Toni Warburton
member of the Williams River Valley Artists’ Project
lives and works in Sydney
work in the exhibition:
(floor installation) temporary fence panels, hollow clay text AVOID (unfired), banner mesh printed with water colour image from the “drip is a window on ground water movement.”
dimensions L. 2.4m W. 1.2m H. 2.1m (image above)
“while we sleep ” 2016
(vitrine installation) / petrochemical derived bedding / cement coal/ soil/ crushed sandstone/ rubble/ metal/ paper/ canvas/ wood / plastic / ceramic objects.
dimensions L. 2.5m x W. 59 cm x H. 1m (image below)
catalogue text:
compilation from my notes written during a workshop about mine closure and rehabilitation at the Beyond Coal and Gas Conference, Myuna Bay, April 2016All minerals are ‘owned’ by the state and we the citizens grant mining companies permission to mine them / we only have an incomplete map of abandoned mines / closing a mine is complex and expensive and high risk / there has not been a major closure for 30 years / return the country to zero or low risk / no significant successful base relinquishment / proxy for completed rehabilitation / voids versus back fill / there are no policies / financial assurances and bonds / avoiding obligations / bankruptcy / perpetual ‘care and maintenance’ / off loading to small companies / regulating capture / widespread / what are the costs to the community? / leading practice rehabilitation and planning / ongoing practices / systems / processes / policies / no need?
“The Drip is a window into ground water flows…”
Julie Imrie in conversation with Toni Warburton, Goulburn River, 24 April 2016
Julie and Colin Imrie live downstream from the iconic Upper Hunter gorge known as The Drip, at the head of the Goulburn River, the Hunter River’s main western tributary. Ground water dependent ecosystems are threatened by Yancoal’s Moolarben mine expansion and exploration drilling in this area.
