Acts of Cod

Five years ago the Fragments exhibition opened in Narrandera

I was invited by Hape Kiddle to develop a sculpture and we collaborated on Freddo Frog, which was my comment about how companies appropriate nature and that natural response of delight when seeing similar amphibians.

However, the anniversary is an interesting coincidence as recently I've been reflecting on the Fragments exhibtion that Hape curated as I've been focused on researching Murray Cod.

It's a long story, so let me try and make sense of it.

The fragments that formed the exhibition were offcuts from a River Red Gum that Hape Kiddle sculpted into a Murray Cod for the National Museum of Australia.

He offered big chunks of timber to local artists and asked them to use these for the exhibition, while he worked on the sculpture.

Last weekend I ended up at the Museum and went looking for Hape's Cod.

I wandered into the Great Southern Land Gallery and it was so dark that it took me a while to find the sculpture (after losing my kids), which seems squished in a glass cabinet with little detail (but that highlights how bad my eyesight has become).

My current interest in Murray Cod flows from an even bigger sculpture which resides in the museum where I work.

"Gugabul" was offered by Pete Ingram to be part of the Ngurambang exhibition that I curated for Griffith Regional Art Gallery, until we realised it wouldn't fit through the door.

Pete had built the massive Murray Cod sculpture for the Hands On Weavers and it was exhibited in Wagga's art gallery last year.

Since I am working again as a curator at Griffith Pioneer Park Museum, I offered for Gugabul to become the centrepiece for an exhibit about Murray Cod.

In recent years this vulnerable fish has become a premium aquaculture product and, depending on my route, I can pass a couple of hatcheries on the drive between home and work.

So I've been researching Murray Cod and they are fascinating.

Like Emu, they're another Australian icon where the father protects and raises their offspring.

These fish are an apex predator in rivers throughout the Murray-Darling Basin.

The Murray Cod plays a role in the creation of those rivers for many First Nations and the best documented example describes the Murray River, in a story that is told along much of its length.

In the Dreaming, the hero Ngurunderi chased "Ponde" the Cod and the bends in the river were created as it swept its tail.

With help from family Ngurunderi finally caught Ponde in Lake Alexandria, where the fish was cut up and the pieces thrown into the water.

These fragments of cod became the other species of native fish, until the head remained and it was thrown back to continue being Ponde.

So after five years I have a greater appreciation for Hape's exhibition and the way he interpreted the Dreamtime story of the Murray Cod, by sharing fragments of his arts practice to inspire other artists.

There's always a variety of meanings to take from Dreamtime narratives and it's significant that Ngurunderi needs assistance from his family to capture Ponde, as well as his recognition that you can't eat all the fish.