[The Guardian] First Nations photography, reframed: ‘This is who we really are’

First Nations photography, reframed: ‘This is who we really are’

A new exhibition is correcting the record in Queensland, contrasting staged historical photography with the vibrant present

Travelling north through Cape York, you can’t miss the tiny town of Coen; the main road runs right through it. If Coen Heritage House was your only stop you’d learn a lot about the region’s mining, cattle and police history – it was home to “the biggest gold rush in tropical Australia” a sign declares – but little about Coen’s 300 or so primarily Indigenous residents.

Among framed photographs of the early pastoralists’ properties and portraits of their owners are photos of Kaantju woman Naomi Hobson’s great-grandfather, great-uncle and great-auntie. The images were returned to her community by the National Museum of Australia “to put up proudly on display”, says Hobson. “But it’s not who we are.”

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