Working Country

The State Library of Queensland's compelling showcase Working Country delves into the narratives of Aboriginal stockmen and stockwomen and their contribution to Australia, at kuril dhagun from June 24 to March 17, 2024.

Working Country pays tribute to Aboriginal stockmen and women, past and present, whose skill, knowledge and deeply rooted connection to Country earned them a reputation as expert pastoralists.

The showcase also delves into stolen wages and the exploitation of Aboriginal peoples who worked on the land, as well as the fight for civil rights and Wik stockman John Koowarta’s battle for land rights on Cape York.

A series of photographic portraits of Aboriginal women who lived and worked on Far North Queensland cattle stations is also on display. Photographer David Prichard won the prestigious Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize in 2021 for his portraiture of the women, which has since been acquired by State Library.

Other Working Country highlights include:

• The role of Aboriginal dreaming trade routes in the making of pastoral industry stock routes
• Aboriginal-run cattle station, profiling Delta Downs station
• Historical images of Aboriginal women impersonating stockmen to evade gender laws
• Aboriginal-run rodeos in Queensland Aboriginal communities
• Profiles: Charlie Flannigan, artist, drover and award-winning jockey; Uncle Herb Wharton AM, renowned stockman, author, and artist.

Told through a First Nations perspective, Working Country is an acknowledgement of the strength and resilience of Australia's First People.

Image credits:

1.Portrait of W. B. Slade and an Aboriginal stable boy on Cockatoo Creek Station, Queensland, 1866, John Oxley Library,

2. Stockmen rounding up cattle on horseback in Doomadgee in the 1960s, Peter Knowles, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Image 32860-0001-0003.

3. Rodeo rider getting ready to mount bull Doomadgee Queensland, ca. 2008-2011, Craig Holmes. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Image number: 30818-0001-0005.

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