Exhibition dates: 15th February – 16th June 2024
Curator: Jenny Long
Installation view of the exhibition Julie Millowick: Surrounding at the Castlemaine Art Museum
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Down with Earth
This is a magnificent exhibition by Australian photographer Julie Millowick (b. 1948) which documents “the environmental legacy of gold mining around her home near Fryerstown in Central Victoria, capturing the beauty of this landscape in tumult and recovery.” (Wall text)
What I admire about the work in the exhibition (other than photographs that evidence the persistence of an inquiry into one subject, the result of 34 years of visual and intellectual exploration), is the way that the photographs envelop you in the gallery space. It’s as if the accumulation of images over decades creates a nurturing story which comforts you in the gallery space: that the landscape so desecrated will heal itself, will spring forth anew. The sustained investigation into the landscape around Fryerstown captured my soul.
The exhibition is beautifully constructed, rendered, seen, so very quiet yet so powerful. On every wall of the gallery there is an intimate story, told through remarkable photographs of the Australian bush that combine light and dark, near and far, low and high perspective (the raising and lowering of the horizon line) and the feeling of claustrophobia and expansiveness within the same environment: photographs of mullock heaps and mine sites with open sky and residual left-over soil or rock from the shaft excavation process. Shadows of trees obscure abandoned mine shafts which litter the landscape, traps for the unwary who go wandering, or is that wondering, through the bush. And through Millowick’s lens, this landscape is all about the wonder of the landscape and its rejuvenative potential.
In this unsettling place which continually transforms through drought and rain, human mining, erosion and regeneration we can observe in Millowick’s photographs the strength and transformative qualities of nature. It may seem strange (and probably is) but I argue that the Australian bush presented here is a heterotopic space (Foucault), a landscape outside the normality of the everyday (although any landscape with human intervention is not “natural” but always a constructed space), one that is somehow “other”: disturbing, intense, contradictory and transforming, a landscape which mirrors the outside world yet upsets that representation due to its un/settling, its mining and ecological past – creating a space which changes from day to day, month to month – growing, contracting, evidencing human interaction and touch, but then outgrowing human interference.
The spaces that the artist envisions in her beautiful micro / macro, order / chaos photographs picture something unusual: the imaginative wish for of a utopian world that could never exist in the first place and a dystopian, illusionary world in the process of healing itself (possibly), the very definition of a heterotopic space. As the characters in Fallout Season 1 observe, “Time is the apex predator” … and through time, nature will hopefully outlive all human beings to again become something belonging solely to the Earth, to again become something “natural” (existing in or derived from nature; not made or caused by humankind).
Millowick’s photographs also picture something else: photography as an exposition of the self. As the artist Ans Westra observes, photography should not be “solely controlled by the brain. Your personality, subconscious, flows through […] you have to allow it to come through […] for the outcome to be relevant.”1 Ultimately, she said, photography was “always an exposition of self.” Such is the energy with the photographs of this artist, also.
Through wonder, respect and the grounding of spirit in Earth, Millowick has sustained a bond and an understanding in her fascination with this subject, a sensitivity to subject nurtured over so many years which “invites viewers to appreciate them [the photographs] as a poetic connection to, and love for, the landscape” side by side with a conceptual thinking or intellectualisation about the land. In their containment of energy, in their penetrating into life and its things, these photographs contribute something to our life and history on this planet.
Robert Frank said, “It is important to see what is invisible to others.”
Minor White, in one of his Three canons said,
“Be still with yourself,
Until the object of your attention,
Affirms your presence”
Millowick has achieved both aims admirably. In some of the most insightful and poignant photographs of the Australian landscape I have ever seen, the artist has revealed not just aspects of the earth (ground) which are undergoing transformation but aspects of herself as she has journeyed through life, remaining true to her path as an artist, remaining true to documenting her journey with the land, remaining true to a legacy towards the planet, down with Earth.
I was very moved by these photographs.
Dr Marcus Bunyan
1/ Ans Westra quoted in Paul Moon. “An outsider on the inside: how Ans Westra created New Zealand’s ‘national photo album’,” on the Conversation website May 8, 2024 [Online] Cited 11/05/2024
All installation photographs by Marcus Bunyan. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image. All photographs © Marcus Bunyan and Julie Millowick
“The artist does not turn time into money, the artist turns time into energy, time into intensity, time into vision. The exchange that art offers is an exchange in kind; energy for energy, intensity for intensity, vision for vision… Can we afford to live imaginatively, contemplatively?”
