‘Basalt Study’ by Christine McFetridge

When I see basalt now, I think of violence.

Basalt rock Basalt study

Basalt Study features archival material, photography, video and text examining the history of the basalt ledge that once spanned the width of the Birrarung. Stretching from each side of the riverbank, the ledge was often used as a bridge and provided a natural barrier between freshwater and saltwater. In the late 1800s, the rock from the basalt ledge, or “the falls” as it was known post-invasion, was dynamited and extracted to line the nearby Coode Canal, damaging the river’s ecology. Basalt Study aims to bring the violence of the colonial regime to the attention of other settlers by offering another way of thinking about the river beyond extractive terms.

Basalt Study forms part of Christine McFetridge’s creative practice PhD project: An Inconvenient Curve: Unlearning Settler Colonial Representations of the Birrarung.

This project has been made on unceded Boon Wurrung, Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Wadawurrung Country by McFetridge, a settler coloniser from New Zealand. The artist pays her deep respect to their Ancestors and Elders past and present. Always was, always will, be Aboriginal land.

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RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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