Secrets of Dawn includes a number of contemporary First Nations art works created by Coota Girls descendants. Coota Girls Aboriginal Corporation acknowledges that the ownership of any Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) in the Secrets of DawnExhibition remains with the Traditional Owners of the ICIP.
Secrets of Dawn, a Stolen Generations truth-telling exhibition by Coota Girls Aboriginal Corporation, returns to Carriageworks in October, following a powerful launch season in 2024 which saw the exhibition receive the ACHAA Imagine Award for Excellence by an Aboriginal Curator.
Created and directed by Meagan Gerrard (Gamilaroi/Wailwan) and Alex McWhirter, and curated by Gerrard and Dennis Golding (Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay), the Secrets of Dawnexhibition features historical photos and content from Dawn Magazine, published by the NSW Aborigines Welfare Board from 1952 to 1968, and candid testimony from Coota Girls Survivors and descendants.
Alongside contemporary visual art by Joanne Cassady(Wiradjuri), Anjilkurri Rhonda Radley (Birpai/Dhanggati), Shannon Stacy (Bundjalung) and Laura Jones (Gamilaroi/Wailwan) and a collective artwork installation, the exhibition illustrates the ongoing impact of forcible removal and assimilation of First Nations babies and children.
Over a period of sixty years, thousands of First Nations babies and children in NSW were stolen by governments, welfare bodies and private organisations. In 1912, the Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls was established as a training institution for domestic service in white households, where young girls experienced systemic racial discrimination to remove their First Nations identity and alienate them from their culture, Country, families and communities. The institution closed in 1969.
Secrets of Dawn exposes the tactics of assimilation under the NSW Aborigines Protection Act (1909-1969) through the lens of Dawn Magazine. The magazines were distributed to all Aboriginal stations, reserves and institutions in the state where they were read by First Nations people who had limited access to information about their kin and community. Through photos and content, the magazine fabricated the conditions of First Nations children in institutions to further the agenda of the state government's assimilation policy.
The collective artwork installation, Dolly Pegs, features rows of handmade clothespin dolls, each representing a child's story. The exhibition invites patrons to contribute to the work by creating a Dolly Peg and adding it to a clothesline displayed at Carriageworks, as a way of acknowledging pain while also celebrating survival.
With NSW Government support, the exhibition will also tour regionally. Backed by Create NSW and the City of Sydney, the exhibition will travel to communities including the Riverina, the South West Slopes, the Hunter and the North Coast.
Coota Girls Aboriginal Corporation is a First Nations Stolen Generations Organisation founded by Coota Girls Survivors, former residents of the Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls, to ensure the social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of Coota Girls Survivors, their families and subsequent generations.
Secrets of Dawn will be presented at Carriageworks from 1-12 October 2025. Admission is free.
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