Jeanette Winterson. Art Objects. London: Vintage, 1996, p. 139.
Wall text from the exhibition Julie Millowick: Surrounding at the Castlemaine Art Museum
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Gallery One
Installation view of the exhibition Julie Millowick: Surrounding at the Castlemaine Art Museum
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition Julie Millowick: Surrounding at the Castlemaine Art Museum
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition Julie Millowick: Surrounding at the Castlemaine Art Museum showing at left, Perseverance Mine mullock heap, Fryerstown (2020); at top right, Mosquito Mine depleted mullock heap, Fryerstown (2020); and at bottom right, Duke of Cornwall Mine mulch heap, Fryerstown (2020)
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Mullock and mine sites
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Perseverance Mine mullock heap, Fryerstown
2020
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Duke of Cornwall Mine mulch heap, Fryerstown
2020
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition Julie Millowick: Surrounding at the Castlemaine Art Museum showing from left to right, top to bottom, Ferrons Mine mullock heap, Fryerstown (2007); Ferrons Mine mullock heap, Fryerstown (2007); Exocarps cupressiformis (cherry ballart) in the foreground, Ferrons mullock heap in the background (2018); Mullock from New Era Mine, Fryerstown (2022); Ferrons Mine mullock heap with one of several surrounding shafts, Fryerstown (2018); Three fragments of goldrush-era glass bottle, Fryerstown (2019); New Era Mine mullock heaps, Fryerstown (2022); Abandoned mine shaft, Fryerstown (2022); Introduced invasive thistles, Fryerstown (2022); New Era Mine mullock heaps, Fryerstown (2022); New Era Mine mullock heaps, introduced get mullein in foreground, Fryerstown (2022); New Era Mine mullock heaps, introduced get mullein in foreground, Fryerstown (2022)
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Ferrons Mine mullock heap, Fryerstown
2007
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Ferrons Mine mullock heap, Fryerstown
2007
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Exocarps cupressiformis (cherry ballart) in the foreground, Ferrons mullock heap in the background
2018
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Because of the conifer-like foliage, European settlers referred to Exocarps cupressiformis (cherry ballart) as a ‘bush Christmas tree’. First Nations people used the wood for spear throwers and Europeans used it for gunstocks.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Ferrons Mine mullock heap with one of several surrounding shafts, Fryerstown
2018
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
New Era Mine mullock heaps, Fryerstown
2022
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Originally much larger, these mullock heaps have been substantially depleted by both private individuals and the former shire, who used the mullock for roadworks. New Era Mine, at a depth of 1100 feet (335.3 metres), was the deepest shaft in the local area.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Abandoned mine shaft, Fryerstown
2022
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Abandoned mine shafts occur throughout the Central Victorian area. Discarded mine waste appears in the background of the photograph
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Introduced invasive thistles, Fryerstown
2022
Digitised gelatin silver lumen, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
New Era Mine mullock heaps, Fryerstown
2022
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation views of the exhibition Julie Millowick: Surrounding at the Castlemaine Art Museum showing from left to right, top to bottom, Trees defoliated by the caterpillar (larval) stage of Cup Moth, Doratifera sp. Fryerstown (2013); Studio photograph of leaves damaged by the caterpillar (larval) stage of Cup Moth, Doratifera sp. Fryerstown (2013); Fallen leaves damaged by the caterpillar (larval) stage of Cup Moth, Doratifera sp. Fryerstown (2013); The quite shocking impact of searching for gold using hydraulic sluicing (early 1900s and 1930s), Golden Gully, Fryerstown (2022); The remains of a deeply sluiced gully, Golden Gully, Fryerstown (2022); Cassinia sifton (Coffee Bush) Fryerstown (2023); Forest, evening, Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown (2022); Exocarpos cupressiformis (cherry ballarat), Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown (2021); The secret cubby in the New Era Mine tailings sand, surrounded by introduced invasive blackberry, Golden Gully, Fryerstown (2016); Invasive blackberry grows along the track to the New Era Mind tailings, Fryerstown (2010); Gelatin silver paper exposed while lightly buried under introduced invasive blackberry plant, Fryerstown (2019); Cassinia sifton (Coffee Bush), Fryerstown (2023); Cassinia sifton (Coffee Bush), growing in the cyanide-contaminated tailings sand from the New Era Mine, Golden Gully, Fryerstown (2021); Acacia implexa (hickory wattle) foliage, Fryerstown (2023)
Photos: Marcus Bunyan
Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park
Damage by Cup Moth
During 2013m large areas if trees in Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park were defoliated by the caterpillar (larval) stage of Cup Moth, Doratifera sp. Fortunately, most trees eventually recovered. Environmentalist, entomologist and Fryerstown resident, John Landy (former Governor of Victoria 2001-2006 and the second many to break the four-minute mile) also shored Julie Millowick’s concern for the forest. John viewed Julie’s photo documentation and offered valuable information.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Trees defoliated by the caterpillar (larval) stage of Cup Moth, Doratifera sp., Fryerstown
2013
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Large areas of forest in the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park were affected. Every day Julie Milowick witnessed the decline of the trees as the Cup Moth infestation became more widespread.
