Garden Island Stories is a community-based project to record, share and celebrate the ‘shack years’ — a brief, but significant chapter in the Island’s history, and certainly one which is incredibly precious to many West Australians.
I am a multimedia storyteller, and previously lectured at Curtin University’s School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry. My family had a shack at Careening Bay, which is where we had summer holidays for the first ten years of my life.
I started this project just with my own memories plus a small handful of black and white photos. I felt they were precious, and hoped others might feel the same.
I soon discovered I wasn’t alone, that the collective memory of Garden Island was much bigger than I’d ever imagined.
So, I have been capturing stories from people whose memories still burn bright. Like pieces in a jigsaw, these individual perspectives will eventually form a rich mosaic evoking a sense of that time and place.
As well as the Garden Island Stories Facebook page and Garden Island Stories website, I’m holding an exhibition ‘Hidden Gems’ at the Rockingham Arts Centre in January, 2025. This will blend imagery from past and present, creating multiple storylines woven together by an evocative soundscape.
If you holidayed on Garden Island, would like to share you story and allow me to scan some of your old photos (prints and slides are both OK), I would love to hear from you.
Shoot me an email, and I’ll get back to you when I can.
Richard Seale