Jill Randall – Australia

  Today I was taken on a tour of the central Victoria mining fields in the Daylesford area  by architect and heritage advisor, Mandy Jean. I was captivated by this area after Mandy sent me an email many months ago describing this area in vivid detail …. ‘  Nearby are the deep leads of the Read more

  The geology here is remarkable and very different. Even though some of the colours in the mining landscape are familiar to me from copper mines in the UK-especially the copper landscapes at Kapunda and Burra – many of the geological formations are totally alien. Its all weathered and shaped and contorted sandstone, an ancient Read more

  One strand to my research here has been to track down depictions of mining landscapes in major art gallery collections. I have been working with Senior Curator of Australian Art at the South Australia Art Gallery in Adelaide to identify  items in their collection and use them for future study as the project develops. Read more

  In 1994, I was Guest Lecturer and Artist-In-Residence at Claremont School of Art, in Perth, Western Australia. I researched and created a new body of work for an exhibition there which focussed on the voyages which brought the first Europeans,  by default, to Western Australia, where they declared the land to be ‘Terra Nullis’, Read more

  The final site in the Cornish Copper Triangle is at Kapunda, where I met geologist and Cornish historian Greg Drew for a tour of the major sites. Greg is a really important authority on the history of Cornish mining, and has been responsible for much of the preservation, interpretation of, and recognition of the Read more

  Today, I visited the second destination in the Cornish Copper Triangle, at Burra,  originally Burra, Burra, meaning ‘Big, Big’, known as the ‘Monster Mine’ for its productivity. It closely resembles the Great Opencast at Parys Mountain, Anglesey, where I have previously done a lot of work, with a big hole filled with bright blue Read more

  Now in South Australia, I have just returned from a 2-day trip to Australia’s ‘Little Cornwall”, the triangle of Moonta, Kapunda and Burra. Moonta and Burra have just been awarded ‘National Listing’ status, the next stage to being granted World Heritage Status, which could link them with the World Heritage Sites of Cornish Mining. Read more

Today I had a fabulous tour of one of the highlights of the old Victorian Goldfields, ‘Eureka Reef’, with archaeologist David Bannear. The old mineworkings are spread over a wide area, amongst tranquil eucalyptus forest. David describes this as a ‘profound landscape’, profound for its historical, industrial, social, geological significance. Its also a battleground between Read more

Spent today with Visual Arts Course Staff Dr Vincent Alessi and Dr Ry Hasking at La Trobe University Bendigo Campus.  

      In Bendigo today-Founded by Cornish miners and a major centre in the Goldfields of Victoria. Toured the aftermath landscapes with Leanne and Rob Lloyd, and a special tour of the Victoria Hill sites with local expert George Ellis-also responsible for creating public access to these old sites. The remnants of gold mining Read more