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Box Forest
artist
Box Forest challenges the colonial legacy of John Pascoe Fawkner. In the 1800s, John Fawkner acquired land for his ideal village named ‘Box Forest’ after the Grey Box species native to the area. Ironically, lessees were obliged to 'destroy and remove all the native indigenous trees, wood, scrub and underwood whatsoever', and replace them with English fruit trees and hedgerows for purchase from Fawkner’s private nursery.
Box Forest, a 'forest of boxes' lying side by side in the shape of gravesites, was planted out with 150 indigenous seedlings, replacing what had been destroyed. Following the exhibition, the plants were transferred to their natural habitat, a tiny remnant of Grey Box eucalypts in the grounds of Fawkner Cemetery, as a living memorial.
Exhibition: Moreart 2016
Photos: Carla Gottgens, James Henry