All men choose the path they walk: Art and the scales of justice

Publication details

Paperback. Pages 291
ISBN 9 781925 773798

Author and/or Editor name/s

Author: Fiona Foley
Editor: Ashley Hay

Author and/or Editor bio/s

2018 Doctor of Philosophy, Griffith University • 2011–17 Adjunct Professor, The University of Queensland • 2003–09 Adjunct Professor, Griffith University • 1987 Diploma of Education, Sydney Institute of Education, Sydney University • 1984– 86 Bachelor of Visual Arts, Sydney College of the Arts • 1982–83 Certificate of Arts, East Sydney Technical College
Fiona Foley is a founding member of Boomalli Aboriginal Artist Co-operative. She exhibits regularly in Australia and internationally. Her recent solo exhibitions were held at Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane in 2017 and the National Art School, Sydney in 2020.

Foley completed her PhD with Griffith University in 2017. The thesis topic examined Queensland’s legislation, The Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act, 1897. Her new work on this subject was received with significant interest.

Year of publication

2019

Publisher

Griffith Review, South Bank Campus, Griffith University

Abstract

All men choose the path they walk: looks at the historical use of opium in Queensland and The Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897”

This journal article deals with the treatment of Aboriginal people in Queensland during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century with a particular emphasis on the impact of The Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act, 1897 within Badtjala “country”. Drawing evidence from Aboriginal knowledge and European archives, the research brings a Badtjala perspective to this first experiment to ‘solve the problem’ of opium addicted Australian Aborigines that took place on Fraser Island in the period from 1897 to 1904. An exhibition, Horror Has A Face, supported by an exegesis, Biting the Clouds, addresses this historiography and its inherent silences, errors and injustices using an Indigenist research framework in which art can play a significant role.