Big Skies: 60,000 years of astronomies on the inland plains of New South Wales, Australia

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Jan 20

2016

by Merill

I'd like to introduce a new Australian creative collaboration between arts practitioners, astronomers and local communities to share and explore stories about people’s relationships with the cosmos, as experienced from Wiradjuri Country, in central western New South Wales. This project specifically explores the work of cultural, optical and radio astronomers in the region.

You can visit our new blog at Bigskiescollaboration.wordpress.com.

The first post is an essay about efforts by cultural astronomers to investivate the stellar alignments of a small mountain, Mount Mulguthrie, which, they suspect, was once a Wiradjuri astronomical site. This essay specifically addresses the loss of knowledge due to the processes of colonisation in Australia and the challenges cultural astronomers face.  Please see https://bigskiescollaboration.wordpress.com/2016/01/03/mount-mulguthrie/

This project is expected to continue for at least 5 years, and will probably produce a book, arts exhibitions and installations, a theatre production, and multiple community arts and science projects in both indigenous and non-indigenous communities in inland Australia.

We look forward to establishing links with astronomers, writers, visual artists and theatre practitioners around the world.

For more information, please contact Merrill Findlay, merrill[at]merrillfindlay.com, or use the Contact form at https://bigskiescollaboration.wordpress.com/contact/