Tailings sands
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
The quite shocking impact of searching for gold using hydraulic sluicing (early 1900s and 1930s), Golden Gully, Fryerstown
2022
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
The remains of a deeply sluiced gully, Golden Gully, Fryerstown
2022
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Growing in the foreground and along the top of the cliff is Cassinia sifton (coffee bush)
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Cassinia sifton (Coffee Bush), Fryerstown
2023
Digitised gelatin silver lumen, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Cassinia sifton also called the coffee bush, is a plant associated with regeneration and survival. Referred to as a pioneer plant, it is often the first growth to occur in disturbed, damaged and bare earth.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Forest, evening, Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown
2022
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Exocarpos cupressiformis (cherry ballarat), Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown
2021
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
In spring the tree has tiny red berries that provided a valuable food source for Indigenous people.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
The secret cubby in the New Era Mine tailings sand, surrounded by introduced invasive blackberry, Golden Gully, Fryerstown
2016
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Gelatin silver paper exposed while lightly buried under introduced invasive blackberry plant, Fryerstown
2019
Digitised gelatin silver lumen, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Cassinia sifton (Coffee Bush), Fryerstown
2023
Digitised wet cyanotype, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag paper, open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Because Cassinia sifton (coffee bush) is the fist plant to regrow in damaged land, it symbolises renewal.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Cassinia sifton (Coffee Bush), growing in the cyanide-contaminated tailings sand from the New Era Mine, Golden Gully, Fryerstown
2021
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Acacia implexa (hickory wattle) foliage, Fryerstown
2023
Digitised gelatin silver lumen, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
The beauty of Central Victoria’s landscape in tumult and recovery.
Julie Millowick is a localist, an artist who is deeply embedded in the place where she lives. Over many years, Millowick has documented the environmental legacy of gold mining around her home near Fryerstown in Central Victoria. This strangely poignant landscape has been turned upside down through violent extraction – but it remains resilient and in the process of recovery.
Surrounding exhibits a curated selection of Millowick’s work including a new series seen for the first time. Millowick’s photographs show us the devastating effects of mining, drought, flood and invasive plants, but also remind us of the interconnectedness that links all parts of this ecosystem including its human occupants. This is a terrain which the artist loves, and which she sees with acute perception. It is a landscape full of complexity, a region with a terrible past, but in its capacity for renewal is also a place that offers a spark of hope for the future.
