The Blue Mountains Group

The Blue Mountain People Australian Art Group 

The possum cloak is made from skins or pelts
and is worn by Aunty Sue Tate

Many people contributed to making the possum skin cloak and artwork that represents a place they call HOME. The work was made in 2013 during the Bicentenary of the Crossing of the Blue Mountains by British explorers in 1813.

The Gundungurra Tribal Council is the custodian of the cloak. The Possum Skin Cloak has been burned with artwork describing the ancient song line segment of the Blue Mountains area, where Gundungurra people lived for thousands of years until 18th Century colonisation. It speaks of the loss of the place that is home, but is also a creation of beauty and celebration of country and of the place that is home to hundreds of Gundungurra and other Aboriginal people in the Blue Mountains today. The artwork describes and confirms an unbroken connection to country, to place and to home across many thousands of years.

The Artists and Process

The creation and making of the Possum Skin Cloak and the subsequent re-imagining into exhibition textile material commenced in October 2013. The Gundungurra Tribal Council invited artists and members of the community to participate in making of the cloak.

The principal artist is Tom Brown; initiator and designer Sharon Brown.  Artists and members of the community from Victoria and the Blue Mountains came together to resource materials, design, cut, sew and imprint the artwork using ochre and pyrography over several days at an open workshop at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre in Katoomba NSW Australia. Cultural Centre visitors could see and experience the ancient task of Cloak and map creation develop before their eyes.

The Blue Mountains Group looks forward to sharing their work with partner artists and people from other lands and cultures.

Contact Kerrin O’Grady