Toby Whitelaw
Toby Whitelaw’s large-format photograph Currowan Currawong was taken at Moruya Heads in Eurobodalla after the Currowan fire burnt through Murramarang National Park in the Shoalhaven, 49 metres north of Moruya.
A professional photographer, designer, carpenter and keen nature-lover, Toby has been observing Eurobodalla and Yuin Country with a keenly honed artist’s eye – and a sensitivity to climate change – long before the fires arrived.
Those on instagram will know Toby’s eye for beauty and the Nature Coast’s natural wonders.
During a spring and summer of fire, the Currowan ripped mercilessly through Yuin Country and across the Shoalhaven and Eurobodalla shires on the NSW Far South Coast for 74 long days and nights, burning from November 26, 2019 until February 9, 2020, when it was finally ‘set to out’.
The Currowan fire claimed three lives, destroyed 312 homes, and burnt almost 500,000 hectares of land and habitat.
As it juggernauted southwards towards Batemans Bay, its scale became so large that its southern flank was divided and re-classified into the Clyde Mountain fire.
It soon ripped south into Batemans Bay, and further into Eurobodalla shire.
In this evocative close up, Toby focuses in on just one single creature lost to Black Summer – a currawong washed up on the beach at Moruya Heads, and cast against the eerie yellow light from the smoky sky.
“The beach” says Toby, ” was covered in dead birds after the fire had burnt through Murramarang National Park 50 kms north.
Fittingly Currowan Currawong is framed with timber reclaimed from the burnt forests and fire ravaged village of Mogo, which suffered fireballs from the Clyde Mountain fire on 31 December 2019.
Suspended and preserved within this portrait, is a moment of collective shock and national reckoning.
The currawong’s wings are outstretched, yet flight afforded it no safety.
Nationally three billion animals were killed or displaced when 12 million hectares were consumed by fire.
In the photograph we see into the scale and intensity of the these ‘forever fires’ . And perhaps ahead – into a future before us – if we fail to act in time.
Historically, summer 2019-2020 became the moment where the veil was pierced for many Australians.
The reality of a Climate Emergency and its threat to existence were felt. The urgency and necessity of action became evident to most.
Yet Government action on serious climate has stalled.
When I look at Currowan Currawong today – from the vantage point of a wet 2021-2022 La Nina Summer – it sits now in another frame: “Will we forget?”
And then another thought soon comes: “But how can we forget?”
The impact of extreme weather and repeat flooding in Sydney, Northern Rivers, and Queensland reminds us yet again, that the more frequent these disasters are, the more difficult it will be for habitats and species to survive.
As humans we are facing our existence.
The currowan seems to look back at me, as I look at it.
” Will we turn our gaze, as we’re called to safeguard our future? “
Words – Magella Blinksell
Check out more of Toby Whitelaw’s nature photography and personal vignettes here on instagram
For more about Currowan Currawang and WOOEE’s inaugural street gallery during River of Art
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