Passing by the Redfern 40,000 Years Mural nearly every day to catch a train at the Redfern station, I did not fully take notice of it until I saw it being refurbished and painted the other day on my way home. I took this as an opportunity to walk around all of the paintings on that strip of wall and take them in and I was, to say the least, taken aback by the beautiful revitalization of once and currently oppressed indigenous cultures. The original Redfern 40,000 Years Mural was established in 1983 by a collective group of local and renowned indigenous artists and designers. Carol Ruff, the main mural artist, led a collaboration with the local community to create a mural to recognize the importance of Redfern as the meeting place for Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal peoples (Griffiths, 2018). Moreover, before the mural’s implementation, Carol Ruff spent weeks engaging with the locals to ask what it should depict and how it should be depicted. This furthered deep sense of community that is such an integral part of Aboriginal culture. This mural, one of the few remaining community murals in the city, serves as a symbolic representation for cultural heritage, pride, and the collectively shared experiences in the Aboriginal community (Ruff, 1983). Situated in the heart of Redfern and in front of the bustling Redfern train station, the mural serves to connect those traveling through the land and also those living on the land, establishing a deep sense of community all through its physical location.Â
This mural, through its vibrant colors and perfectly painted figures, serves as a warm welcome for people getting on and off the train at Redfern. Traditional culture can be discerned from the contemporary Aboriginal expressions that make up the mural. Within the mural, the customary ochre and charcoal colors such as red, yellow, white, and black are heavily utilized. In addition to the colors used, the mural exemplifies a deep sense of community from the physical footprints on the wall to the legendary Redfern All Black rugby league team. The profound mural portrays images of hunting, fishing, and footsteps, all representing Aboriginality dating back more than 40,000 years.Â
Redfern is currently undergoing a period of intense gentrification where everything is being renovated and changed and yet, there seems to be one constant: the 40,000 Years Mural. It defies western modernity and interacts with contemporary western society in a way that allows itself to adapt to an ever changing environment. The mural surpasses all negative effects that gentrification can possibly have on it. The artwork on the mural has both political undertones of the Indigenous Rights movement and also cultural and social undertones of the current revitalization of once-lost aboriginal cultures. The mural’s recent restoration exemplifies how aboriginal culture remains strongly present in Redfern and in the community at large. In a classic example of aboriginal community and pride, the Redfern indigenous community has come together to beautifully conserve and restore art works that are indubitably important to their culture (Lee, 2013).
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