ARTWORK STORY
‘No Trees & Here Comes The Red Coats’ is a cry for the environment. Australia’s fragile ecosystem depends on a delicate balance, and the clearing of the land and decline of native wildlife disrupted the Country on which Aboriginal people depended. Syron recalled his grandmother telling him that when she grew up around Forster–Tuncurry there were emus everywhere.
In nature, the female emu lays the eggs and leaves, while the male incubates them, protects them from predators such as goannas, and raises the chicks, teaching them how to survive. Syron drew a parallel between this and the role of Aboriginal men in passing on knowledge to women and children. He painted this work just two years before the Northern Territory Intervention (Northern Territory National Emergency Response), at a time when Aboriginal men were increasingly misrepresented in public discourse.
The emu holds an important place in Aboriginal culture. In some traditions the Featherfoot, or Cleverfoot, could carry messages between places, while the powerful Kadaitcha man — an enforcer of tribal law — was said to wear emu feathers on his feet. In this way the emu symbolises both guardianship and the authority of Aboriginal law.
The Red Coat is tiny compared with the size of the emu, emphasisng that he does not belong there.
ARTWORK STORY
‘No Trees & Here Comes The Red Coats’ is a cry for the environment. Australia’s fragile ecosystem depends on a delicate balance, and the clearing of the land and decline of native wildlife disrupted the Country on which Aboriginal people depended. Syron recalled his grandmother telling him that when she grew up around Forster–Tuncurry there were emus everywhere.
In nature, the female emu lays the eggs and leaves, while the male incubates them, protects them from predators such as goannas, and raises the chicks, teaching them how to survive. Syron drew a parallel between this and the role of Aboriginal men in passing on knowledge to women and children. He painted this work just two years before the Northern Territory Intervention (Northern Territory National Emergency Response), at a time when Aboriginal men were increasingly misrepresented in public discourse.
The emu holds an important place in Aboriginal culture. In some traditions the Featherfoot, or Cleverfoot, could carry messages between places, while the powerful Kadaitcha man — an enforcer of tribal law — was said to wear emu feathers on his feet. In this way the emu symbolises both guardianship and the authority of Aboriginal law.
The Red Coat is tiny compared with the size of the emu, emphasisng that he does not belong there.
