[Greens-Media] How do we treat cultural treasures? Judith Wright's home must be protected

[Hollo, Tim (Sen C. Milne)]

How do we treat cultural treasures? Judith Wright's home must be
protected

Canberra, Thursday 20 September 2007  Australian Greens Heritage
Spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne, today called on the Duke of
Edinburgh Award to withdraw Judith Wright's property, Edge, from sale
until a suitable heritage solution can be found.

Senator Milne said "The Prime Minister talks about Australian values.
Now his government has the opportunity to act to protect a site of great
cultural and literary significance, part of our nation's 'blood's
country'.

"As soon as I heard about the proposed sale of this property which
inspired one of Australia's greatest poets, I wrote to Minister Turnbull
calling for an emergency heritage listing.

"Judith Wright bequeathed her property to the people of Australia
through the Australian National University, which in turn gifted it to
the Duke of Edinburgh Awards for $1. It is appalling that this property
has now been put on the open market without caveats in complete contempt
of the great poet's intent and generosity.

"Today I am writing to the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duke of Edinburgh
Awards, requesting that they withdraw the property from sale until a
suitable heritage solution can be negotiated.

"'Edge', the property near Braidwood where Judith Wright lived in later
life, inspired some of her greatest works.

"I have called for emergency heritage listing of the property under the
following criterion of the EPBC Act:

the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the
place's special association with the life or works of a person, or group
of persons, of importance in Australia's natural or cultural history."

The letter Senator Milne sent to Environment Minister, Malcolm Turnbull,
last Friday (September 14) setting out reasons for the emergency
listing, is attached.

Contact: Tim Hollo on 0437 587 562
 
Minister for Environment and Water
Parliament House
Canberra
ACT 2600

14th September 2007.

Dear Minister Turnbull,

Re: Emergency Heritage Listing of Judith Wright's property "Edge" at
Braidwood.
Judith Wright is one of Australia's best known and loved poets. She
moved to a property of approximately 100 acres near Braidwood on land
she called "Edge" in her later years or the edge of her life. It
provided the inspiration for a great deal of her poetry and writing. It
was the inspiration for her essay, From the Ridge to the River published
in 1990.

She gave the property to the Australian National University which then
in turn gifted it to the Duke of Edinburgh Foundation. On the Deed of
Trust it specified that the property not be sold before 2014 unless
there was a necessity to do so.

The Duke of Edinburgh Trust has decided to sell the property on the open
market without any caveats pertaining to its cultural significance and
future management and has put it in the hands of a real estate agent in
Braidwood for auction after trying unsuccessfully to subdivide it. It
has not been assessed for its heritage values. None of the receipts of
the sale are being directed to the ANU for the scholarship fund that was
established in Judith Wright's name. 

I believe the property qualifies for emergency listing (under the EPBC
Act) on the National Heritage List  as place that fulfils Division 2,
Section 10.01 A, subsection 2, (c), and (h);

(c)    the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of
the place's potential to yield information that will contribute to an
understanding of Australia's natural or cultural history;
(h)    the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of
the place's special association with the life or works of a person, or
group of persons, of importance in Australia's natural or cultural
history;

The national heritage values under threat are those listed above. The
residence and   property  as a place where Judith Wright sought
inspiration for her work and where she entertained other poets such as
Oodgeroo of the Noonuccal tribe is clearly under threat as if it is sold
under the current arrangements it will be removed from public access and
there will be no conditions relating to what may or may not be done to
either the home or the property in general.

Several of the references in Wright's writing relate to landmarks on the
property and these must be retained. There is nothing stopping the
demolition of the house in which Oodgeroo in Judith Wright's own words,
"pinned a poem to the wall in Nellie's memory and that of her poor, poor
country, bordering the text with eucalypt twigs and leaves that look
like tears falling." (From the Ridge to the River) 

The property is essential in developing a better understanding of the
poetry of Judith Wright and should be protected by heritage listing. I
have attached several scholarly articles on the significance of the
property in Wright's poetry. It is best expressed by Katie Holmes when
she wrote, Gardening at the "Edge": Judith Wright's desert garden,
Mongarlowe, New South Wales, Eco-humanities Issue 36, July 2005.

Writing in 1990 for the Australian Conservation Foundation, Judith wrote
of the need for Australians to see the country differently: 'Instead of
'seeing the country', we despised it and dubbed it a 'mere
wilderness'.... we are floundering now in the results of our lack of
ability truly to 'see the country' and its past and future.' With
multiple meanings Judith referred here to the geological history of the
land, to its Indigenous history, and to the violence of the settler
assault. Knowing its past and ensuring its future, was, in contrast,
central to Aboriginal people's sense of responsibility to the land. In
order for white Australians to see differently, they needed to 'learn to
look'. Edge became an important place in Australian landscape
consciousness; it provided Judith with the time and place to shift her
gaze. It is as if the very lushness of the Calanthe garden had
restricted her vision. The garden there formed part of an imperial
landscape, where she inherited and shared the colonial gaze. At Edge, I
would suggest, her vision sharpened by her deafness -enclosed by
silence-, Judith learned to look in a different way. With no 'green
foliage' to 'hide the rocks, the earth', she could see the land, feel
its history. Her fracturing of the colonial gaze was a 'gold like
revelation'. In a paper titled 'Learning to look', Judith suggested that
if we could see the past encapsulated in a lichened rock, we might think
more carefully before destroying it. The geological history of the
continent was awe-inspiring: 'Look back once more on the very beginning
of life, through those millennia, and know that it is not ours to
destroy.' In her poem 'Lichen, Moss, Fungus' she writes: 

Lichens, mosses and fungi-
these flourish on this rock ridge,
a delicate crushable tundra:
bracket, star, cup, parasol,
gilled, pored, spored, membraned,
white, chestnut, violet, red.29

I urge you to immediately give the property emergency listing and to
refer it to the Australian Heritage Council for assessment. I am
currently seeking a map with specific boundaries and will forward as
soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,


Christine Milne

Tim Hollo
Media and Communications Adviser
Senator Christine Milne
Phone: + 61 (0) 2 6277 3063
Mobile: + 61 (0) 437 587 562
Email: tim.hollo at aph.gov.au
Skype: timhollo
www.christinemilne.org.au
www.youtube.com/senatormilne