Julie Millowick
Julie Millowick began her photographic career working in the darkroom of Athol Shmith, John Cato and Peter Barr. After completing her studies at Prahran College of Advanced Education, she worked as a press and public relations photographer, after which the direction of her commercial folio changed and she worked as a corporate industrial photographer. Julie achieved early recognition for her photojournalism when she exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria and Australian Centre for Photography in 1977 in Australian New Work. She has exhibited and published regularly since then, with work held in major photography collections in Australia and internationally. In 1993 she exhibited work in the exhibition Intimate Lives with Sally Mann, Nan Goldin and Jaques Henri Lartigue at the International Fotofeis in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Text from the Castlemaine Art Museum website
Installation views of the exhibition Julie Millowick: Surrounding at the Castlemaine Art Museum showing from left to right, top to bottom, Dog shadow on the edge of an abandoned mine shaft, evening light, horse paddock, Fryerstown (2009); Cassini Sifton (coffee bush) with seeds, Fyerstown (2023); Abandoned mine shaft, horse paddock, Fyerstown (2009); Survivor tree, surrounded by uniform post-goldrush regrowth, horse paddock, Fyerstown (2023); Gelatin silver paper exposed while lightly buried under introduced invasive blackberry plant, Fyerstown (2019); Post-goldrush uniform regrowth trees in mist, horse paddock, Fryerstown (2014); Post-goldrush uniform regrowth trees in mist, horse paddock, Fryerstown (2014); Late evening, horse paddock, Fryerstown (2021); Late evening, horse paddock, Fryerstown (2021); Early morning light, horse paddock with washing line and feed bin, Fryerstown (2009); Tree with hay band, horse paddock, Fryerstown (2009); A beautiful little mare, hose paddock, Fryerstown (2009); A much-loved little mare, horse paddock, Fryerstown (2009); Christian McArdle on top of Ferrons mullock heap, horse paddock, Fryerstown (1989); Christian McArdle with Blue Dog on top of Ferrons mullock heap, Fryerstown (2023)
Horse Paddock
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Dog shadow on the edge of an abandoned mine shaft, evening light, horse paddock, Fryerstown
2009
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Abandoned mine shaft, horse paddock, Fyerstown
2009
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
A small Cassinia soften (coffee bush) valiantly grows on the edge of an abandoned mine shaft.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Survivor tree, surrounded by uniform post-goldrush regrowth, horse paddock, Fyerstown
2023
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Gelatin silver paper exposed while lightly buried under introduced invasive blackberry plant, Fyerstown
2019
Digitised gelatin silver lumen, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Post-goldrush uniform regrowth trees in mist, horse paddock, Fryerstown
2014
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Post-goldrush uniform regrowth trees in mist, horse paddock, Fryerstown
2014
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Late evening, horse paddock, Fryerstown
2021
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation views of the exhibition Julie Millowick: Surrounding at the Castlemaine Art Museum showing from left to right, top to bottom, Ecological Thinning Trial, first week. Christian McArdle driving his 1967 Ford F100 truck into one of the ‘thinned’ areas, Fryerstown (2007); Ecological Thinning Trial, first week, Fryerstown (2007); Ecological Thinning Trial, three months later, Fryerstown (2007); Ecological Thinning Trial, two years later, Fryerstown (2009); Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park seven weeks after a DELWP (Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning) planned burn, Fryerstown (2020); Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park thirteen weeks after a DELWP (Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning) planned burn, Fryerstown (2020); Evening light, Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown (2022); Quietly beautiful landscape in the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown (2013); Exocarpos cupressiformis (cherry ballart) with a kangaroo track running across the background and the abandoned Fyers Extension Water Race (channel) on the right-hand side, Fryerstown (2022); Ferrons Mine mullock heap in distant background of what is referred to as ‘worked over land’, Fryerstown (2020); Beautiful, rugged and challenging terrain of the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown (2014); Post-goldrush uniform regrowth of the forest is clearly evident in this image from (2014); Three Wildflowers, Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown (2022); Wattle from the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown (2022); Exocarpos cupressiformis (cherry ballart), Fryerstown (2022); Acacia pycnantha (golden wattle), Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown (2022); Exocarpos cupressiformis (cherry ballart), Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown (2022); Exploring the multi-layered complexity of the forest using the technique of double exposure, Fryerstown (2008)
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park
Ecological thinning
In April 2007 an Ecological Thinning Trial commenced in sections of the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park. The trial has a duration of fifty years and aims to transform selected areas of the box ironbark forest from uniform post-goldrush regrowth to an environment supporting widely-spaced trees of different heights, age and canopy.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Ecological Thinning Trial, first week. Christian McArdle driving his 1967 Ford F100 truck into one of the ‘thinned’ areas, Fryerstown
2007
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Ecological Thinning Trial, first week, Fryerstown
2007
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
The uniform post-goldrush regrowth trees have been ‘thinned’, leaving a selected few to grow larger and provide a protective canopy and more diverse habitat.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Ecological Thinning Trial, three months later, Fryerstown
2007
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
‘Thinned’ trees in foreground remain on the ground while in the background (centre of image) others are stacked ready for removal. Uniform regrowth after the gold mining deforestation is evident in trees that remain standing. The 50-year trial hopes to return the forest of the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park to a landscape of various sized trees, canopy and habitat.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Ecological Thinning Trial, two years later, Fryerstown
2009
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
The flowering local Hakea decrees (hake or ‘bushy needlewood’) is growing through stacked wood. Uniform regrowth trees can be seen in the background.
