{"title":"PAUL BONG BINDUR-BULLIN - Archaeological Collection","description":"\u003ch3\u003e30 July — 19 September 2026\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePaul Bong’s shield prints can be understood as a contemporary response to the historical rupture embodied by Lani’s story. Drawing on the traditional Yidinji rainforest shield—a form used for protection, ceremony, and identity—Bong reworks the shield as a site of memory, resistance, and cultural restoration.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWithin the context of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Ghosts of Lani\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, the shields function as a counterpoint to the archival fragments that have been used to define Lani’s life. Where Lani survives in colonial images and records—most notably in Kahler’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDerby Day\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e—Bong’s shields reclaim the narrative from a Yidinji perspective.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHis \u003cem\u003eArchaeological Collection\u003c\/em\u003e embeds stories of Country, ancestral knowledge, and lived experience while also registering the violence, dispossession, and fragmentation that accompanied colonisation. Bong transforms the shield from an object of defence into a living surface of return, where what was taken—story, presence, authority—is symbolically brought back to Country.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"4thpabo04","title":"PAUL BONG | '50,000 years of peace' | 2026 | Hand coloured intaglio etching | H 1120 x W 800 mm","description":"\u003cp\u003ePaul Bong’s 2026 work, 'Archaeological Collection' is a re-working of a previous series 'Memories of Oblivion' a suite of five prints that together span a narrative of more than 50,000 years, from the earliest records of settlement in the Cairns region to the present day. The creeping influence of the Union Jack on the form of a North Queensland rainforest shield speaks to the loss of culture and violent persecution of Aboriginal people that occurred on the colonial frontier. Together, the prints in the series also serve as a memorial to those who died defending Country during the conflicts. The first print in the series, '50,000 years of peace' represents the period prior to European colonisation of Australia. The artist has said of the work: 'Dreamtime, our song lines - my story. My heart will live on, for there is no time or date. My people have been here for as long as we can remember or record, about 50,000 yrs. I woke up before first light and feel as if I had been awake for a very long time I sit at my humpy think how beautiful, it is the beauty of nature…how we preserve our land every day, we go hunting for food, swimming, meeting other tribes to sing and dance. We meet for marriages and celebration of the new born. For men and women to meet… happy times, the best part of my life is when the elders took the young men up into the caves and told them about our song lines and the meaning of why we are all are chosen to be caretakers of such a beautiful vast country.'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePAUL BONG | '50,000 years of peace' | 2026 | Hand coloured intaglio etching | H 1120 x W 800 mm\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Paul Bong","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300148465743,"sku":"4THPABO04","price":3000.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0063\/2342\/files\/4THPABO04.jpg?v=1785388625"},{"product_id":"2thpabo02","title":"PAUL BONG | 'Conspiracy of Skeleton Creek (Blue)' | 2026 | Hand coloured intaglio etching | H 770 x W 530 mm","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Conspiracy of Skeleton Creek is a meditation on truth, loss and the endurance of memory, and an act of remembrance. The work explores ancestry, the echoes of history and the stories carried by those who remain connected to Country. The work refers to the places known as Skeleton Creek and Skull Pocket in Far North Queensland, places held within Aboriginal family memory as sites of profound suffering and loss; part of a living inheritance connected to family, Country and the stories passed down by those who witnessed the consequences of colonial expansion. The shield speaks to protection, strength and cultural identity, its broken state reminding us of the disruption experienced by Aboriginal families through violence, dispossession and the denial of their histories. The skull is more than a symbol of death, it is a reminder that those who came before continue to exist through story, Country and the descendants who carry their names. Within The Ghost of Lani Mulgrave Blair, the broken shield becomes a doorway between past and present. The spirit of Lani moves through these histories, not as a ghost trapped by suffering, but as a presence carrying truth forward. He represents the continuation of family, culture and love beyond the moments that attempted to break them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePAUL BONG | 'Conspiracy of Skeleton Creek (Blue)' | 2026 | Hand coloured intaglio etching | H 770 x W 530 mm\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Paul Bong","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300148826191,"sku":"2THPABO02","price":1800.