the MENINDEE MEMORIAL LOOP
AN ONGOING AND EVER-GROWING COLLABORATIVE ART PROJECT for everyone
In September and October, I took part in a group show at the NSW Embroiderers Guild called Baaka Ngamaka’Inana: The River, Our Mother. The show was
all about the cultural and ecological damage inflicted on the Baaka-Darling River by neglect and maladministration.
As part of this show, I started a project called the Menindee Memorial Loop that anyone and everyone is invited to contribute to. The show has come down but this beautiful project has grown and grown, and it's still growing, and I would love you to get involved.
First I'll give you a bit of background...
The Baaka-Darling River is in a sorry state. For years now, too much water has been taken from the river for irrigation.
The Murray Darling Basin Authority has always put Big Ag before people and the environment. The cotton industry is one of the biggest offenders.
There's no clearer or more shocking example of the damage than the terrible fish kills at Menindee, that took place in 2018-19 and 2023.
The independent review commissioned by the NSW government found that reduced flows, high temperatures and poor water quality combined to lower the levels of oxygen in the water, which is what caused the shocking mass fish kills that made news all around the world.
Yabbies crawled out of the river en masse. Fish in their millions suffocated and floated to the surface - 20 - 30 million fish in mid-March 2023!
The numbers are mind-blowing. The images are heart-breaking.
Photo: Graeme McCrabb
I want to acknowledge that some progress has been made with the ‘Restore Our Rivers’ amendment to the Water Act in 2023. All credit to those who worked together to make this happen.
Scientists will tell you that our governments still allow too much water to be taken, though. The ghosts of those 20 - 30 million Menindee fish haunt us all, and remind us that unless the River is managed responsibly, there will be more fish kills, and further degradation.
The Menindee Memorial Loop is a response to these tragedies. It is a huge loop of fabric, covered in scraps of cotton that people just like you have hand-stitched with 100 small crosses, representing the millions of fish that died. The choice of cotton is specific and deliberate - the cotton industry is sucking the River dry.
As the project has matured, I'm getting more ambitious about creating something that will reflect the scale of the tragedy and future risk. I've got this idea that together - you and me and everyone - we can get to 1 million crosses.
It's a big number that I hope will have a big impact, especially when we take this amazing artwork to Canberra in 2025!
Most evenings you'll find me staying up late for a couple of hours, slow-stitching people's finished scraps onto the loop. I have 1500 of these now, so as you can imagine, I've had to call for reinforcements.
If you are a skilled stitcher, good at following instructions and you'd enjoy the task, please get in touch to volunteer. I'll send you out a section of the Loop with the scraps pinned on, ready for you work on.
For everyone who takes part, slow-stitching these tiny crosses is a way to process grief for the fish kills, as well as a way to show how much we care. It’s a creative, generative act. The Baakantji people see the River as their mother. They care for her and she cares for them. This is what the Loop represents - a cycle of care that generates health and well-being. If we care for the environment, she will provide for us.
I promise it will be easy and satisfying to contribute to this collaborative artwork, and it doesn't matter where you are in the world - everyone can get involved.
It's easy to join in, and here's the step-by-step...
Find a small piece of woven cotton - about the size of a postcard, give or take. Maybe a scrap from an old shirt or tea towel - something you already have around your place. Thin and faded is good, and not too brightly coloured. Plain ideally, or a very faded pattern would be OK.
It's important that it's specifically cotton because our artwork is drawing attention to the role of the cotton industry in making the river sick. I won't be able to use T-shirt material either, even if it is cotton. Sorry to be so prescriptive, but this is what we need for this artwork.
Once you have your fabric piece, using thickish thread in any single colour, stitch one hundred crosses onto the cotton fabric scrap. This will probably take you about twenty minutes.
Don't make it all regular and uniform - I want you to stitch in a way that's irregular and organic.
The idea is that your crosses look kind of like a natural shoal of native fish, like the Gold and Silver Perch or Bony Bream or Eel-Tailed Catfish that should be thriving in the Baaka.
Then I’ll get you to send me the stitched scrap in the post. I used to have a deadline on this, but I've lifted that with my rising ambitions.
Address it to:
Julie Paterson
Dharug and Gundungurra Country
325 Evans Lookout Road
Blackheath NSW 2785
Acknowledgement of Country
I acknowledge the Dharug and the Gundungurra people, the Traditional Owners of the land where I created this work, and the Wangal people of Eora, the Traditional Owners of the land where this exhibition is shown.
I recognise their continuing connection to land, water and community.
I pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging.