Author: Rees Quilford

Unity and Strength: The legacy of the Wonthaggi Miners’ Women’s Auxiliary

Posted on January 28, 2024September 5, 2024 by Rees Quilford

The Wonthaggi Miners’ Women’s Auxiliary was a plucky group of firebrand women. A trailblazing collective that delivered an amazing legacy

Trails in the Ground (installation & essay)

Posted on October 27, 2023September 1, 2024 by Rees Quilford

Articulating the idiosyncrasies and agency of the entanglement of tracks that are encrypted on every aspect of the Bunurong Coast,

Track changes: Acknowledgement of Country

Posted on September 9, 2023August 3, 2024 by Rees Quilford

[Image: Layered mixed media amalgam exploring Track Changes and the iterative ever-evolving nature of my Acknowledgement of Country] [Audio: Rees

Landscapes of Loss

Posted on September 1, 2023August 2, 2024 by Rees Quilford

Landscapes of loss Polaroid and prose speculation.

Wreck Beach’s Counter Monument

Posted on June 28, 2023October 6, 2024 by Rees Quilford

There’s this historical marker at Wreck Beach which has a couple of quirky little anecdotes. It’s the weathered bluestone cairn that can still be seen on the verge of the beach carpark but it’s also an uproarious memorial to accidental misadventure.

Remaining attuned to multiple perspectives

Posted on June 27, 2023August 1, 2024 by Rees Quilford

Attempting to remain attuned to those with cultural perspectives tracing back tens of thousands of years, to those who have

Wonthaggi’s Wartime Experience

Posted on April 23, 2023August 1, 2024 by Rees Quilford

“I would say to the House… I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat” was Winston Churchill’s

Imprecise Speculation on the Happenings of the Bunurong Coast

Posted on September 30, 2022September 1, 2024 by Rees Quilford

A compilation of fragmented narratives capturing fleeting moments, elusive characteristics and the transient allusions that abound on the Bunurong Coast.

Scorched earth

Posted on September 26, 2022July 31, 2024 by Rees Quilford

Speculative Polaroid of a wildlife trail in the Wreck Beach dunes (38°39’39.4″S 145°34’54.9″E) and audio of listening to the fire, the ocean, insects and frogsong at a nearby bush campsite.

Fingerprints, whispers and echoes

Posted on September 26, 2022July 31, 2024 by Rees Quilford

Speculative Polaroid of a wildlife trail through a natural soak near Cape Paterson’s 2nd Surf (38°40’25.7″S 145°36’21.9″E) with audio of the same watercourse, birdsong and the ocean.

A process for unmapping

Posted on September 26, 2022July 31, 2024 by Rees Quilford

Speculative Polaroid of an 1882 geological map with audio of walking through the scrub of Wreck Beach Farm.

Swipe right for BEFORE and AFTER

Posted on September 26, 2022July 31, 2024 by Rees Quilford

Speculative Polaroid of the rock platform near Cape Paterson’s F-Break (38°40’06.5″S 145°35’30.3″E) combined with a recording of the mechanism of a Polaroid OneStep600 camera.

An environment being consumed by nothingness

Posted on September 26, 2022July 31, 2024 by Rees Quilford

A speculative Polaroid of the Wreck Beach bay (38°39’35.1″S 145°34’51.2″E) combined with audio of heavy rain.

Photo failure

Posted on September 26, 2022July 31, 2024 by Rees Quilford

peculative Polaroid of Cape Paterson’s First Surf and a recording of water flowing off the cliff line at night.

The path to uncertainty

Posted on September 26, 2022July 31, 2024 by Rees Quilford

Speculative Polaroid of the walking track to Cape Paterson’s Bay Beach (38°40’24.2″S 145°37’07.3″E) and audio of walking the same path.

Jagged shore

Posted on September 26, 2022July 31, 2024 by Rees Quilford

Speculative Polaroid of the ocean at Cape Paterson’s Bay Beach (38°40’25.7″S 145°37’12.1″E) with audio of wind and the ocean at the same location.

Indistinct boundaries

Posted on September 26, 2022July 31, 2024 by Rees Quilford

Speculative Polaroid of a roadside sign on Wilson’s Road at Cape Paterson (38°38’53.7″S 145°36’04.3″E) with audio of cars traversing the same byway.

Uncomfortable objects

Posted on September 26, 2022August 3, 2024 by Rees Quilford

A Polaroid provocation examination of Aboriginal tools and artifacts sitting uncomfortably in the glass cabinets of a local history museum.

Natural flows and breached boundaries

Posted on August 1, 2022August 2, 2024 by Rees Quilford

A speculative Polaroid combined with audio of walking through water at Wreck Beach.

The Middens of Wreck Beach

Posted on July 3, 2022August 1, 2024 by Rees Quilford

I have vivid memories of the Bunurong/Boonwurrung midden sites at Wreck Beach from when I was a kid in (the mid-1980s). At that time, two different walking paths ran from the carpark through the scrub down to the beach.

Spanning cultural disjunctures

Posted on June 28, 2022August 3, 2024 by Rees Quilford

A speculative image/prose speculation of navigating cultural disjunctures on the Bunurong Coast.

Following Wonthaggi’s ‘Very Big Fish’

Posted on June 28, 2022August 4, 2024 by Rees Quilford

In 1923, a 74-foot Pygmy Blue Whale washed up dead on the Wreck Beach shoreline. A tangible reminder of the

Sea-level horizon

Posted on June 26, 2022September 1, 2024 by Rees Quilford

A speculative Polaroid and audio speculation on an uncertain ocean horizon at Cape Paterson’s F-Break Beach.

One doesn’t arrive by knowing where one is going

Posted on June 26, 2022August 3, 2024 by Rees Quilford

A speculative Polaroid and audio speculation on the aesthetic and creative benefits of embracing uncertainty at Cape Paterson’s Bay Beach.

Shadow places and greenwashing

Posted on May 20, 2022August 3, 2024 by Rees Quilford

There are numerous shadow places on the Bunurong Coast. One need look no further than the damage wrought by more

Exploring historical intimacy with Adrian

Posted on April 7, 2022September 2, 2024 by Rees Quilford

I’ve been fortunate to have experienced instances of deeply personal historical intimacy on several occasions.

‘Adrift in shallow waters: 92 days of winter’ mixed media essay

Posted on December 3, 2021September 2, 2024 by Rees Quilford

Every day of that first arduous COVID winter, Rees Quilford dived into the bracing cold of Bass Strait, took a Polaroid photo, and documented his thoughts. The resulting essay has won the 2021 Bass Coast Prize for Non-Fiction.