My arts degree (liberal arts in USA) majored in geography and ancient civilisations, and included a year of political science and two of english literature. I added a post graduate Diploma of Education, and thus equipped, stepped out into what I expected to be a lengthy and rewarding career teaching highschool level english and social studies.
I didn’t forsee what effect marrying an exploration geologist would have on that plan, but suffice to say it greatly shortened my brilliant teaching career. Mining booms always collapse or fade as conditions change; companies merge or disappear, jobs dry up and people move around seeking work. Our lives were no exception, and this rhythm recycled several times. Indeed at one time in 1975 we even lived for 5 months in a tent camp six hours’ drive east of Darwin, out on the edge of Arnhem Land, up towards the coast on what is now gazetted as Kakadu National Park, then known as simply the Alligator River flood plains. Our future was always less under our control than any of our family or non-mining industry friends ever experienced, and there were times when we really envied the stability and predictability in their lives. We know some of our friends would have loved to have some of what we had in Life – an example being the letter from the son of one of Mike’s oldest friends Terry, who passed away last week. Tom commented about his father – “For what it’s worth, his recollection of both of you always seemed to be drenched in a sense of adventure and the exotic.”
When we were young, in the 70s and early 80s, without question the wives and families moved with the mining person, (which were rarely female in those years) That often caused problems in families and relationships; but one advantage was that all mining centres, large and small, gained regular infusions of people with fresh ideas who joined in community organisations and sports clubs as the best ways to get to know the locals, and contribute to their adopted or temporary community. Looking back to what I call our tent period, 1975 and 1976, up in the NT, West of Darwin on the edge of Arnhem Land, the exploration camp Mike headed was housed in large marquee type tents, A diesel powered generatorran from 7am to 10pm to work fans, provide light, enable water to be pumped up from the creek, run the fridges, freezer and washing machine, and most importantly power the two-way radio to the Darwin base (which every adult in camp had to learn how to use, of course) I can’t access photos from that time, but believe me, this post in my second blog https://pickledgizzards.com/tednrays-barramundi/ and other posts there will give you some idea of how ‘exotic’ our lives were at times 😉 Today mining professionals very often fly in/fly out to remote work sites, and many of their families stay behind in larger centres, benefitting from better housing, educational, medical and other facilities; but that can be tough on everyone, too. Moving around at various companies’ expense took us all to places that other people have to pay big money to travel to.
We’ve lived in and travelled across a variety of landscapes in Outback Australia, the United States and here in South America, and it’s hardly surprising that my art includes landscape inspired shapes, patterns, colours and textures.
In the last decade there have been shifts in the balances of economic power and political infuence developed in the post WWII years, impacted by the effects of the Covid pandemic, and the actions of certain political leaders’ agendas contributed to instability in this mix The results today is that the many international agreements on aid for economic development and health; of trade and defence agreements that used to form a large, fairly stable network of structures governing international relationships have buckled under recent pressures. The effects on us all is stressful, and there’s a sense that the systems are broken. In my art, this influence is coming out in increasingly skewed grid designs, with a series titled Out of Order –
