Robert Michael Young - Bait Banger and Eliza

Description

Artist: Robert Michael Young

Sculptures: Bait Banger & Eliza

Locations at Sweetwater Creek:

Eliza is located near the entrance at Hoadley Avenue & Fenton Crescent

Bait is located near the entrance at Liddesdale Avenue

Materials: Corten Steel attached to mudstone.

Description of Sculpture:

In consultation with Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (BLCAC), the sculptures depict the story of Bait Banger and his wife Eliza.

Bait Banger was an influential Bunurong man at the time of European colonialization.  Although he was known as a clan head for the Bunurong clan, the Kurung-Jang-Balluk, north of Werribee, he lived out the later years of his life on the Mornington Peninsula.  Bait Banger was recorded as fishing near Frankston by Europeans.  Bait Banger was tall in stature for the 19th century but would be considered only slightly above average in today’s terms (approximately 6 foot).

Whilst fishing on the Mornington Peninsula, Bait Banger would have used a long thin spear.  His fishing spear would have been constructed from two pieces of sharpened bone from the leg of a kangaroo, these were then inserted into the stalk of the grass-tree and bound with resin from the grass tree and animal sinews.

Bait Banger would not have been alone, he was often known as being inseparable from his wife, Eliza.  It is likely that she would have been collecting shellfish nearby or procuring the abundant terrestrial resources, such as mushrooms and plants that occur along what is now known as Sweetwater Creek.

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For more information regarding Sweetwater Creek, please go to:

www.sweetwatercreek.org.au