A Story To Tell

In A Story To Tell, Laurel Nannup beautifully illustrated memories and stories of her childhood. The prints traversed Laurel’s journey from living in the bush in Pinjarra with her large Aboriginal family to being taken away at 8 years of age to live at the Wandering Mission where she spent the following eight years. “As a young Nyoongar girl growing up in the bush, I learnt a lot from my parents and grandparents about the old ways. They taught me how to find water, how to track animals and how to find food to eat, when I was hungry. My family and I lived in the bush around the Pinjarra region, where Mum and Dad worked on farms, felling trees to make fence posts for the farmers. They also worked on dairy farms where they would milk the cows and stook hay for the cows’ feed. From time to time we lived on the Pinjarra Reserve with my grandparents and other relatives until my sister, Cecelia, my cousin Madeline and I were taken away by the Native Welfare, I was just eight years old. We were sent to the Wandering Mission where I spent the next eight years of my life. I don’t remember much about the trip to the Mission, I just remember Mum bathing us and putting on new clothes on us, that’s all I remember about that event.” Quote from Laurel Nannup

The collection of works that make up A Story to Tell comprised woodcuts and etchings, together with a selection of photographs.