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0063\/2342\/files\/2THPABO02.jpg?v=1785388628"},{"product_id":"3thpabo03","title":"PAUL BONG | 'Conspiracy of Skeleton Creek (Red)' | 2026 | Hand coloured intaglio etching | H 770 x W 530 mm","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Conspiracy of Skeleton Creek is a meditation on truth, loss and the endurance of memory, and an act of remembrance. The work explores ancestry, the echoes of history and the stories carried by those who remain connected to Country. The work refers to the places known as Skeleton Creek and Skull Pocket in Far North Queensland, places held within Aboriginal family memory as sites of profound suffering and loss; part of a living inheritance connected to family, Country and the stories passed down by those who witnessed the consequences of colonial expansion. The shield speaks to protection, strength and cultural identity, its broken state reminding us of the disruption experienced by Aboriginal families through violence, dispossession and the denial of their histories. The skull is more than a symbol of death, it is a reminder that those who came before continue to exist through story, Country and the descendants who carry their names. Within The Ghost of Lani Mulgrave Blair, the broken shield becomes a doorway between past and present. The spirit of Lani moves through these histories, not as a ghost trapped by suffering, but as a presence carrying truth forward. He represents the continuation of family, culture and love beyond the moments that attempted to break them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePAUL BONG | 'Conspiracy of Skeleton Creek (Red)' | 2026 | Hand coloured intaglio etching | H 770 x W 530 mm\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Paul Bong","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300149678159,"sku":"3THPABO03","price":1800.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0063\/2342\/files\/3THPABO03.jpg?v=1785388629"},{"product_id":"10thpabo10","title":"PAUL BONG | 'The Heart Will Live On' | 2026 | Hand coloured intaglio etching | H 1120 x W 800 mm","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"The final work in the series, ‘The Heart Will Live on 2000\/present’, shows that despite frontier wars and colonisation, Aboriginal people and their cultures are still very much alive. In a statement about the work the artist writes: 'The flag of the Union Jack is now as part the other fragments in this shield. The middle fragment represents the \"Heart”, The Heart of the Dreamtime, The Heart of the song lines and the heart of my story. The shield is the “Heart\" of the rainforest people but our fragmented lives are still very much alive. We are still hanging on to what is left. To Our Fallen, Men Women and Our Children. Lest We Forget.'\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePAUL BONG | 'The Heart Will Live On' | 2026 | Hand coloured intaglio etching | H 1120 x W 800 mm\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Paul Bong","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300150235215,"sku":"10THPABO10","price":3000.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0063\/2342\/files\/10THPABO10.jpg?v=1785388632"},{"product_id":"7thpabo07","title":"PAUL BONG | 'Invasion Day 1770\/1788' | 2026 | Hand coloured intaglio etching | H 1120 x W 800 mm","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the second print from the series, 'Invasion Day 1770\/1788', the creeping influence of the Union Jack on the form of a North Queensland rainforest shield speaks to the loss of culture and violent persecution of Aboriginal people that occurred on the colonial frontier. Together, the prints in the series also serve as a memorial to those who died defending Country during the conflicts. The print references two dates: the landing of Captain Cook and the Endeavour at Botany Bay, and the arrival of the First Fleet in Australia. In the work, the shadow of the British flag has appeared on the shield. In a statement about the work the artist writes: 'The blue shadow of a new flag in the background represents that ‘they have crept in’ as savages infiltrating our livelihood.'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePAUL BONG | 'Invasion Day 1770\/1788' | 2026 | Hand coloured intaglio etching | H 1120 x W 800 mm\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Paul Bong","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300150825039,"sku":"7THPABO07","price":3000.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0063\/2342\/files\/7THPABO07.jpg?v=1785388634"},{"product_id":"6thpabo06","title":"PAUL BONG | 'Cutting the Head Off 1877' | 2026 | Hand coloured intaglio etching | H 1120 x W 800 mm","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe third print in the series, ‘Cutting the Heads off is dated to 1877,’ and references specific violent encounters from the Cairns region. 1877 was the year that land sales were permitted, and a Native Police station established in Cairns. As a result, the frequency and intensity of violent clashes increased in the region as efforts were made to move Aboriginal people off their land so that European colonisation could take place. In a statement about the work the artist writes: 'The top fragment on the shield is missing:, it represents their brutal persecution and slaughter of innocence. As one might call, \"enforcing the law according to the convict's order of law.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePAUL BONG | 'Cutting the Head Off 1877' | 2026 | Hand coloured intaglio etching | H 1120 x W 800 mm\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Paul Bong","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300151349327,"sku":"6THPABO06","price":3000.