A few years ago [artist] Judy Watson told me the story of her great grandmother, who survived the Lawn Hill Massacre of 1889 in North West Queensland. During that horrific event, as the killings unfolded in Lawn Hill Gorge, Judy’s great grandmother survived by hiding under the water with a rock on her chest to keep her submerged, breathing through a reed she’d torn from the embankment. When the killings had ceased, she emerged from the water to find her family and community slaughtered.
I cannot imagine the agony she felt in that moment, but I do know that the legacy of that event, and the thousands like it that have occurred in this country over the past 230 or so years, continue to resonate through families in the form of intergenerational trauma. The effects of this inheritance have been devastating on our communities. I made this painting in response to that legacy.
In positioning my response, One more hour of daylight (2017–2019), references two major works of art from two different worlds: Rover Thomas’ painting Ruby Plains Massacre (1985) and Leonardo Da Vinci’s Dreyfus Madonna (c.1469–1471). The Ruby Plains Massacre was a terrible event in Western Australia’s history in which a group of Aboriginal men were shot for killing a bullock. My thought in looking for an image to juxtapose against was: which artist in the history of art could equal Rover Thomas? The answer is Leonardo Da Vinci.
I don’t agree with hierarchies in art that place Western art above ours. I believe in equal aesthetic rights, and here I am asserting them. Da Vinci’s Dreyfuss Madonna is apparently the most famous Madonna and Child painting ever made. I thought — maybe if white people can see themselves amongst this history of violence, then empathy would be possible. Beyond that, I continue to ask: why aren’t Christian values extended to my people? Thou Shalt not Murder. Thou Shalt not Steal. There can only be one answer: because they don’t see us as humans.
The other massacre referenced in the painting relate to Queensland events, including Lawn Hill which I mentioned before. The text embedded within the left side of the black cross references a member of the Native Police from that notorious event, who said they used to bayonet the women and children to save on bullets. Hence the text ‘not worth a bullet’. The text on the right (also the title of my painting) refers to a comment made by a policeman in relation to a massacre near Toowoomba in which a few blackfellas survived, that if they had ‘had one more hour of daylight’, the police would have killed them all.
Richard Bell 2021