Whitewash2012

WHITEWASH is a 6 minute video made by artist, Tania Ferrier as the final piece in a project examining the history of a building on Rottnest Island/ Wadjemup, Western Australia, called The Quod.



Quod means gaol in old English slang, which is what the building functioned as from 1864 to 1903 after which time it was converted to tourist accommodation for ensuing generations of Western Australians.



Its prior history as the notorious Native Prison where over 400 Aboriginal men from died in the cells from inhumane conditions was whitewashed as with the cells which became the bedrooms for tourists. The spelling of Quod was changed to Quad in an attempt to shake off the reference to a gaol. Today it remains accommodation as part of the Rottnest Island Lodge Resort where little information is provided to tourists about the history of the rooms where they sleep.



WHITEWASH is a video that lets us reflect upon the whole of Australian history and how we as a nation have colluded in the collective forgetting of the past and to contemplate what this means to Aboriginal people today.



Aboriginal film maker, Glen Stasiuk and actors, Curtis Taylor and Michael Smith participated in the making of this video along with Antony Webb / DOP, Alan Thompson / additional editing, James Kerr / stills photography and actors Alan Boyd and Monica Maine. Guitar track by Abraham Dunovits, Didj by Steve Richter and additional sound by Alan Thompson. Concept/Direction/Design by Tania Ferrier, C. 2012.