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0063\/2342\/files\/6THPABO06.jpg?v=1785388635"},{"product_id":"5thpabo05","title":"PAUL BONG | 'Cutting Off 1900' | 2026 | Hand coloured intaglio etching | H 1120 x W 800 mm","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe fourth print in the series, ‘Cutting the feet off, 1900’ represents all Indigenous Australians massacred on the colonial frontier. In a statement about the work the artist writes: 'The bottom of the fragment on the shield is missing, representing all indigenous Aboriginals massacred for treasons unknown, ambushed, raped, shot and burnt. As one might call it \"separating the civilized from their civilization.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePAUL BONG | 'Cutting Off 1900' | 2026 | Hand coloured intaglio etching | H 1120 x W 800 mm\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Paul Bong","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300151709775,"sku":"5THPABO05","price":3000.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0063\/2342\/files\/5THPABO05.jpg?v=1785388638"},{"product_id":"9thpabo09","title":"PAUL BONG | 'Subject 1880' | 2026 | Unique state\/ hand coloured intaglio and chine collee print\/ 31 plates | H 1600 x W 995 mm","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"ewa-rteLine\"\u003eSubject 1880 recalls the period when Aboriginal people across the rainforest regions of Far North Queensland were documented through colonial systems that reduced human beings to subjects, records and numbers. Families who had cared for Country over countless generations suddenly found themselves written into another people's history while their own voices were systematically erased.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"ewa-rteLine\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"ewa-rteLine\"\u003eIn part, Subject 1880 is an attempt to reconstruct the young Lani Mulgrave Blair, to put him back together from fragments of the past and the present. As a result, Lani stands at a convergence of bloodlines, Country and memory, a chronical of inherited experience.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"ewa-rteLine\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"ewa-rteLine\"\u003eThe reconstruction process reminds us how often Indigenous identity has been built like this, pieced together from fragments left behind after generations of cultural disruption. Lani’s presence speaks for all Yidinji people whose names have disappeared from official records but never disappeared from family.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"ewa-rteLine\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"ewa-rteLine\"\u003eAgainst the backdrop of these violences the work also speaks to the power of love. Not sentimental love, but ancestral love. The love embedded within Country itself, waiting patiently for descendants to return and remember. Lani stands as both witness and offering, mourning what was taken, honouring what endured and reminding us that even after profound violence, the deepest inheritance passed from one generation to the next was never fear. It was love. Love that transformed survival into continuity. Love as an act of resistance.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"ewa-rteLine\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"ewa-rteLine\"\u003ePAUL BONG | 'Subject 1880' | 2026 | Unique state\/ hand coloured intaglio and chine collee print\/ 31 plates | H 1600 x W 995 mm\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Paul Bong","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300151939151,"sku":"9THPABO09","price":20000.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0063\/2342\/files\/9THPABO09.jpg?v=1785388640"},{"product_id":"8thpabo08","title":"PAUL BONG | 'My Flag' | 2026 | Hand coloured intaglio etching | H 1120 x W 800 mm","description":"\u003cp\u003eMy Flag Traditionally, a shield was made to protect life, culture, and Country. In My Flag, that protection has been shattered. It speaks to the irreversible impact of colonisation on the Yidinji people and the destruction of cultural practices, language, and traditional ways of life. The surface of the shield bears ancient markings inspired by cave art, representing the culture, knowledge, and stories carried by generations of Yidinji people. These images embody a living culture that existed long before European settlement. The bullet holes, arranged as the stars of the Southern Cross found on the Australian flag, are symbols of the violence that fractured both the shield and the culture it protected. They represent the moment when a weapon pierced not only the shield but also the cultural fabric of a people. The broken shield becomes a metaphor for a culture that was violently disrupted. My Flag is not only about loss. By transforming the broken shield into a flag, the artist reclaims it as a symbol of survival, identity, and resilience. Although the shield can never be repaired, the Yidinji people remain. Their stories, connection to Country, and cultural spirit endure. \"The shield is broken; its edges too sharp to put back together. The cave art on the shield represents our culture. Then came the bullet that broke the shield, breaking a culture. Today that broken shield has become my flag, representing the survival and identity of the Yidinji people.\" Paul Bong Bindur-Bullin\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePAUL BONG | 'My Flag' | 2026 | Hand coloured intaglio etching | H 1120 x W 800 mm\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Paul Bong","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300152365135,"sku":"8THPABO08","price":3000.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0063\/2342\/files\/8THPABO08.jpg?v=1785388642"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0063\/2342\/collections\/9THPABO09.jpg?v=1785389251","url":"https:\/\/shop.northsite.org.au\/collections\/paul-bong-bindur-bullin-archaeological-collection.oembed","provider":"NorthSite Store ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}