Strange Land Vol 1 The Miner (2010)

image courtesy John A Douglas Chalk Horse, Sydney

Shot on location in the abandoned shale oil mining town of Glen Davis in the Capertee Valley NSW John A Douglas’ Strange Land Vol I – The Miner is based on the incidence of injury and death that occurred in the mine tunnel at and at the retort where the shale was crushed by the refinery…

Douglas’ ghost miner with marching drum and molasses dripping down his face pays homage to the strikes and protests by the miners and the strong union movement of the early 1950’s. Many of the union movements early battles for work safety and fair pay were fought by the Glen Davis miners.The figure also reminds us that as we move away from carbon based energy resources the industrial world as we know it is sliding into obsolescence and with it the ruins and scarification of the natural world, the damaged landscape slowly being reclaimed by weeds and bushland but often remaining toxic and poisoned. Douglas also relives the memory of his grandfather through the prism of working class depression era Australian masculinity and a time that is long passed and forgotten.

. . .