Much-lauded exhibition The Strelley Mob opens at Katanning Art Gallery to mark anniversary of landmark strike

A landmark exhibition has opened at the Katanning Art Gallery as the story of one of Australia’s significant Aboriginal communities stops off on its regional WA tour.

Art on the Move is presenting The Strelley Mob, which brings together rarely seen artworks, stories and histories created by pastoral workers who walked off stations across the Pilbara in 1946.

The strike was one of the first major industrial actions by First Nations people in Australia.

The descendants of the strikers became known as the Strike Mob and then The Strelley Mob.

They later established a community school and literature centre so they could share their culture.

The exhibition in Katanning gives visitors the chance to see a body of Aboriginal work that is rarely seen outside the Nyangumarta community in which it was created.

Joining the launch on Saturday were Barbara Hale, who travelled from the Pilbara, and Rose Murray, from Perth, both of whom are family members of The Strelley Mob.

Shire of Katanning president Kristy D’Aprile said the exhibition was a coup for the town.

“It’s wonderful to have the story of The Strelley Mob shared in our community, and it makes it even more special to hear these stories in language, as Barbara shared with us at today’s opening,” she said.

“Every exhibition brings something different to Katanning, and we’re so fortunate to have this gallery as a space for our community to come together and share in these stories.”

Art on the Move is touring The Strelley Mob to regional communities across WA following the 80th anniversary of the 1946 strike.

Co-curator Darren Jorgensen, who was also at the launch, said the exhibition was an opportunity to bring the history of the strike to a new audience.

“Sharing these archives is an opportunity to retell the unique history of Marrngu and Martu, the Aboriginal people of the Pilbara, and to reposition them in the history of Australia,” he said.

“It is a history of resistance and resilience in the pastoral and mining industries that has for too long remained untold.”

The Strelley Mob runs until November 28 at the Katanning Art Gallery.