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park seven weeks after a DELWP (Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning) planned burn, Fryerstown
2020
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park thirteen weeks after a DELWP (Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning) planned burn, Fryerstown
2020
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Evening light, Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown
2022
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
The conifer-like foliage of Exocarpos cupressiformis (cherry ballart) in the foreground demonstrates why European settlers referred to it as a ‘bush Christmas tree’.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Quietly beautiful landscape in the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown
2013
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Exocarpos cupressiformis (cherry ballast) with a kangaroo track running across the background and the abandoned Fyers Extension Water Race (channel) on the right-hand side, Fryerstown
2022
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Ferrons Mine mullock heap in distant background of what is referred to as ‘worked over land’, Fryerstown
2020
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Wattle from the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown
2022
Digitised gelatin silver lumen, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Exocarpos cupressiformis (cherry ballart), Fryerstown
2022
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Julie Millowick specifically photographed Exocarpos cupressiformis (cherry ballart or ‘bush Christmas tree’) for several years. This is one of her favourite images.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Acacia pycnantha (golden wattle), Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown
2022
Digitised gelatin silver lumen, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Exocarpos cupressiformis (cherry ballart), Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown (2022)
Digitised gelatin silver lumen, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Exploring the multi-layered complexity of the forest using the technique of double exposure, Fryerstown
2008
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition Julie Millowick: Surrounding at the Castlemaine Art Museum showing from left to right, top to bottom, Jetty in mist, Fryerstown (2004); Early morning, reflected pink cloud, Crocodile Reservoir, Fryerstown (2001); Crocodile Reservoir, ice-covered reeds, Fryerstown (2007); Crocodile Reservoir, ice-covered reeds, Fryerstown (2007); Crocodile Reservoir, ice-covered jetty, Fryerstown (2005); Coffee bush, Crocodile Reservoir, Fryerstown (2007); Crocodile Reservoir, Fryerstown (2008); Crocodile Reservoir, Christian McArdle on the Crocodile Reservoir jetty with the dog called Black, Fryerstown (2008); Crocodile Reservoir, Fryerstown (2009); Crocodile Reservoir, Fryerstown (2010); Christian McArdle surveys flooded Golden Gully, Fryerstown (2010); Crocodile Reservoir, Fryerstown (2004); Crocodile Reservoir. Julie Millowick and her son Christian McArdle, Crocodile Reservoir, during the El Nino year of 2007 from the series Drought, Continuing Drought, Fryerstown (2007)
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Crocodile Reservoir
Crocodile Reservoir was constructed in 1861 and supplied water to the Fryerstown area for both mining and domestic purposes. In 1877, via a series of water races (channels), it became part of the main Coliban channel system. Later, when Fryerstown was connection to McCay Reservoir, it became catchment only.
‘Croc Res’, as it is called by Fryerstown residents, is 650 metres from were Julie Millowick lives and was an integral part of person’s childhood.
The reservoir, like all other water catchments, was severely affected by the Australia-wide Millennium Drought, between 1999 and the spring of 2010. During that time Millowick photographed the impact of the drought across Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales. She included the 1860’s Crocodile Reservoir, Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, as part of that documentation. The latter photographs, although local, were a microcosm of what was happening across Australia.
