places and Perspectives of takayna

Over the Easter break of 2017, I joined a group of artists and conservationist to spend time on the western coastline of Tasmania, a place known to the indigenous people as takayna. Our small contingent walked the coast north of the Pieman River, exploring both the physical and cultural features of this place. Evidence of Aboriginal occupation was visible continually along our walk.
Over the few days that I spent there, I traversed a range of emotion from awe to grief; in the end my overwhelming sense of these places is hard to express, it's a mixture of emptiness, longing and homeness- the land is a home to people who have gone, the home is almost empty - but the land has a longing for people. This is a living place and it wants people. For me, this is why people of all walks of life are drawn to it. We now have a responsibility to care for and sustain this place, to preserve the history, culture and environment.