In the mid-1860s many hardworking German farmers left South Australia to select cheap farming land in the fertile Southern Riverina region of NSW.

 

Charles Sturt University (CSU) archaeologist and cultural heritage manager, Associate Professor Dirk Spennemann, has captured this link to the region’s past in his first public photographic exhibition ‘Echoes of the Past, Voices of the Future’.

 

The exhibition traces the extant reminders of German communities such as Jindera, Gerogery, Walla Walla and Edgehill between Albury and Wagga Wagga and examines what role their past may play in the future.

 

Held in partnership with Albury City to celebrate History Week 2008 from 6 to 14 September, ‘Echoes of the Past’ opens at the Albury Library Museum’s Lane Gallery on Thursday 11 September and runs to Sunday 5 October. Complementing the exhibition will be a display of physical artifacts on loan from the Jindera Museum.

 

“We have a high concentration of German settlements in the area but not much research has been done on them,” says Professor Spennemann, a key researcher with the University’s Institute for Land, Water and Society, who began researching the history and heritage of the early German settlements in the region three years ago. “More than  30 per cent of people living in this region would have German ancestry,” he says.

 

As part of the documentation process he photographed many of the old buildings, churches and cemeteries in the region. “Many of the few buildings that still exist are very dilapidated,” says Profesor Spennemann. “From a cultural heritage perspective that causes issues, but photographically they are very evocative and they intrigued me.”

 

The subject matter lent itself to Professor Spennemann taking what he calls “impressionistic” or “art-related” photographs.  “For me, taking photographs is interpreting the environment around me; using the camera allows me to capture my mental images of the world,” he says.

 

The end result is 20 intriguing sepia images used in the exhibition, which opens at 6pm on Thursday11 September with light refreshments. Contact Kris Deegan on (02) 6051 9992 to attend.