Wikipedia

Kado Muir

Kado Muir is an Australian Aboriginal artist, anthropologist,[1] archaeologist, and Indigenous rights activist[2] in Western Australia.

Kado Muir
Born
Leonora, Western Australia
NationalityAustralian
Occupation(s)Visual artist, anthropologist, Indigenous rights activist
Years active1990s–present
Political party

Early life and family edit

Muir's father was dogger Peter Muir, who gave the important sacred and archaeological site Serpent's Glen, in the Little Sandy Desert, its name. Muir spent 16 months in the area around the Carnarvon Ranges (also known as Katjarra) in 1962, and gave the first written account of the rock art at Serpent's Glen, now known as Karnatukul. He also named Billycan Spring. He married Daisy, an Aboriginal woman, and had sons Talbot and Kado.[3]

Traditional owner edit

Muir is a Ngalia traditional owner,[2] holder of cultural knowledge and of the Mantjiltjara language, and of the country to the northwest of Leonora.[4] He is an applicant on the Mantjintjarra Ngalia peoples native title claim in the Goldfields region.[5]

Advocacy edit

He is a fierce advocate for the rights of Indigenous Australians in land rights,[6] protecting heritage,[7] and recognising the value of traditional knowledge[8][9] and cultural expression, and has researched and published on Australian Aboriginal heritage and native title.[5][10]

In July 2021 told the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), in a meeting presided over by current chair Megan Davis, that the Australian Government had not been doing enough to protect Aboriginal heritage, and that the draft Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Bill (which would supersede WA's Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 still allowed the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs to override the wishes of traditional owners.[11] He has written several articles about the destruction of Juukan Gorge for The Conversation.[12]

Art edit

Muir is an accomplished visual artist, specialising in printmaking,[13] and also works on canvas.[4]

In 2018, together with his wife Deeva, Muir painted a mural called Reti on the wall of Kalgoorlie Police Station. Reti (English name Empress Springs) is a significant cultural site in Great Victoria Desert, and is situated on land subject to a native title claim.[14]

In 2022 he has led workshops to make rugs made of recycled fabric for a cross-cultural art project called Reclaim the Void, created by Ngalia elders and others under the direction of Muir and Vivienne Robertson. The rugs will be joined, creating a huge textile artwork depicting the story of the Tjukurrpa of the country where gold mines have been dug, and intended to comment on both the desecration of the land and the over-consumption of society. The work will be displayed in the Western Australian Museum.[15][16]

Other roles edit

He was chairperson of the Tjupan Ngalia Tribal Land Council (an Aboriginal corporation) around or before 2008,[8] and as of July 2022 is chair of the National Native Title Council, co-chair of the First National Heritage Protection Alliance and a member of the steering committee of the First Nations Clean Energy Network.[4]

As of 2021 he is a director of the Wakamurru Aboriginal Coropration, which represents Manta Rirrtinya Native Title Holders.[11]

He is also an advocate of bilingual and "two-way" education in Australia.[2]

Politics edit

Muir stood as a candidate for the Greens at the 2004 and 2010 federal elections and the 2005 and 2013 state elections. In 2016, he was selected as the WA Nationals' lead senate candidate at the 2016 federal election.[17][18] His bid was unsuccessful, the Nationals having been overtaken by Pauline Hanson's One Nation.[19]

Personal life and family edit

Muir is married to artist Deeva Muir, who was born in Malaysia and has a Sri Lankan Tamil background.[20] Their eldest son Karthi is an actor who trained at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts; his younger brother Kuberan is an artist, as of 2019 in his second year of a degree in photography at Curtin University; and younger sister Ammbigai is also a visual artist.[21]

References edit

  1. ^ "ACMC members - Department of Indigenous Affairs". Department of Indigenous Affairs (WA). 27 March 2008. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 20 July 2022. ACMC [Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee] Member - Specialist Anthropologist
  2. ^ a b c "Our Board". National Native Title Council. 23 September 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  3. ^ McDonald, Jo (2 July 2020). "Serpents Glen (Karnatukul): New Histories for Deep time Attachment to Country in Australia's Western Desert". Bulletin of the History of Archaeology. 30 (1). doi:10.5334/bha-624. ISSN 2047-6930. S2CID 225577563.
  4. ^ a b c "Kado Muir". State Library of Western Australia. 29 April 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  5. ^ a b Muir, Kado (July 1998). Strelein, Lisa (ed.). ""This earth has an Aboriginal culture inside": Recognising the cultural value of country" (PDF). Land, Rights, Laws: Issues of Native Title: Issues paper no. 23. Native Title Research Unit, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 August 2006. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  6. ^ "Govt asked to rethink native title claims process". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 13 January 2006. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  7. ^ "Mt Leonora work angers Indigenous group". ABC News. 17 August 2009. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  8. ^ a b Muir, Kado; Evans, Louis. "Mining for Country – Aboriginal enterprise and capacity building through partnerships between mining companies and Indigenous communities" (PDF). www.minerals.org.au. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2008. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  9. ^ "Songman Circle of Wisdom". ATNS. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  10. ^ Lisa Strelein and Kado Muir (eds) in Native Title in Perspective (2000)
  11. ^ a b Coulson, Britney (30 July 2021). "Proposed heritage law an 'abuse of human rights' says Kado Muir". National Indigenous Times. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  12. ^ "Kado Muir". The Conversation. 31 August 2021. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  13. ^ "Kado Muir". www.printsandprintmaking.gov.au. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  14. ^ "Kado & Deeva Muir". Artgold. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  15. ^ "In a land scarred by mining, Elders weave rugs to reclaim Ngurra". National Indigenous Times. 21 April 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  16. ^ "The story and the vision". Reclaim the Void: weaving country whole. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  17. ^ (5 May 2016). "Kado Muir ready to follow Pat Dodson’s Senate lead for Nats" – The Australian. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  18. ^ Probyn, Andrew (10 June 2016). "New Senate ballot rules deliver new election games". The West Australian. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  19. ^ Tomlin, Sam (2 August 2016). "Unsuccessful WA Nationals Senate candidate says rise of One Nation took party by surprise". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  20. ^ "Artist Residencies: Previous: Deeva Muir, May 17 – July 25, 2021". Art on the Move. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  21. ^ Miner, Kalgoorlie (8 February 2019). "Rising Aboriginal art star drawn to Goldfields roots". Kalgoorlie Miner. Retrieved 22 July 2022.

External links edit

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