As the water level of Crocodile Reservoir fell earth was exposed to daylight for the first time since the 1860s. Immediately Cassinia soften (coffee bush) flourished.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Early morning, reflected pink cloud, Crocodile Reservoir, Fryerstown
2001
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
As the drought progressed and the water level fell, Fryerstown locals were astonished to see a small wooden jetty appear out of the receding water. It was in remarkably good condition and Julie Millowick immediately began to photograph it.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Crocodile Reservoir, ice-covered reeds, Fryerstown
2007
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
At the Crocodile Gully inlet to the reservoir, the valuable habitat of the once thriving reeds had been lost. The trees indicate the pre-drought water level. Cassinia sifton (coffee bush) encroaches on the left hand side.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Crocodile Reservoir, ice-covered reeds, Fryerstown
2007
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Crocodile Reservoir, ice-covered jetty, Fryerstown
2005
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
The newly-exposed dam wall of Crocodile Reservoir, adjacent to the jetty, was almost blocked by the uncontrolled growth of Cassinia sifton (coffee bush)
Minor White (American, 1908–1976)
Vermont (dock in snow)
1971
Gelatin silver print
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Coffee bush, Crocodile Reservoir, Fryerstown
2007
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Thriving seed-laden Cassinia sifton (coffee bush) can be seen here encroaching on the northern end of Crocodile Reservoir, where large areas of reeds, no longer partially submerged in water, had died.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Crocodile Reservoir, Fryerstown
2008
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Damaged jetty and exposed infrastructure used for the release of water into the races (channels) is visible. The small amount of water in the reservoir and surrounding wet earth resulted from a violent storm that occurred mid-2007. It did not break the drought, but caused damage across Victoria.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Crocodile Reservoir, Christian McArdle on the Crocodile Reservoir jetty with the dog called Black, Fryerstown
2008
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Crocodile Reservoir, Fryerstown
2010
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
In the spring of 2010 heavy drought-breaking rain fell throughout Victoria. The drought-weakened wall of the reservoir partially collapsed, and water flowed through the cavity into Golden Gully. Standing on the wall above the area of partial collapse looking down.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
One of the numerous abandoned mine shafts in the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown (installation view)
2010
inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
One of the numerous abandoned mine shafts in the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown
2010
inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Mine disturbances and uniform regrowth trees can be seen in the background.
Gallery Two
Installation views of the exhibition Julie Millowick: Surrounding at the Castlemaine Art Museum
Photos: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Washing, horse paddock, Fryerstown (installation view)
1996
Digitised pinhole camera paper negative, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Washing, horse paddock, Fryerstown (installation view)
1996
Digitised pinhole camera paper negative, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Washing, horse paddock, Fryerstown
1996
Digitised pinhole camera paper negative, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Washing, Horse Paddock, Fryerstown
1996
Digitised Pinhole Camera paper negative, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Washing, horse paddock, Fryerstown (installation view)
2010
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Washing, horse paddock, Fryerstown
2010
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Washing, front verandah, Fryerstown (installation view)
2022
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Washing, front verandah, Fryerstown
2022
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Washing, horse paddock, Fryerstown. Corrupt card (installation view)
2012
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Washing, horse paddock, Fryerstown (installation view)
2012
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Child’s 19th century boot metal heel-band, found on property, Fryerstown (installation view)
2023
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Child’s 19th century boot metal heel-band, found on property, Fryerstown
2023
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Tree foliage, patio, Fryerstown (installation view)
2022
Digitised gelatin silver lumen, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Tree foliage, patio, Fryerstown (installation view)
2022
Digitised gelatin silver lumen, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Tree foliage, patio, Fryerstown
2022
Digitised gelatin silver lumen, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Introduced invasive cactus, horse paddock, Fryerstown (installation view)
2001
Digitised 6-45 film negative, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Introduced invasive cactus, horse paddock, Fryerstown (installation view)
2001
Digitised 6-45 film negative, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Introduced invasive cactus, horse paddock, Fryerstown
2001
Digitised 6-45 film negative, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Introduced invasive cactus, horse paddock, Fryerstown
2001
Digitised 6-45 film negative, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Original interior wall of 1862 miner’s cottage with introduced invasive blackberry, Fryerstown (installation view)
2023
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Day 39, lockdown, Chinese pistachio tree, Fryerstown (installation view)
2020
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Day 39, lockdown, Chinese pistachio tree, Fryerstown
2020
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Day 155, lockdown, Chinese pistachio tree, Fryerstown (installation view)
2021
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Day 264, lockdown, Chinese pistachio tree, Fryerstown (installation view)
2021
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Day 155, lockdown, Chinese pistachio tree, Fryerstown
2021
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Day 264, lockdown, Chinese pistachio tree, Fryerstown
2021
Digital image, inkjet print on 100% cotton rag
open edition 2023
Castlemaine Art Museum
14 Lyttleton Street, Castlemaine
Opening hours
Thursday – Saturday 11am – 4pm
Sunday 12pm – 4pm
Castlemaine Art Museum website
Art Blart _ art and cultural memory archive 
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