Trepang art exhibition brings celebration of Australia-China relationship to Melbourne
Trepang: China & the story of Macassan-Aboriginal trade opens this Saturday at Melbourne Museum, showcasing the first recorded history of trade relations between China and Australia. Macassan traders developed relationships with Aboriginal clans on the north Australian coastline, obtaining permission to harvest trepang or bęche-de-mer - a dried or smoked sea cucumber, and process it for the lucrative Chinese market. Trepang is a delicacy used in traditional cooking and was thought to be an aphrodisiac and contain medicinal qualities. All this occurred long before the British arrived in Australia. Historical artefacts, paintings, maps and photographs sit alongside contemporary works in the exhibition to tell the fascinating tale of Aboriginal and Asian exchange that centred on the trepang trade from the early 18th century to the early 20th century. The exhibition is founded on a longstanding friendship between classically trained Chinese artist Zhou Xiaoping and highly respected Indigenous artist, the late John Bulunbulun. After years of collaboration, dating back to 1988, these two artists; inheritors of ancient traditions, bring together their understanding of historical events that entangled their ancestors across cultures and the seas and archipelagos between China and the northern coast of Australia more than two centuries ago.
