenshields and Watson; but by energetic efforts all were subdued without much damage being done. The continuous alarms which prevail on hot wind days is enough to make people nervous.
Adelaide Chronicle 11 June 1868
My dear Mother, Sisters and Brother. I take this opportunity of writing to you to let you know that we are all keeping in good health and that we received your letter by the Ariadne of 22nd of March. It was with great pleasure that we were able to hear of you all being in good health which we hope this will find you in the same.
I have no doubt that if you were here, you would do a great deal better than in Glasgow. You would have to put up with a good many difficulties, and hard work at first, but after you have been here 2 or 3 months, you will find you have made a change for the better. John Kelly's Letter to his mother in Glasgow. 1839
Great Fire 1 PDF
MDO 183. PRAY FOR WATER The 19th December will be remembered by the people here as Black Thursday. The day was fearfully hot. At 11 a.m. the thermometer stood at 110 in the shade. The wind was from the north, and was like the blast from a furnace. At about 1 p. m. a fire broke out in one of Mr J. Kelly’s grass paddocks, and in a few minutes it spread with amazing rapidity, laying waste cornfields, haystacks, stables, wagons, harness and agricultural implements of all kinds. The flames crossed wide and well beaten roads, and in one instance burning stuff was blown across ploughed land 40 yards wide. An area of 12 square miles was burnt, including 24 farms.
Adelaide Chronicle 11 June 1868
John Kelly's Letter to his mother in Glasgow. 1839
Pray for Water PDF
MDO 190. GREAT FIRE AT ALMA 9 The man was drunk at the time. Had not seen him since. Believed he left the neighbourhood the next day. Did not know the cause of the fire. Believed some horses were in the paddock at the time. Thought Mr J. Kelly’s men had been reaping in that paddock that morning. Believed they were at dinner when the fire broke out. A person could have lighted it, and not been seen by him.
Adelaide Chronicle 11 June 1868
John Kelly's Letter to his mother in Glasgow. 1839
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Push Not Off!! PDF
See Saw Sea PDF
MDO 184. GREAT FIRE AT ALMA 2 He did not know who was first at the fire. A large number seemed to come simultaneously. By the time he reached the wheat paddock the fire had taken hold of Mr Shackley’s haystack. It had not extended far to the north. At a picnic held in September heard a man say he would set fire to the place, he thought he intended to burn Mr T. Freebairn’s farm. The man was drunk at the time. Had not seen him since.
Adelaide Chronicle 11 June 1868
John Kelly's Letter to his mother in Glasgow. 1839
Great Fire 2 PDF
MDO 200. THE HAY PLAIN Anyone who drives the Hay-Griffith road in the NSW Murrumbidgee Valley can see at least ten large, recently constructed dams. No precise numbers of new dams exist, but from data provided to the Senate it appears that at least 20 to 30 large dams have been constructed in recent years.
With so many new dams around, why are politicians reluctant to talk about them?
The answer is perhaps that the recently constructed dams in the Murray-Darling Basin do not help drought-stricken towns, struggling small irrigators or the wider public. They are built with taxpayer money on private land mainly for the benefit of large corporate agribusiness like Webster Limited.
The Hidden New Dams In Australia
THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE
John Kelly's Letter to his mother in Glasgow. 1839
The Hay Plain PDF
