Dark Mofo 2019: Missing or Dead a poignant reminder of state’s unsettling history

An installation along the new Dark Path delivers a confronting and “emotionally relentless” glimpse into early colonial life in Hobart.

Julie Gough’s Missing or Dead is and poignant and unsettling memorial to Aboriginal children who were stolen or went missing during the state’s early colonial years. Picture: MATT THOMPSON

Missing or Dead will likely be remembered as one of Dark Mofo’s most important works. This potent artwork forms a long-overdue memorial to 185 Aboriginal children who went missing, were lost, stolen or died during the early colonial years in Tasmania.

Created by Tasmanian Aboriginal artist Julie Gough, the installation is made up of 185 posters, with the words “Dead”, “Missing” or – occasionally – “Survived”, a silhouette profile of a boy or girl and details of an individual Tasmanian Aboriginal child.

The setting among a small grove of she-oaks, wattles and eucalypts, not far from the Soldier’s Memorial Oval on the Queens Domain, is both poignant and unsettling. Even in daylight hours, as dog-walkers wander among the posters, there’s a bleak sense of disquiet.

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Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery senior curator of art Dr Mary Knights said Gough’s archival research uncovered 185 Aboriginal children who went missing in the early 19th century.

“When you think about one child lost or missing it’s really tragic or traumatic, but in this artwork you are confronted as you walk through these small single-file trails, of 185 individual children who for one reason or another ended up with their family shattered and lost or alone,” Dr Knights said of the artwork, which forms part of the exhibition Tense Past at the TMAG.

“It’s an emotionally powerful story that Julie tells through this work. It brings to us the truth of history.”

The depth of Gough’s research shines through in the posters, which share the stories of individuals and provide a glimpse into colonial Hobart.

“It’s a little bit emotionally relentless. There is story after story about 185 children. Some were found after frontier conflict, some had been stolen or were in houses perhaps being trained to be servants. It’s tragedy after tragedy,” said Dr Knights.

“The artwork asks us to reflect on and confront the brutality of Tasmania’s colonial past.”

The trail will be lit at night, and can be walked as part of Dark Path when it opens on Friday evening.