And Now Exploration and Settlement are Underway

This tapestry panel was designed by Australianartist Murray Walker. The triptych incorporates the work of three Aboriginal artists - 19th century artists William Barak and Tommy Barnes from south-eastern Australia and an unnamed artist from Groote Eyelandt, northern Australia, who painted on bark in the 1930s and 1940s. It depicts cultural interaction between Indigenous people, settlers and visitors to Australia. It is the fourth panel of ten in the Federation Tapestry Suite, woven by the Victorian Tapestry Workshop to mark Australia's Centenary of Federation in 2001.The two known artists in this tapestry, William Barak and Tommy Barnes (also known as Tommy McRae), were important leaders of their people who, through their work, helped build bridges between the European settlers and Aboriginal people in the second half of the 19th century. The Groote Eyelandt bark painting portrays a traditional way of life and depicts contact with Indonesian fishermen who have come to northern Australia since the 17th century to collectTrepang (an edible sea cucumber).The small fragile original artworks were enlarged to the scale of the tapestry panel and then woven in their entirety so that they could be read as distinct components of the panel.