Marlbatharndu Wanggagu - Once Upon a Time in the West explores the untold history of pastoral industry from an Aboriginal perspective. In June 2015 pastoral leases are due to be renewed, which is a poignant time to reflect upon the pastoral history. Aboriginal people played a vital role in developing the industry, yet their role as an essential workforce is often unacknowledged. This is not the first project to recount the pastoral era, and is not intended to be comprehensive; rather it is an opportunity
Once Upon a Time in the West
to present a range of the histories experienced by Yinhawangka, Banyjima and Nyiyaparli (IBN) people on stations.
Once Upon a Time in the West is about the interconnectedness between the past and present, about history and place, it’s about heritage, but it’s also about the future, and more than anything it’s about resilience, courage and hope.
This project emerged from a series of informal and formal consultations with elders and board members from the IBN Aboriginal Corporation. Station Life, which has a strong resonance with people across generations, and family groups emerged as a priority focus for the project. Painting is not a common form of creative expression for IBN people. In a community where intangible cultural heritage remains important, yet, often neglected, as both a system of knowledge and form of creative expression people embraced the opportunity to tell their stories and have these recorded for a cultural project. IBN has developed into an Aboriginal institution with a strong commitment to self determination, embodied in their relevance and significance to their membership of Yinhawangka, Banyjima and Nyiyaparli people around the Pilbara.
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