Surrounding

Exhibited at Castlemaine Art Museum
15 February—16 June 2024

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.

Curated by Jenny Long, Surrounding exhibits a 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.

Jenny Long, Curator

Surrounding is an official exhibition of PHOTO 2024 International Festival of Photography.

The exhibition, Surrounding, is proudly supported by the Friends of Castlemaine Art Museum and Ian Hill Fine Art Printing.

Julie Millowick’s 1862 miner’s cottage is the central point in the exhibition around which the Surrounding imagery occurs. Julie uses black and white film, digital capture and the alternative vintage techniques of pinhole, lumen, cyanotype and photogram to document the domestic and the survival and regeneration of the post goldrush environment near Fryerstown, Central Victoria.

Images were made between 1989–2023 on Djaara Country, land of the Dja Dja Wurrung People.

Following are a selection of the 100+ images in the exhibition

Mrs King with 3 of her 10 children in front of the 1862 King’s Cottage now Julie’s home. Photographer unknown circa 1870

Original Back Door Step of 1862 cottage with hand forged goldrush tools found on the property, Fryerstown,2022

Washing, Horse Paddock, Pinhole Camera, Fryerstown,1996

Washing, front verandah 1862 miner’s cottage, Fryerstown, 2021

Washing, Horse Paddock, Bowness Prize finalist, Fryerstown, 2010

Introduced briar rose from [assumed] original planting in Mrs King’s garden, Lumen Print [detail], Fryerstown, 2022

Tree on patio, Lumen Print, Fryerstown, 2022

Fragment of found goldrush era glass bottle with Cherry Ballart foliage, Fryerstown, 2019

Mullock New Era Mine, Fryerstown, 2022

Mullock, studio photograph, Fryerstown, 2022

Castlemaine Art Museum Surrounding exhibition with Installation of mullock in foreground, photos of mullock on wall in background, 2024

Castlemaine Art Museum, Surrounding Installation of mullock, details of mine names on mullock rocks,2024

Mullock New Era Mine, introduced invasive Thistle foreground, Fryerstown, 2022

Introduced Invasive Thistle, Lumen Print, Fryerstown, 2022

Remains of sluicing Golden Gully, Cassinia sifton [Coffee Bush] foreground & along top, Fryerstown, 2022

Cassinia sifton [Coffee Bush]. First plant to grow in damaged earth symbolising regeneration, Lumen Print, 2022

Introduced invasive cactus, horse paddock, Fryerstown, Bronica 6-45, Agfa Film, 2001

New Era Mine tailings sand after secondary processing with cyanide, Fryerstown, 2016

DEWLP Planned Burn regrowth 7 weeks later, January 2022

Ecological Thinning Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, first week, Fryerstown, April 2007

Cherry Ballart, Box Ironbark Forest, Fryerstown, 2022

Abandoned mine shaft, mine disturbances and uniform regrowth post goldrush box trees in background, Fryerstown, 2010

Wildflower, Lumen Print, box ironbark forest, Fryerstown, 2022

Wattle, Lumen Print, Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, Fryerstown, 2023

Cherry Ballart, kangaroo track background, Fryers Extension Channel RHside, Fryerstown,2022

Crocodile Reservoir, jetty that appeared as the water levels began to drop during the Millenium Drought – we were all amazed when it appeared, Fryerstown, 2006

Crocodile Reservoir, Millenium Drought, jetty, my son and dog called Black, Fryerstown, 2007

Crocodile Reservoir. Julie Millowick and her son, during the El Niño year of the Millennium Drought from the series “Drought, Continuing Drought” Fryerstown, 2007

The tree line evident here indicates the pre-drought level of the water.

Crocodile Reservoir, Millenium Drought, exposed infrastructure, Fryerstown, 2008

Drought breaking rain flooding Golden Gully, Tailings sand on rh side, Fryerstown, Nov 2010

Crocodile Reservoir, Drought breaking rain caused partial collapse of wall. Water flows into Golden Gully, Fryerstown, Nov 2010

Abandoned mine shaft and tailings Horse Paddock, Fryerstown, 2018

Mine shaft, small Cassinia sifton [coffee bush] growing on edge, Fryerstown, 2009

Cassinia sifton [coffee bush] Lumen Print, 2023

Post goldrush uniform regrowth in mist, Horse Paddock, Fryerstown, 2014

Goldie 34 yrs old, in the last months of her life. Her coat looked good and she was very alert. A little mare who brought much pleasure to Kate and Julie, Horse Paddock, Fryerstown, 2009

The photographer’s son, Ferron’s Mullock, Fryerstown, 1989, Bronica 6-45, Agfa Film, proof sheet

The photographer’s son with Blue Dog, Ferron’s Mullock, Fryerstown, 2023

Project Description