Memoryscoping the Bunurong Coast: A project-based PhD speculating on the intimate and complex histories of a personally significant place
John Brown stands lonely
by a red gravel road.Vacant paddock
stopped mid-toil.Rotting in salt laden air
intestines exposed.Perished rubber,
rust and rot.Bogged in tangled grass
its footprint persists.It's toil and oil,
transformed this land.
This work was developed on the unceded lands and waterways of the Boon wurrung and Woi Wurrung language groups of the Kulin Nations. Much of the fieldwork, including visitation, writing and documentation, was undertaken on the lands of the Bunurong/Boonwurrung people.
The Bunurong/Boonwurrung people are the first storytellers of these lands. Their sovereignty was never ceded. This is, and always will be Aboriginal Land.
I respectfully acknowledge the Ancestors and Elders, past, present and emerging.
In terms of my position as a visitor on those lands, I state my lineage and purpose. I am Rees Quilford. I am a fourth-generation settler of Welsh-Irish descent. I am a writer, communications professional and a PhD candidate with RMIT University.
I was born and currently live on Bunurong/Boonwurrung land. I try to tread lightly, understand my place and listen to what it’s telling me.