Leigh Oates

The nine circles represent the nine Aboriginal Nations – North West, North, North Midlands, North East, Ben Lomond, Big River, South East, South West and Oyster Bay. The nine Nations are all linked together by living on the same land, this connection is represented by the early morning misted web. The nine circles also represent fire which was an important part of day to day living for the Aboriginal people. The fire circles show the centre of the fire is very hot and moving out from the centre shows the ash and finally the charcoal which all is left after a fire has died. The three lines in the centre of the fire represent fuel and you can see that these fires have not died and the Tasmanian Aboriginal People still walk on this land. This is also represented by the footprints around the outside of the painting. The blue and white stripes represent the coastline and sea spray that surrounds us and the many islands connected to Tasmania. The yellow background represents sand which can be found on many coastline areas. The brown border also represents the coastline and the many rocky outcrops.