Consider how water connects everything. The Freshwater – Saltwater Story Sculpture marks a spot where creeks and springs once met.
This public artwork is found where Turbot Street crosses Roma Street in Brisbane’s CBD. Before Brisbane was a city, this area was a meeting place. Indigenous people from different language groups gathered here. They held ceremonies and exchanged culture. Later, it became a site for protests and meetings.
The Freshwater – Saltwater Story Sculpture was commissioned to revitalize this space. The renowned Indigenous Australian artist Judy Watson created it. Watson’s sculpture alludes to the freshwater lens. This is a body of fresh water found under coral atolls and sand islands. Examples include Queensland’s Heron and Stradbroke Islands. This fresh water floats on top of seawater. Its weight forms a lens shape.
The artist describes these water bodies as hidden fragile precious jewels. They sustain the environment and all life forms. The Freshwater – Saltwater Story Sculpture is four meters long. It is made of beaten brass and patinaed to show the effects of water. Rainwater from the Turbot Street overpass is collected. It flows into a water tank. This water nourishes the public space’s gardens below.
The tank is surrounded by a weathered steel screen. The screen features patterns representing water flow from nearby Spring Hill. Part of Brisbane City Council’s Small Spaces public art program, the Freshwater – Saltwater Story Sculpture changes the site’s feel. It softens the built environment’s dominant lines. It signifies the history of the area.
Judy Watson was born in Mundubbera. She belongs to the Waanyi people. Her work explores ancestral political and environmental aspects of her Aboriginal heritage. She visited her traditional lands in 1990. The spirit of these lands has been embodied in her work ever since. She uses printmaking painting and sculptural forms. She draws inspiration from her grandmother’s Country Waanyi in North West Queensland.
Watson made another work called water dragon in 2011. The 2011 floods inspired it. The floodwaters merged contemporary history with Aboriginal history. Montague Road used to be an Aboriginal walking track. There were lagoons along its edges. The Brisbane River Maiwar ran beside it.
The eastern water dragon is magil. In Brisbane the freshwater eel is an ancestral creation figure. The juvenile eels are rainbow coloured. This ties into the story of the rainbow serpent. The serpent is an ancestral creature who creates the creeks and rivers. Water has a memory. It follows the topography of the land. It connects and submerges us within its wake.
The next time you pass by the Freshwater – Saltwater Story Sculpture, remember the hidden waters beneath our feet. Consider the history and culture that flow through this space. It is a reminder of the preciousness and fragility of our environment.