1993 was ‘The Year of the Indigenous Person’ internationally and it was an easy decision to get involved working with the Indigenous people of Australia. I knew little of these cultures and felt compelled to change. There were a select few avenues to explore and one was S.B.S. television (Special Broadcasting Service). I wrote to a documentary film production company working within S.B.S. called ‘Black Fella Films’ explaining my desire to work with traditional people and offer my service.

I received a reply and worked on a documentary ‘Quest For Country’ directed by the late Indigenous Artist Michael Riley. We were to travel slowly across Central New South Wales shooting landscapes depicting the destruction farming has on the natural environment.

While we were taking time sequence landscapes at the Blue mountains I found this on the ground. An old matchbox with the 1908 Coat of Arms for the City of Sydney. It features images of the First Fleet used by the British government in 1788 to transp… — While we were taking time sequence landscapes at the Blue mountains I found this on the ground. An old matchbox with the 1908 Coat of Arms for the City of Sydney. It features images of the First Fleet used by the British government in 1788 to transport its first convicts to the penal colony of New South Wales. An Aboriginal man and a British sailor stand on equal footing, but do the words of the motto, "I take, but I surrender", apply to both, or just the white man? And what exactly does this mean?

Michael interviews two residents of the former Aboriginal Reserve in Dubbo

Unfortunately I have no captions for these following portraits taken in Moree during our filming schedule. My diary with this information was stolen many years ago.

Michael was a deeply troubled man. He carried pain - the pain of his people. He and I had many late night conversations during our time together. I have carried these discussions as the foundations for my objectives.

In 1990 I lived in a large house in the centre of Sydney sharing with a very talented architect Danny Venlet and his wife Piki Verschuren who was a painter, also their daughter Mona.

That same year Danny had been commissioned to refurbish a pub which was right on the corner of Hyde Park in Sydney. These pictures are some of my very first as a professional freelance photographer.

The floor was a resin poured over wooden blocks in a circular pattern. The Tables were designed specifically for the refurbishment and made of aluminium. The chairs by Thonet.

This picture was taken at 8am on the first day of trade. Many of the old locals were waiting for the doors to open. The place had been closed for over 10 months.

Two local identities ‘Dennis the Menace’ & ‘Terry the Toad’ kind of christenend the place.

Detail from the Restraunt above the pub which was the second phase of renovation. 1993

Q Bar in Sydney was another commission for Danny. This opening in 1995. The Bar being made from Concrete.

Danny with his ‘Fly Screen’ in 1991 photographed at ‘the Rocks’ Sydney.

We also shared the house with two cats. Larry and Tomasina.