From the late eighteenth century, the spread of colonial settlement across Australia pushed Aboriginal people off their lands. Reserves, missions and stations were created in response to this and were initiated by various groups including churches and the government. Aboriginal people were relocated by force to these places under the pretence that they offered physical protection from the violence they were experiencing at the hands of pastoralists. Although accounts of mission life vary, for many Indigenous Australians it represented cultural genocide. The mission system also enabled further repression and dispossession. Christian belief systems dominated, and children were stolen and taken to institutions and trained to enter the workforce as indentured labour. These children are the Stolen Generations.

The mission 2011 illustrates the journey of a young Aboriginal woman through the mission system. We witness her forced removal, her marriage in the Christian tradition, the arrival of her first child, and her mourning when this child is stolen.

Cook has layered a range of archival imagery, including vintage postcards as well as family photographs and other personal material into the images. Cook says, the final image in this series The Mission (Returning home) bears a link to his previous series, Broken dreams 2010, in that both capture the hope and resilience of Aboriginal people.

Michael Cook
The mission 2011
Left to right
The Mission (Native heralded into mission), The Mission (Aboriginal bride), The Mission (Typical Aboriginal picaninny), The Mission (Heading to a better life), The Mission (Aboriginal in mourning), The Mission (Going home)
inkjet print on paper
edition 8 + 2 AP
Tweed Regional Gallery Collection
Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2016
Courtesy the artist, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane and THIS IS NO FANTASY, Melbourne